Comments on: Gay bans embolden conservative religious groups

By: Gerry Fisher

Gerry Fisher — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:25:12 +0000

Can I propose an overall shift in strategy? Might now be the time to band together with like-minded straights and get the word “marriage” out of government hands? We can lecture about the difference between “civil marriage” and “religious marriage” until we’re blue in the face, but people won’t get it, really. If we get the government to make civil contracts that *sound* like civil contracts (”civil unions” for all, same- or opposite-gender), then I think it might separate the mild “I’m just not comfortable calling it marriage” folks from the true haters.

Just a thought….

By: bud burgoon-clark

bud burgoon-clark — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:55:13 +0000

why do anti-gay bigots always bring up paedophilia, incest, and bestiality? That isn’t what this is about. It is about the right of two consenting adult HUMANS to marry each other. And BTW, I have KNOWN gay brothers who were life-long partners. Exactly whom does that harm, since they obviously aren’t going to father children WITH EACH OTHER??!!

Bud Burgoon-Clark
2nd class citizen,
but legally married for the moment

By: bud burgoon-clark

bud burgoon-clark — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:50:47 +0000

A religious bigot is a religious bigot, no matter WHAT color he/she is. EVERYONE who voted for Prop H8 should be deeply, DEEPLY ashamed of themselves. Their vote bore about as much resemblance to the teachings of Jesus as equine excrement does to apple butter … the only thing they have in common is a brown color!

Bud Burgoon-Clark
2nd class citizen, but
legally married, at least for NOW

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:17:12 +0000

Some interesting reading about the prop 8 campaign. While the mormons seemed to have bankrolled over 50% of the yes on prop 8 campaign they were really working closely with catholics. I’m glad to see there were some protests at catholic chruches in LA. Maybe that needs to grow…

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/10/MNU1140AQQ.DTL

By: ATL Guy

ATL Guy — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:47:53 +0000

I think it's high-time that the US government lift the tax exempt status of religious organizations. As Quasi pointed out, we the Gay Community seek civil recognition of our relationships and many of us could care less if a religious institution recognizes us.

Tax them all!

By: desert bat

desert bat — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:10:47 +0000

Thank you for that timely reminder. Both Jews and gentiles have largely disregarded the inclusion of gays and lesbians in the policies of Hitler’s Germany because we were not exterminated in larger numbers.

By: Quasi

Quasi — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:57:35 +0000

This needs repeating as often as it will take our community, yea, even the courts to understand that:

MARRIAGE IS A SECULAR CONTRACT. ALL PEOPLE HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO MAKE CONTRACTS IN THE UNITED STATES.

If we also use the secular argument “Marriage is a contract, and the people cannot take away the right to contract from anyone” because it is protected by the US Constitution, and further it has been upheld by the US Supreme Court for 200 years, and ruled a basic right of all people in the US to make contracts.

The “marriage contract” is enshrined in the laws to simply make it a simple matter to wed, and to have some semblance order. If it is not a contract, then why are “prenuptial agreements” even legal and why do divorce agreements have to be made by the courts? They are modifications to the basic secular contract enacted into law.

If we do this, then the religious idiots and the evil bigots cannot possibly have a leg to stand on. And any such challenge to marriage contract will fail miserably.

Further, “HOLY MATRIMONY” IS NOT MARRIAGE. The two are separate, and I for one do not want some “holier than thou, self appointed religious cleric” to conduct my state-sanctioned, secular marriage ceremony.

By: TheRadicalRealist

TheRadicalRealist — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:37:48 +0000

Joe Qu, the retarded son of a bitch:

When marriage is legally recognized and sanctioned by the State, it is a civil contract. Part of being a civil contract recognized by the US government means it cannot respect any religion. You can define marriage in your church any way you want, but the law must recognize civil contracts free of religious implications. Civil contracts, or “marriages”, should be between consenting adults, period. It is not anyone else’s business what consenting adults do, and especially not the state’s. In taking the term “marriage” and attaching legal rights to it, the government forfeited any right to judge the religious “morality” of the relationship or the persons involved.

If you are so concerned about incestuous relationships, you should ask your religious brethren about it. Religious people seem to have an extensive history of incest, while LGBT people do not.

Have a nice day, bitch.

By: Zeta

Zeta — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:22:17 +0000

“If gays think marriage has no religious and or moral value, and is strictly tied to the concept of equal rights for every human and should only be defined by love – then why do they not include with their marriage equality theme the equality of marriage between brother and brother, sister and sister, sister and brother, mother and son, father and son, father and daughter and kissing cousins. If any gay person who does not believe in a marriage between brother and brother and so on is discriminating and is a hypocrite.”

Yeah, but inbreeding is wrong because of the genetic problems it causes in the babies. So marriage between heterosexual incestuous couples is right out, and if we do that, it wouldn’t be very fair to let brothers marry. Also, brothers already have family rights of property and so on between them.

By: Joe Qu

Joe Qu — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:02:31 +0000

If gays think marriage has no religious and or moral value, and is strictly tied to the concept of equal rights for every human and should only be defined by love – then why do they not include with their marriage equality theme the equality of marriage between brother and brother, sister and sister, sister and brother, mother and son, father and son, father and daughter and kissing cousins. If any gay person who does not believe in a marriage between brother and brother and so on is discriminating and is a hypocrite.

Joe

San Francisco, Ca