A solution to the gay marriage dilemma

Another day, another outcome in a string of up and down votes on gay marriage at the state level:

NEW YORK — Opponents of gay marriage celebrated a decisive vote in the New York State Senate, where a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage was defeated 38 to 24 on Wednesday.

The unexpectedly wide margin was delivered in a relatively liberal state where the other chamber of the legislature has thrice approved the measure and the governor, David A. Paterson, had been poised to sign it into law. The vote prompted pronouncements that the momentum for gay marriage had been not only halted, but also effectively reversed. Same-sex marriage is legal in Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and, most recently, New Hampshire, where it goes into effect Jan. 1.

Americans obviously have no consensus on this issue, so I have a solution: How about if the US government grants only civil unions to both gay and straight couples, so that the term “marriage”, with all of its religious history, can be reserved for religious institutions to define as they please? This would provide equality under the law without treading on a word that has a sacred, yet different, meaning to various groups of people.