Saturday May 30, 2009, 6:22 pm
I wish that the President would come down more strongly in favor of gay marriage. I suspect that he does favor its legalization; however, it's just politics as usual.

Saturday May 30, 2009, 6:29 pm
A much needed post Kit. But there is little left...the left is now the middle. Any compromising is to go further to the right. But on some social issues Obamaha is helping...thank goodness. I read sometime back that more young gays kill themselves than any other genre. Whether that still holds or not I don't know. But in a land of supposedly liberty, equality, justice, and the pursuit of happiness by all, the right wing and religious right is way off track.

Saturday May 30, 2009, 7:09 pm
Uh huh...just where Lincoln sat on slavery, and we all know what a stupid, stupid man and terrible President he was. Pragmatism doesn't equate to personal political convenience either, just as it didn't in 1861...

Win a constituency. Champion an issue. The the cost of that would be losing the Congress, and losing on every other cause that is right and just, and that would be a loss of tragic proportions...

We're doing just fine with the issue up here in New England thank you. Perhaps the judiciary in the rest of the country should look in the mirror and take note. Gay marriage will again become an issue on a Federal level when a case lands in the Supreme Court, or, better still, when Congress has to deal with the approval or rejection of a gay marriage ordinance in Washington D.C. - at which time there will be absolutely no place for a politician to hide. A strong voice of support then will go much, much further than it will now.

Saturday May 30, 2009, 9:50 pm
There is no Constitution, no equal rights, no civil rights for those that do not follow "the" religion.

Sunday May 31, 2009, 3:46 am
You wont get gay equality all the time the religious lobby hold sway with their strangely biological belief that humans should only have sex to procreate. But of course they don't discriminate here as they equally bash hetrosexuals as you are not supposed to enjoy sex unless producing offspring! What a perverse lot some religions are! and with the reports of sex abuse currently in the news it's a question of don't do as I do but do as I say! No wonder politics is full of lawyers and religionists sorry I meant to say hypocrits and liers!

Sunday May 31, 2009, 4:15 am
For me this is a simple matter of civil rights granted to all Americans in the constitution, but of course as ever with civil rights there is power to be gained by some through keeping others down. The constitution was not written by biblical scholars, in fact the people who did write it were far less interested in religion then equality. Those who lead the charge against gay rights are lead by those looking for a power base, many fear the reality that the more extreme fundamentalist religions are losing their hold, and they are. It will continue to be a fight but like all the fights for equal rights it will be won.

Sunday May 31, 2009, 1:54 pm
I could not have said it better. Thank you Kit.

Sunday May 31, 2009, 2:02 pm
I believe in equal rights for everyone. If two women or two men want to marry, it's no skin off our teeth. Let them. What are the far-righters afraid of anyway? Equality? It seems they have to oppress people wherever they can, and for what? Their own agendas of what is right and wrong, well just who gave them the right to decide that? They act like being gay is contagious or would taint them (many are closet gays already), hogwash. If God didn't want gay people, He wouldn't have made any people gay. It's not a choice, it is how one is born with their genetic make-up. The far-righters would probably like to decide that too, but they can't. We didn't ask them to make our decisions, so they should just butt out. And no, I'm not gay. You don't have to be gay to believe in equal rights for everything and everybody.

Sunday May 31, 2009, 3:43 pm
There is no such thing as equal justice. It is just a buzz word to make you willing to pay taxes and sacrafice your children to war. Grow up. I did at 53 when I discovered this ugly truth. The concepts of "equal justice" and "liberty and justice for all" are hard to relinquish, and I fought giving them up for a long time, but they simply don't exist in the real world.

Monday June 1, 2009, 12:59 am
Equal rights for all people!!!

Monday June 1, 2009, 5:22 am
Thanks Kit and noted. I am happy there are so many bright people on here! Not that others are not entitled to disagree, they are. But in a country where all citizens are supposed to have equal rights it is most disheartening to have to fight for rights that should already exist! But Women had to fight too as well and African Americans. There will always be those that will not accept equality and some of them are very powerful unfortunately! Have a great day y'all!

Monday June 1, 2009, 2:22 pm
I agree with Barbara. Besides, everybody is responsible for what he/she is doing with his/her life. Hope that Obama (although he is not the president of my country) does what it is right.

Tuesday June 2, 2009, 5:40 pm
unfortunately, it's a process and it's going to be a long slog. a bunch of states have to go down like dominoes, then the federal, and in the end, the ideal will be for the word 'marriage' to go away in a civil context. licenses of civil union will be issued to all, and taken to a religious body if a couple wishes also to be married. our goal, in the meantime, will be to protect gay people from being bashed and murdered, our kids from being bullied and harrassed, and our youth driven to suicide simply for being alive. ho hum.

Tuesday June 2, 2009, 5:57 pm
Yea, it will be a long slow process and those who look back at this will wonder what was wrong with us. Marriage is already a civil union and the ceremony in a church is one of choice and not necessary. Couples in all states must apply for a marriage license, and some years ago had to provide proof of a test for syphilis. All unions are recorded by the state like births, so the religious implications are political. Even the Roman Catholic Church did not involve itself in marriage till a thousand years after it's inception.