In the wake of the District of Columbia’s new same sex marriage policy, these changes have happened.
Item #1: In DC, the Catholic Archdiocese discontinued offering health care benefits to spouses. Why? Because the Church does not recognize same sex unions as “marriages,” even though the DC City Council insists that they are. So, to keep from running afoul of the same sex “marriage” law, they will discontinue health benefits for spouses of newly employed workers.
Conform to the new regime. Or else.
Item #2: The marriage licenses in DC no longer say “bride” and “groom.”
D.C. Superior Court officials have prepared to implement the redefinition of marriage by rewriting its traditional applications and brochures. Its materials no longer ask for the name of the bride and groom, but rather ask for the name of the “spouse.”
The final pronouncement of “husband and wife” has also been removed as the default language. According to the Washington Post, at the end of civil marriage ceremonies judges will say “I now pronounce you legally married,” unless the marrying couple suggests something different.
Check it out: people are “legally married.” No one has the “status” of bride or groom, husband or wife. The natural concepts of husband and wife have been replaced with a purely legal concept. Thus does the state shove civil society aside.
This is in addition to the fact that the Archdiocese is no longer eligible for any city contracts for foster care and adoption. However:
The D.C. City Council’s law recognizing same-sex “marriage” purported to protect religious freedom. However, it required religious entities which serve the general public to provide services to homosexual couples, even if doing so violated their religious beliefs.
How nice.