The Business Solution to Gay Marriage

If two men decided that after a lifelong friendship they wanted to live as a legal union, designate each other to make medical decisions for the other, bequeath their estates to each other, and enjoy all the benefits of a legal partnership, the conservatives would go nuts.

But, if two lifelong friends decide to form a business partnership together, designate each other to make medical decisions (to control proprietary information – only about half a dozen people know the formula to Coca-Cola), pass their interest in the partnership to the other, and enjoy all the legal protections that come with such a union, the conservatives would probably say they were smart businessmen and support it.

So, let’s suggest to gay people that they incorporate themselves, then legally merge their two “corporations” and specify all the parameters that the two businessmen above did. They should be able to do this legally and their families shouldn’t be able to break the agreement since it’s one between corporations, not individuals.

It’s not what gay people want and I agree that they should have the same legal status as a marriage between people of opposite gender, but (unless I’m missing a major flaw) they would enjoy most of what they would ultimately like to have. One “protection” that married people have that these men wouldn’t would be the legal protection of not having your spouse testify against you involuntarily.

It’s not a perfect solution, and I admit that I know nothing about the details of the law, but at first glance it sounds like it might give these fine folks what they want and deserve to have, and it would be unbreakable by the less-enlightened members of the family that hate gays. It’s just another of my crazy ideas.