Ron Paul On Defining Marriage

At Sunday's Republican debate in Florida, Ron Paul was asked about a constitutional ammendment to ban gay marriage.

Here is his answer...

Well, if you believe in federalism, it's better that we allow these things to be left to the state. My personal belief is that marriage is a religious ceremony. And it should be dealt with religiously. The state really shouldn't be involved. The state, both federal and state-wise, got involved mostly for health reasons 100 years or so ago.

But this should be a religious matter. All voluntary associations, whether they're economic or social, should be protected by the law. But to amend the Constitution is totally unnecessary to define something that's already in the dictionary.

We do know what marriage is about. We don't need a new definition or argue over a definition and have an amendment to the Constitution. To me, it just seems so unnecessary to do that. It's very simply that the states should be out of that business, and the states -- I mean, the states should be able to handle this. The federal government should be out of it.

I pretty much agree with Rep. Paul's answer. Marriage is a church issue and the government should be left out of it. All the rights should be equal under the law and church's should then decide based on their own doctrine who should and shouldn't be allowed to marry.