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Same-sex couples can currently marry in six states and the District of Columbia, and there's no residency requirement to marry. That means that couples who live outside of those states can just pop in for a day to get married and then go home. There are also five states that allow civil unions. But if a marriage should fall apart in a state that doesn't recognize the couple's legal status in the first place, that's when things get complicated.

Federal Same-Sex Marriage Is Coming

There is no disputing that the tide of public opinion on same-sex marriage has turned in favor of allowing federal marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples. On the heels of the landmark decision in California and the legislative initiative in Washington State, both Maryland and New Jersey are also paving the way to allow same-sex marriage.

"Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state."

According to Subsection B of the amendment, "this state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

Nine Illinois couples filed a lawsuit this week, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and New York-based Lambda Legal, to challenge the constitutionality of Illinois law that bars same-sex couples from marrying.

Most people in a position to read this blog post probably think of marriage as a contract between two people that serves a few different purposes. Initially it may be an extension of the a tacit contract governing sexual access or fidelity that likely preceded marriage. Later on it may be an arrangement that facilitates the decision a couple makes to have one or more children.

Argentina legalized same-sex marriage Thursday, becoming the first country in Latin America to grant gays and lesbians all the legal rights, responsibilities and protections that marriage gives heterosexual couples.

This seems like an issue that kind of flies 'under the radar' for many libertarians and anti-statists, but it seems like we could make a lot of headway with the marriage debate by promoting the solution of simply getting government out of marriage altogether:

A Gift For Muslim Couple tells husbands that they should beat their wives with 'hand or stick or pull her by the ears'.
According to the book's blurb: 'The book... deals with the subject of marriage and after marriage relationship, as well as the various pitfalls of marriage, causes of breakdown and their causes.'
But within the book's opening pages it states that 'it might be necessary to restrain her with strength or even to threaten her.'
It continues: 'The husband should treat the wife with kindness and love, even if she tends to be stupid and slow sometimes.'

Officials in Mexico City are considering a new way to address the city's high divorce rates: by making marriages temporary. Couples would be allowed to decide on the length of their marriage (minimum license: two years), and the contracts would contain prenup-like legalese about financial support, how marital assets would be divided, and who gets custody of the kids.