“Why should CIVIL marriage be left to the judgement of faith? What about the separation of church and state?”

I, too, am in favor of separation of church and state, but consider this – IF “The Church” (TM) is to have a say in the matter, then the ‘right’ has lost the argument all over again, since there are an increasing number of faiths that will/DO marry gays – the Metropolitan Community Churhes, the United Church, the Quakers, the Unitarians, both the Reformed AND the (ahem) Conservative branches of Judaism, and increasingly Anglicans/Episcopaian and even Methodists. Heck, I’ve found a small breakaway sect of Pentecostalism that does.

But then again, America shits on true “freedom of religion” – all too often what is meant is that ‘you’ are ‘free’ to follow ‘my’ religion.

Eric (the ‘gay’ for McCain) says: “Why does this story paint Biden as a big deal, and Palin as a hateful right-winger… when they AGREE!?”

Because they absolutely do NOT ‘agree’. Re-read the friggin’ article. Constitutionally ALL Americans are supposed to be treated equally before the law. Obama/Biden will work to ensure that starts happening for gay American citizens. McCain/Mrs. Palin are already working against that ‘promise’ (hence my term ’shitting on the Constitution’).

Why is Palin painted “as a hateful right-winger”? Because she IS.

What a suicidal political position, Gerard.

First of all, what “lifestyle” do you live? My being gay is not a “lifestyle” (which is how we conclude that you probably aren’t gay). Rethuglicans will stab you in your front AND lie to you while they do it.

I also have donated to Amendment 8 and have a No on 8 yard sign in my front yard.

Peace.

No, Mark, they DIDN’T. The question was, “Do you support, as they do in Alaska, granting same-sex benefits to couples?”

And Mrs. Palin said, “Well, not if it goes closer and closer towards redefining the traditional definition of marriage between one man and one woman. And unfortunately that’s sometimes where those steps lead”

Again, “Well NOT if …” [emphasis mine]. She does NOT support giving us the very benefits her State Supreme Court told her she HAD to grant. She added that she thought it was “unfortunate” that equality rights and provisions must/should be granted, that it woud lead t our – GASP! – equality before the law.

Does Rethuglicanism cause people to lose their reading comprehension skills?

You must be a member of the Log Closet Republicans. You ask a question that has a simple answer – sorry you missed it…

“The man is OPPOSED to gay marriage. Why aren’t you calling him on it?”

Because ANY politican of ANY stripe will NOT get elected if they say they do. It’s as simple as that. He DID say gay people are Constitutionally equal – something you will never hear out of a Rethuglican candidate. From that Constitutionally guaranteed equality will come court cases that affirm that equality. Thence marriage will come – down the line. It has to hit the Supreme Court first, and the danger in supporting the Rethuglicans is that their openly anti-gay nominees will sway the Court system for decades to come.

Come on, folks, get a clue.

I’m done with settling. I’d rather have to wait longer and be considered 100% equal than get stuck in more middle ground half-treatment and create more bureaucracy.

To win, Obama and McCain have to get the votes of some of the semi-rednecks located all around the country. So they have to tread the issue carefully

We have a choice – to put the Pope and the ghost of Jerry Fallwell on the supreme court, and become despised like the Jews were for millenia, a hatred that allowed Hitler to consolidate power and give the world WWII.

The other Choice is to have Obama as president. He overcame poverty, grew up in a single parent household, worked initially as a community organizer, and he knows all about discrimination from personal experience. Joe Biden is from working class Pennsylvania, he is Catholic but supports abortion rights and gays having legal equality. Yes, he may not use the word ‘marriage’ but he is a realist on how to get elected. And Biden / Obama will find so many ways to support gay people and freedom from, as well as of religion, as George Bush and his gang of criminals found to use against gays, including use of talibanic extremeist Christian hatred against gays to win, or steal the 2004 election.

So, do not bite off your nose to spite your face, as the old saying goes. LGBT people will be a 1000 times better off under Obama/Biden, then under the creeps of the right wing extremists who control the republican party.

And if you care, as I do, about liberty and Justice for all, get out and help your local democrats win. And do as I did, and send money to Equality California till it hurts. I gave up the nice 5 figure sum my wife would have loved to use to fix up our house, and gave it to them. Win that battle, get Obama etc in the White House, and America will be so much better off for all, including LGBT people.

It is your turn to help. I understand your pain, for my genius brother was called gay by our extended family. And it was such a terrible untouchable thing to my parents that they never understand what I did decades later, that yes he is ’strange’ – he has obsesssive compulsive disorder, really bad. His life has been ruined, and my realization of this situation has been the nightmare of my life. And now you should understand why I am here.

So now I ask you again – There is lots of progress for gay people especially overseas, but in the USA as well. Destroying – that is the word, the Republican party as it is now constituted is the battle of our times, every bit as important as the overseas wars on terrorism. Please do your part!

Gays will be outcasts ever more, and who will be the next group for the right wing religious people who always have to support hatred of a minority group to gain their power – the Blacks, Jews, etc.

Adolf Hitler also appealed to a lot of people, a whole nation, that was being destroyed by depression. God help the World, if Palin/McCain take over.