[de_axeman]

By keeping the govt out of things like defining what is a marriage, you're also making it very difficult for the govt to offer aid to couples & families who really need it.

Compare a man-woman couple vs a man-man couple, and even a man-dog couple just to take it to the extreme (without legal constraints, anything is possible?). Right now in Australia, the government supports families with financial aid where the combined income of the couple is below a certain threshold.

Firstly, if the govt decides to withdraw aid because it cannot legally determine a fair manner to distribute aid, then the couples who require aid will miss out. If the govt decides to distribute aid regardless of the makeup of the couple, then any man and his dog can rort the system and deceitfully gain aid (at the expense of you and I as taxpayers).

It's fine to tell the govt to get out of people's interpersonal business, and let them partner whomever they choose, but I feel the issue is not as simple as that, and there are many factors that make it impossible for society to function properly for the govt to step away from something as important as this.