Gay Marriage / Gay Divorce?

In a post on the Shefa Yahoo group, the writer raises the following issue:

It is also absolutely clear and inescapable that we will have to deal
with all of these issues [by which he includes the issue of determining whether the children of a homosexual couple are Jewish] (except, perhaps, gay divorce) whether or not we sanctify the relationships because whether we do or do not the relationships will be (are being) formed and children are being brought into them. Therefore the issues of determining the Jewishness of children brought into the relationship by any number of conceivable (ha!) mechanisms will have to be dealt with anyway (and not only in gay families by the way). So it is not at all true that refusing to sanctify gay marriages will avoid the necessity of dealing with these issues. We have to do that anyway.

Another writer responds and amplifies this post:

If we were to come up with kinyan/kiddushin or its equivalent for same-sex couples, depending upon the halachic basis for the ceremony, the relationship could require a get for proper termination, regardless of whether the civil authorities recognize it as a marriage or not (it's also possible that the requirement that "he" write "her" a get will be interpreted literally as not applying to any same-sex marriage).

Just as interesting is the implication for heterosexual marriage and its termination. We look the other way at the fact that halachically, the man acquires and "de-acquires" the woman; no matter how we try to make these things look and feel egalitarian, they are not. They were simply not designed in an egalitarian era, and they have been chiseled in stone since then. Thinking about their possible application to gay marriage throws this fact into stark relief. These involve two clearly equal individuals. Who acquires who? Who gives who the get?

Who knows -- maybe this is a heaven-sent opportunity to begin to break out of the kinyan-kiddushin-get formula of sanctifying and desanctifying relationships altogether. Tradition and change...

This is the worst kind of thinking on the subject. If the Conservative movement were consider any proposal that would equate a homosexual union with kinyan and kiddushin, it should be ashamed of itself. Personally, I am still on the fence with respect to how to address the issue of homosexual unions, but even if I were to accept that there can be quasi-religious commemoration of a homosexual commitment, e.g., a commitment ceremony, this is not a marriage and there is no Ketubah, no Kiddushin and therefore no Get.

If we accept that homosexuality is not a choice, but an innate preference and, further, accepting that G-d would not create homosexuals without providing an outlet for love and sexual fulfillment, we can reasonably conclude that our communities are best served when homosexuals lead committed lives and create family structures. If children are involved, there should be a stable home life with caring and committed parents, even when they are of the same sex.

But, in no way does this create a question of the Jewishness of the child. A child's Jewish status is determined by her biological mother. If the biological mother is Jewish, then the child is Jewish. If the biological mother is not Jewish, then the child must be converted. I see no reason that this issue should require any consideration in the issue of the place of homosexuals in Judaism.

Unfortunately, this is emblematic of the sloppy thinking of the Shefa crowd.