In the interest of reducing government's role in the lives of Americans, the GOP should lead the charge to take the defining of marriage out of the hands of government.

Government should offer civil union licenses for the purposes of estates, access to medical records, insurance coverage and other purposes. And those civil unions should be available to any couple who desires one.

Additionally, any financial incentives that currently exist for marriage -- including, but not limited to, tax breaks -- should be available to all couples in a civil union or should be abolished.

I have been married for 12 years. And while my wife, my faith and I choose to define this civil union as a marriage between a man (me) and a woman (my wife), that definition is based on beliefs that are very personal and applicable to our circumstances. Giving government any role in defining my marriage (or anyone else's) flies in the face of the Republican Party's traditional stance against small government and self-determination.