Penny Booth: I just can't see the wood for the trees this week

I do see that the government will look at marriage for same sex couples. That will cause something of a stir. When civil partnerships were legislated upon in 2004 the argument to get the legislation through Parliament (one suspects the Lords in particular) was that it wasn't marriage - the latter was retained as a special relationship for heterosexual couples in the context of the religious and cultural forces here and the traditional approach taken in this country - and in many others besides. It either is ‘special' or it's not.        

If the latter please stop placing my own marriage in an obligated position viz-a-vis ‘family values' and supporting the members of said family. Is it a purely personal relationship or is it a relationship of inestimable worth to the state and therefore of ‘public property'?  Both positions have implications - socially and legally - and could affect not only how we look at marriage and families and their composition but...

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