Creepy distinctions and social engineering

In the post below, I mention the Maxim Institute drawing a distinction between "preferred" and "tolerated" relationships. I must admit that I find this distinction rather creepy - it smacks of the "social engineering" the Maxim Institute so decries.

As a liberal, I believe that the government should not be preferring or legally privileging any relationship between consenting adults. It should not be trying to use the law to "guide" people into particular social arrangements. These matters are for individuals to decide, not the government; the latter should step back, provide a neutral legal framework, and leave people to choose their own social arrangements. Anything more is theocracy - or, as Lyndon Hood put it:

[T]he further the goals of government get from the material wellbeing of its people, the closer it gets to the gas chambers. Trying to make people behave according to particular moral standards is the spiritual equivalent of making the Trains Run on Time

The Civil Unions and "Omnibus" bills may not take us all the way, but they're an enormous step in the right direction - away from government social engineering and towards a truly neutral, secular and liberal state.