People can do whatever they want with their relationships, but if they want a union recognized by the government and the advantages conferred by that, then yes the state can regulate that
In at least some jurisdictions, the process of getting married involves “a marriage license”, and I think of a license as something that provides a privilege to and imposes an obligation upon someone, and potentially multiple privileges and/or obligations.
People can do whatever they want with their relationships, but if they want a union recognized by the government and the advantages conferred by that, then yes the state can regulate that
Exotic didn’t say a single word about legal advantages.
What do you mean by that? Because there are some cases I agree but a lot of the current restrictions are silly.
Regarding “restrictions”:
In at least some jurisdictions, the process of getting married involves “a marriage license”, and I think of a license as something that provides a privilege to and imposes an obligation upon someone, and potentially multiple privileges and/or obligations.
A license is “Freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behaviour or speech)”, so if there are any “restrictions” then they just apply by default, and people with a marriage license get to ignore some of them (in exchange for having some additional obligations/restrictions).