Why are we still talking about this? Who cares if the gays wanna get married? I’m completely conservative politically and fiscally, but I couldn’t care less about Hector and Hulio getting hitched.

Marriage is a religion based word. Stop trying to force me to change my beliefs so others feel accepted.

Simply put, call it something else, civil union. Give it all the wrights of a marriage, but, marriage is a religious item, and most religions don’t acknowldedge it. So, stop trying to change religion to suite you. Simply rename it. Give it the same rights.

a rose by any other name is still a rose.

my opinions

Marriage is NOT a religious based word. Your religion and many others may consider it to be a sacrament, however, we are talking about civil marriage here.

Marriage has been redefined many times and is defined many ways by many religions. I don’t hear anyone standing up saying we should make divorce illegal again, though that would be more in line with the majority religions in this country than this.

Frankly i think we should remand it all to contract law and let people organize as they want. Let the muslims and others have their polygamous marriages. Let the gays have their marriages. Its your contract, you write it!

This is none of the Governments business. How does this establish justice? How does this provide for the common defense? A more perfect union cannot be made by establishing laws which interfere in the lives of happiness pursuing citizens. Get out of the business of marriage and stay away from invasive Constitutional amendments. The constitution is to protect the people from the government not from gay lifestyles. Liberty brings with it some things we must endure just as we necessarily endure government.

It is OK to bash Christanity, and use the Government and the court system to do it. Marriage is a religious institution, give gays benefits, give them a union, but keep them out of the Bible that calls them an abomination.

A “real Christian,” would take a bashing for Christ. The Constitution is the Government and what about the separation of church & state? As for an abomination Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination.” It says the same thing about touching pig skin. This is in the “Old testament,” Jesus began the New testament, which was our NEW covenant with God. He refers to only 2 commandments that need to be followed. “Love the Lord you God with all your heart & with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The 2nd is you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these 2 commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” Legal marriage would provide EQUAL rights, not SPECIAL rights. Consider the hermaphrodite. Did God make a mistake? Maybe if we all had that choice, “Both sexes,” we wouldn’t be debating this issue at all.

Well put, we must go back to the roots of the Constitution. The Federal Government has become invasive and has been, for years, taking rights from the states who by law (10th amendment) are afforded the power because the legislatures are able to be kept more accountable to the people.

Gay unions, though I am opposed to calling it marraige and, to be honest, homosexuality has no place in the Constitution of the United States of America.

If this is true, the why did they have to pass an amendment? All men (has been translated to mean all people) are equal. They have the right to pursue happiness. All the other BS about “soon you’ll be able to marry children,”. Some states still allow children to be married, the age of 14 is considered a child molestation in some other states! We are ALL supposed to be afforded the same rights!

The Government is Constantly overstepping their role and purpose of preserving our country’s liberties and freedoms. They instead, waste the peoples hard earned tax money by introducing and passing laws that govern and control the people for “THEIR OWN GOOD”. This type of thinking and law making proposes that we can’t think or make decisions for ourselves! Preserve the constitution don’t change it!

it is an unnatural form of marriage, man and woman go together no matter what religion you are and even if you believe in evolution and survival of the fittest. a homosexual couple would be the weakest link if so.

but even so, who is to say that the mormons won’t go for polygamy next, or even sicko’s go for underage boys/girls after that. nah, its got to be stopped at the start.

Good point. The more concession we make, to ensure civil rights (at least they think it’s a right) are preserved, the more we continue down the path of destruction. In Rome’s final days, they had Gladiators, we have UFC and MMA, they had rampant homosexuality, we have well you get the clue. Rome had a thinly stretched Army, we now have a very thinly stretched military. Well, you folks get the picture. History repeats itself. So back to point, if we do this then polygamy is next, underage marriages, because the young girl says she loves him and so on and so on. Demoralization has always toppled an Empire.

History only repeats itself for the people who ignore the details.

Rome had all the things that you mention in its early days too. Its easy to “prove” anything by cherrypicking facts from history. It generally the last resort of a person who wants to defend a point that has no rational basis.

Frankly, I think that “live and let live” is the best policy of all, and people need to stop pointing fingers. If you want to rebuild the american family, then look at why we have such high divorce rates among heterosexuals, look at why we have families where both parents work and have little time to raise their kids.

DOn’t blame it on fringe groups whose numbers pale in comparison to the real problems.

Don’t debate me with a portion of my views. If you had messaged me I would have delved further into this topic. I, for one, could care less about gay marriage. Like many above me, I agree the Government has no place in our personal lives. I refuse to stand by and watch the hypocritical gay agenda and Christian agenda impose and push their views upon others. Homosexuality has been around for THOUSANDS of years, but you have to look at the path Rome took and realize, their Utopian dream, eventually became their demise. We, as humans, need to corral some of our inner most, dark urges. If morality simply is removed from the picture what do you think will happen to civilization ?

Whoa, why are fundamentalist Christians consistently the most hateful people I come in contact with? How does anyone being gay impede on your rights? What does your sexuality have to do with ANYTHING? Gay people enjoying the benefits of a government-recognized marriage in NO WAY takes away from YOUR rights and YOUR benefits that you get to enjoy just because you were born heterosexual. Or do you believe that was a choice….

In reference to the American family, well, I blame it entirely on forces beyond my control. T.V., internet, religion, and most of all Government. TV has become a cesspool of nonsense, half naked men and women everywhere, promoting immorality. Internet, as much as good can come from it, has become a lair of sexual deviants and con artist. You want me to keep “cherry picking” because I supposedly have no real rational basis ? Seriously, maybe we should be exterminated If I had the key to the abyss, I would gladly turn it. However, I still love my country

Haven’t these people heard of the Tenth Amendment? This is an issue for the states, not the federal government.

How about the government get completely out of the marriage licensing business? A license means that the activity is a privilege that you have to ask (and pay) for permission to do, and possibly be denied. Marriage is a RIGHT. I am sick of the social engineering aspect of people being treated differently when it comes to taxes based on their marital status.

For the Christians:
Why would you want to have to ask the government for their permission to have a sacramental marriage? Isn’t marriage just between you, your spouse, and God? Do you really want your pastor saying “by the power vested in me by the state of __ and God I now pronounce you…”? I would think that only God would have the power to sanction a marriage, not the state too.

For the non-Christians:
Why should anybody, gay or straight, ever have to ask the government’s permission to marry? Let’s make it an entirely private institution.

I think marriage is under the 9th A.

Holy fascist bible thumpers batman. No human has the right to tell another human how to live. These kinds of principals are one of the reasons this country was created and founded. To protect people from tyranny, especially RELIGIOUS tyranny. Why do people want to control others? I don’t get it, why does anyone care about this non issue. Why do you want the government involved your own private affairs anyway, jesus christ!