Your Opinions On..., Gay Marriage

So, what are your opinions on Gay marriage? Screw Gays? Leave it to the states? Should be made legal everywhere? What do you guys think?

I don't think they should be necessarily married, such as in churches, but should be allowed governmental benefits the same as married couples. My reasoning: the same as you guys said religion shouldn't interfere in government, and it should not; absolutely government should not interfere with religion and force any church to marry if they wish not to. If the government wants to give benefits, which they supply anyway, to gays, let them. Likewise, if any church wants to, let them. But the church is a private instutution, and should not have to if they do not want to. What are your thoughts?

Yeah, I agree, if gay marriage is made legal then it should not be considered marriage seeing as the definition of marriage doesn't fit in that sense, but equal rights should be given out, it only seems natural. Wonder how much states will follow that approach.

It should be up to the states to decide, due to wildly varying opinions on the matter that correspond fairly closely to the red state/blue state divide.

Personally, I think that they should be able to have civil unions with the same legal status as marriage.

I will fourth this motion. It should be up to individual states to grant them the rights of married couples, but once again, the government should have no right to make a Catholic church change its religion to incorporate gay marriage at all.

Homosexuality is evil in itself. I guess that is my muslim side speaking. Well, not really. It is evil in Christianity too. Christians just ignore the bible =D.

I dont feel they should obtain the staus of marriage. Civil Unions and Life Partner i am fine with, but its not marriage.

Gay marriage should be allowed in every state. There is absolutely nothing wrong with homosexuality. People get the wrong impression. They think that all gay men do is contract AIDS from having too many partners and go out at night to dress up in your local gay clubs. This isn't true. Sure, there are some who do that, but it is a very small minority. Gay love is the same thing as straight love. There is no difference but what sex you're falling in love with. Who are we to deny those who love eachother the sacred code of marriage?

Unfortunately, gays would never be allowed to marry in churches because of biblical code. This is a sad truth. But that doesn't mean that they cannot recite vows to eachother and be considered "married" by state law. Gay men and women are just as capable at bringing up children as straight couples. Have you ever seen the movie "The Birdcage"? Van, the son, turned out to be a sensitive, hard-working, yet still manly, man- even though both his parents were gay. One could argue that its just a movie, but that movie is not far from the truth at all. I know many gay men. They are all nurturing, hysterical (as in funny), hard-working, compassionate, individuals. To deny two men of that stature the right to become one body is a disgrace. The same goes for homosexual women.

Does the constitution not extend equal rights to all? It may not mention gays specifically, but gays living in America are AMERICANS. Henceforth, gays are included in all rights of the consitution. They are people too. Why do we insist on keeping this issue up in the air? Why must we add one more problem to our plate? If we just give them the right of marriage, they would be happy and the Americans who oppose it would just have to get over it, like they get over all the other decisions government makes. You can never make EVERYONE happy.

How much of an impact would something like gay marriage actually make on a straight man's life? In retrospect, nothing at all. "So there's gay marriage? Who cares?" would ultimately be his/her reaction over time. Just because gay marriage is suddenly instated, doesn't mean that all men and women are going to turn gay and run off with their lovers and then destroy the earth because no more babies will be born. That is a sick and twisted view. And an ignorant one to say the least.

There's absolutely no problem with gay marriage. They're not going to take away or lessen the amount of married couple benefits. There would be a staggering amount of marriages overall (gay and straight) in the first 2-3 years of this law being instated. But afterwards, marriage rates would average out and benefits, divorces, separations, would all be at an average (if not the same rate as before).

Gays are people who love too. We can't deny them the next step in social equality.

Pedophiles love too.

So do those people who have sex with animals.

Do they get equal rights? It's the fact that homosexuality is not normal. Only recently has it been made out to be by the media and the government. However, I would never condone mistreatment of Gays. They still are humans and thus should be respected.

However, I will always stick by my case that homosexuality should not be encouraged. I don't believe it spreads disease...but I don't believe it does anything good for society either.

However don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of STRAIGHT promiscuity either.

I dont see the validity of your statements Falangist. No one is encouraging homosexuality. Its just become another common way of life. DOn't you think there were always gays? They just weren't accpeted. Now in these times gays are actually allowed to be free and accepted. Its liberating for them. How is homosexuality doing no good for the society? Are that many people gay? Why can't you just accept the fact that homosexuality is another way of life? It really isn't that hard. No one is pressuring YOU to be gay. No one is encouraging you to go have sex with a man. Gays are not premiscuous human beings in general. Your views are obviously ignorant and uneducated. Go to NYC and delve into the villgae and its culture. And you'll see a world of beauty and happiness and love that would never even touch the idea of "hurting society."

Pedophilia is illegal by the constitution and is a vulgar idea to bring into this topic. And beastiality is also illegal. And you can't marry an animal, Falangist- don't be superficial. That was an invalid point.

The country has become accostomed to telling people that "If you feel gay, come out of the closet." Now having gone through puberty, I can honestly say that myself and many other boys and probably girls who go through puberty sometimes get curious of the same sex. The problem is most people simply pass through that akward phase unphased. However it is the few who hear "If you think you are gay, come out of the closet" that honestly begin to believe they are gay because of those feelings, and may remain that way. I am not an advocate of believing that homosexuality is begun at birth.

And to a less intellectual point, it is "against my religion" as Bahra said. It is against Christianity to be Gay. But when you take religion out of it, other arguments are hard to come up with because alot of people don't listen to my opinion, calling me a "bad person" and a "homophobe." So, before we debate about this, AverageJoe, are you willing to listen to my arguments as I am willing to listen to yours without being called either of these things? Can we have a civilized debate about homosexuality and I not have to be called a "terrible preson?" If so, let's debate . I doubt you would do that. You seem very intellectual.

I would never insult you based on your views. Thats immature. But I do want you to listen to me and accept my views as well (which I think you will). I don't accept your puberty point. I agree with the fact that all boys and girls, including myself, have had curiosity about the same sex upon hitting puberty. But to say that those who hear "If you think you're gay, come out of the closet," honestly think they are and do come out is pretty radical. I mean really, put yourself in that position. You have thoughts about the same sex and they're really strong so you think you're gay. One night you hear "If you think you're gay, come out." So you decide to. Now imagine actually getting to the phase of dating that same sex person and even performing intercourse. Hormones wouldn't do that. Anyone would have enough sense to say "Wait a second. This isn't for me. What am I thinking?" and walk away from it. And therefore we can accept it as "just a phase." And, as you well know, phases are only temporary. They would return to leading a straight life, but knowing that homosexuality is not the road for them. To me, it is unfathomable to conceive that there are some who are that affected by the media that they change there complete lifestyle (but I do know what you're trying to say). But your account for this may be 1 in every 500,000 teenagers. A very miniscule number in the large picture. (And if they're that affected by the media, let them be.) Personally, I believe that people are born gay.

(Please keep religion out of any argument. It is much too touchy and quite frankly unnecessary to talk about because we can't change doctrine.)

p.s. I agreed with you on the "return to sender topic" if you want to go look at it.

I'm pretty sure there's nothing in the Constitution about that. There are better (and not blatantly wrong) reasons to outlaw pedophilia. Find them.

You're correct. But we can assume that pedophilia is illegal. And we're discussing gay marriage, not pedophilia. I need not search for other sources.