Re: Victory for Marriage in Maine

[dickyguapo]

Brave video. Thanks. Keep on keeping on, because the world is evolving, and bigots cannot stop progress. I live in Spain, where marriage equality has existed for the last 5 years. It did not cause the devastation that Ms Gallagher likes to imagine, and feed to her neurotic followers. The best, and ironically most political, thing a gay man can do is live a good and happy life. Bigots cannot stop that. And I wish you that happiness AbsurdnMisherd !

[AbsurdnMisherd]

@dickyguapo Thank you for uplifting comment. It made my day :)

[AntarcticaPride]

@AbsurdnMisherd Im from the Religious Society of Friends, I joined when I was 14.

we accept gays, homosexuals, or whatever you prefer to call your orientation.

what do you think of this kind of a phenomenon ?

a religious group, fighting for your rights.

[patrianews]

Homosexualists need to be consistent with the extremist ideas they have been caught trying to force upon society. They must demand equal civil marriage rights for everyone across the board, including those who love and want to marry multiple partners, blood relatives, minors or animals, or they must stop pretending they stand for equal rights at all.

[kenballer00]

We can always make sure that civil unions have all the same rights (including federal) down the future without having to redefining marriage for everyone.

[BIitzed]

A redefinition of marriage isn't for everyone-- just for gays. If you aren't going to get married to someone of the same-sex, then the fact that the legal definition of marriage would encompass same-sex couples has no effect on you. And no-- civil unions are not equal, and they never can be. Separate is not equal; it isn't now and it never has been.

[kenballer00]

are you saying separate is never equal in principle or in a practical sense or both and then explain the principle and practical reason

[BIitzed]

Under the US Constitution, separate institutions/laws are not equal. This is the basis on which segregation and anti-miscegenation laws were struck down. In other words, creating two identical institutions and calling one marriage and the other civil union and separating them based on sexual orientation is a form of segregation, and that is simply unjust and wrong.

[kenballer00]

the separate but equal concept was mainly applied to race relations not gender. We have separate but equal situations for men and women that permeate our country ranging from restrooms, the military, and even separate but equal schools; regardless of what the the civil rights bill of 1964 says about government officials not being allowed to discriminate or segregate citizens in public facilities on the grounds of race, religion, and GENDER.

continuing.....

[BIitzed]

I never said gender, I said sexual orientation. Marriage and civil unions would not be segregated based on gender, but orientation. I don't, and shouldn't have to, drink out of different water fountains or use different bathrooms. By the way, public schools are not allowed to be segregated, whereas private schools can be. And the fact that the military is "segregated" based on gender proves nothing, as the military also bars gays from joining, showing that it is hardly a just institution.

[kenballer00]

Obviously, Its because there's a fundamental difference between race and gender. This is why we no longer have bans on interracial marriage or have Jim Crow laws but still have and always accepted separate bathrooms for men and women, etc and define marriage between one man and one woman. you would agree that men and woman are equal but different just like civil unions and marriage.

[BIitzed]

You are setting up a strawman argument which has nothing to do with what I said. However, since you continue to talk about bathrooms and trying to relate it to marriage I'll respond. The fact is that public restrooms are segregated because men and women have different needs (privacy, urinals for men). The facilities are not separate but equal, they are wholly different. You are advocating segregating gays and straights, and calling these separate institutions equal.

[kenballer00]

besides, the two relationships can not be of equal value to society or the state anyways because it is biologically impossible for same sex to procreate and rear children naturally. for centuries, we have understood traditional marriage to be the best thing for children and society , so i don't see how the "separate but equal " argument holds any water whether in Principle or in Practice

[BIitzed]

It's perfectly possible for us to procreate and to rear children naturally. Besides the obvious fact of in vitro being done by some, we also adopt. There are plenty of infertile straight couples who do the same, so how are we any less deserving of marriage rights than they are?

[BIitzed]

"for centuries, we have understood traditional marriage to be the best thing for children and society " For hundreds of years, people thought slavery was the best thing for our society, too. Obviously historical opinions are worthless in this discussion, so stop throwing around appeals to tradition.

[BIitzed]

If you don't think gays should raise children, why are you arguing against marriage? Gays already can and do raise kids without marriage, so either you should start attacking that or drop the argument all together. Otherwise you are merely advocating stripping rights away from kids and their families, just because their parents happen to be gay.

[AbsurdnMisherd]

@kenballer00 Dear Kenballer00,

Have you ever had the shit beat out of you for being different? For being tall or short, black or white, left-handed or right handed? Something you couldn't help?

Being gay is not a choice. I know because my Christian parents tried to make me believe otherwise, which almost resulted in my suicide. Why live if I can't be myself. After that I accepted who I was. But society didn't. I was attacked because I was gay. I wasn't harming anyone. just walking.

[AbsurdnMisherd]

@kenballer00 Dear Kenballer00,

Have you ever had the shit beat out of you for being different? For being tall or short, black or white, left-handed or right handed? Something you couldn't help?

Being gay is not a choice. I know because my Christian parents tried to make me believe otherwise, which almost resulted in my suicide. Why live if I can't be myself. After that I accepted who I was. But society didn't. I was attacked because I was gay. I wasn't harming anyone. just walking.

[AbsurdnMisherd]

@kenballer00 (part 2) So it was with me lying on the ground bleeding that I realized I wasn't thought to be equal. Because I was different I was apparently a threat. Gay marriage recognizes on a federal level the fact that homosexuals can love just as much as heterosexuals. Something anti-marriage equality tend to lack: love. I know this concept of loving another person may be hard to grasp for you, but it does happen. and those two people should be allowed to have the safety marriage provides

[AbsurdnMisherd]

@kenballer00 (Part 3) say you're married and your wife was in a coma, even if there was a 90% chance of her waking up, and her dad wants to pull the plug, he gets to choose not you. Now that her dad pulled the plug the state says your kids aren't your kids. Children you raised. So they're taken away. And the house? not in your name? They'll just take that too. and the pension now that she's gone. You have no access to that or any other form of insurance other then your own.