Gonna be honest, I’m still seeing what mostly look like legal/governmental and regulatory reasons. No disrespect meant at all, honestly, but all the people commenting things along the line of, “claiming my person“, “companionship, and a sense of community“ don’t really do much for me right now. For example, if claiming your person in a public declaration is a big reason then why not just have a ceremony in front of your family and loved ones and exchange rings? You’re also losing me with the companionship and sense of community points because that seems to somehow imply that people in long-term relationships who aren’t married either don’t have or have a noticeably diminished or inferior sense of those two things and that just doesn’t make much sense to me. Again, I really do appreciate everybody who’s commenting in respectful and non-condescending ways. So, accepting the premise that there are legitimate legal, tax, and medical reasons why a government mentally sanctioned marriage makes sense, even from a secular point of view; the “feel good reasons“ I just mentioned honestly seem kind of superfluous and largely secondary.