All you need is a marriage licenses from the town hall, this is what gives you eligibility for benefits, not the Church ceremonies.

Yes. Justice of the Peace can. Good luck.

yes you don't need a church service at all, a civil service, registry office or marriage celebrant all afford you the same legal rights

Yes, you can get married by a Justice of the Peace and be just as married as if it was a religious ceremony.

You can get married at city hall, I think.

My husband and I are nondemoninational and were married by my sister Oct '06. We have all the legal rights that a married couple would have if married by a priest or rabbi. As long as the person who is performing the ceremony is ordained that is all that matters.

Yes it is called a civil ceremony. By a judge, magistrate or other qualified official at a court house or in city hall.

Sure. You need to get a marriage license, a couple of witnesses to sign it, and anyone with the legal authority to oversee the process, but none of it needs to be religious in any way - and really, it doesn't have to be a ceremony. Just some people signing a paper for/with you.

the legal part comes from the signing of the marriage liscense, not the religious figure saying "you may kiss the bride" You and I could stand under a big ol' tree with a Navajo shaman, a Rabbi, the Pope, and Jesus, Muhammad, and Buddah themselves and declare ourselves married, but unless we had the legal, state sanctioned documents to prove it, we sure as hell couldn't file for taxes jointly.

A legal marriage takes place when a license is signed by both parties and two witnesses. There does not have to be any ceremony. It can be done in the license office. My first marriage was legalized that way.

yes, you can go to the courthouse or a ship's captain

Oh my name it is nothin' My age it means less The country I come from Is called the Midwest I's taught and brought up there The laws to abide And that land that I live in Has God on its side. Oh the history books tell it They tell it so well The cavalries charged The Indians fell The cavalries charged The Indians died Oh the country was young With God on its side. Oh the Spanish-American War had its day And the Civil War too Was soon laid away And the names of the heroes I's made to memorize With guns in their hands And God on their side. Oh the First World War, boys It closed out its fate The reason for fighting I never got straight But I learned to accept it Accept it with pride For you don't count the dead When God's on your side. When the Second World War Came to an end We forgave the Germans And we were friends Though they murdered six million In the ovens they fried The Germans now too Have God on their side. I've learned to hate Russians All through my whole life If another war starts It's them we must fight To hate them and fear them To run and to hide And accept it all bravely With God on my side. But now we got weapons Of the chemical dust If fire them we're forced to Then fire them we must One push of the button And a shot the world wide And you never ask questions When God's on your side. In a many dark hour I've been thinkin' about this That Jesus Christ Was betrayed by a kiss But I can't think for you You'll have to decide Whether Judas Iscariot Had God on his side. So now as I'm leavin' I'm weary as Hell The confusion I'm feelin' Ain't no tongue can tell The words fill my head And fall to the floor If God's on our side He'll stop the next war.

you sound well-meaning but pretty ignorant of the process. you haven't stated which side you're on, but i can kind of guess. don't blame the other side for outflanking you politically. not everything gets put to a vote of the people-and you know that-that's why we have representatives. regardless of whether you are you are trying to expand or contstrict homosexual rights the right of referendum is available. just do the paperwork, cross your t's and dot your i's and get the signatures to get it on the ballot. then convence the public. good luck and i'll be glad to help you any way i can.