Cal. Supremes uphold Regressive Prop. 8

I haven't read the opinion, but I'm disappointed that the Supreme Court of California today upheld the hideously regressive Proposition 8.

I will say that Same Sex Marriage has never been an issue that I'm particularly passionate about, as I think a better approach would be to remove from legal sanction all marriage, which should be thought of as an essentially ritual or religious matter not subject to government regulation. This is as opposed to civil union, both heterosexual and otherwise (including any kind of arrangements people care to make, in any numbers), which should be subject to legal strictures to assure equity and fairness, especially with regard to the custody and care for any children involved. Maybe it's the closet libertarian in me.

Or... maybe not, because it occurs to me that if you removed the legal sanction of marriage from the picture, that would open the door to requiring or deeming effective civil union (i.e. "common law"), if children are involved; or requiring that there be legal civil union and/or an explicit contract if anyone is to have legal rights to claim joint property or income (including so-called 'palimony.') A bit of enforced responsibility and accountability, anyone?

Meantime, we're stuck with the current awful and obviously inequitable situation, just made worse by our State Supreme Court.