Majority of Americans Now Support Gay Marriage - The Evolution of Acceptance

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic

Majority of Americans Now Support Gay Marriage

Which majority would that be? lol!

No, please don't thumb-tack the 'homophob' or 'hater' tag on my forehead. I was just pointing out that polls are useless except to create designer perceptions in the public. Opinion manipulation is an old trick and one that is applied by nearly everyone and anyone with a position to shove at you.

Yes, if we are told that everyone believes this way or that way, we may be inclined to sign off on it so that we aren't in a minority.

Gawd, we do so love to be trendy and march to the beat of the most popular drummer.

Again, this is not a comment on the subject of homosexual marriage, but of opinion polls.

Peace.

reply to post by mjfromga
Well those are all more philosophical questions that are valid and I don't have the answers, but we are talking about right now, how the laws are set up. As far as abortion I'm not going to say much because I am a man and have not been in that position. But I would just say try putting yourself in that girls position. Many girls commit suicide after being raped or raped multiple times, just imagine them being in that vulnerable position on top of having a daily reminder of said rape growing inside them for nine months.

The whole abortion debate is a very controversial one No matter what way it goes someone is not going to be happy, so I don't have the answers for that either. But I will say one thing. People who say abortion should be illegal even for insestual rape is going a bit too far in my opinion. Me personally I am against making abortion illegal. I think if the fetus can survive on its own outside of the womb than it should be aborted in a C-Section and treated just the same as a premature birth. If it is before the fetus can live outside of the womb I think it should be up to the mother/parents. But again that is my opinion and I know I will get flak for it but I speak for myself. For instance my girlfriend is against abortion in anyway except the health of the mother is at stake or insestual rape has occured, but I respect her opinion like she respects mine (lets just hope we never get in a situation where we have to make a decision lol).

I support gay marraige... have whatever sort of ceremony and comittment that you want.

I don't support the government recognizing it though (IE. imposing legalities upon the relationship).

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Not getting married is an option for everyone. No one is saying that gay people SHOULD get married. They should just have the same choices that the rest of us do.

They actually have more choice and freedom than straight people do.

They can have whatever sort of ceremony and private commitment that they want.

When straight people get married (and sometimes even when they don't) the government imposes all kinds of legalities and obligations upon them and their relationship.

Originally posted by Open_Minded Skeptic
First, given that a state or states in the US has a legal contract called marriage, with certain legal benefits as defined at both the state and federal level, such states are required, by the US Constitution, to provide those legal benefits to all citizens:

And before the "marry my car", "marry my dog", "marry my child" crowd starts, note that cars, dogs and children are not able to enter into legal contracts of any kind, be they related to marriage or anything else.

Marraige isn't a contract. It's the state imposing legalities upon certain types of relationships. In some cases they can treat you as if you were married even if you never got married... not a contract. They can also change the legalities imposed on a married couple the day after they get married, w/o the couples consent... not a contract.

Originally posted by Open_Minded Skeptic
Second, this issue is like so many others... we have two groups of citizens. Group A wants to do something that affects them and does not harm anyone else. Group B does not approve of whatever it is. But instead of Group B just minding their own business, Group B decides they must work to infringe on the rights of Group A. Group B basically says "I don't want to do [whatever], so you must not.". It's the same, whether we are talking private ownership of firearms or the rights of gay people. Group B is essentially anti-freedom. What is interesting is that both extremes of the opinion range are guilty of this behavior. If the subject is private ownership of firearms, Group B tends to be people on the left side of the spectrum. If the subject is gay marriage, Group B tends to be people from the right side. Anti-freedom is anti-freedom. Both 'sides' can stand to take a lesson here.

Completely wrong... having the government involved in your relationship (determining obligations etc. etc.) is a loss of freedom. The people begging for this "right" are actually begging for a loss of freedom.

Originally posted by mjfromga
What if two brothers become widows. One has a good job and benefits and the other doesn't have any benefits. Should they be allowed to get married so that the one can qualify for benefits? You can say, ewww, they are BROTHERS. But that doesn't mean they are having sex, and even if they did, it's not like they would be having kids.

Exactly correct. There would no longer be any rationale for not allowing relatives (of any gender) to "marry."

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Seems older people and Republicans are the holdouts. One of those is self-correcting and eventually, I hope Republicans will see that their discrimination is unconstitutional. They should be made aware that they cannot preach "smaller government" and then increase government's intrusion into our lives.

The "recognition of marraige" is a government intrusion into our lives! It's the government imposing conditions upon our most intimate relationships - that's it!

Good grief.

Originally posted by jstanthrno1
So sick of this PC society and I've become ashamed to be an American.

Marriage is when a MAN and a WOMAN decide they want to be together and raise a family. Since you can't reproduce with two of the same sex, obviously gays werent meant to do this.

Go be queer.. do whatever you want. Why must it constantly be thrown in my face?? Why must I be forced to accept it?? Why am I labeled a bigot for not supporting your alternative lifestyle??

I'm from the old school and not interested in being poltically correct. There is something mentally wrong with homosexuals.

As opposed to the people who hold the backwards beliefs that there's something mentally wrong with homosexuals and that they shouldn't be married? Also, the people who say it's being thrown in their almost never have that happen to them, whereas the reverse for gays actually does.

*being thrown in their faces

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
I agree that the economic situation is serious and affects us all. But this is a SOCIAL issue - there is a group of people in this country who still doesn't have the same rights as everyone else and I think that is an important issue, too. We can work on the economy AND civil rights.

Wrong. Government recognition of your relationship isn't a right it's an erosion of your rights.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
I also agree that conservatives made gay marriage a distraction for purposes of fear-mongering (just like abortion), but I think we need to continue to move forward in the civil rights issues for everyone's sake. For the sake of equality.

Gay people have every right that I have.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
I think we're seeing the evolution of acceptance and I'm really happy about it.

Government recognition of your relationship has nothing to do with acceptance, it has to do with the government wanting to impose itself upon that relationship.

Originally posted by technical difficulties
As opposed to the people who hold the backwards beliefs that there's something mentally wrong with homosexuals and that they shouldn't be married?

There is noothing progressive or enlightened about anal sodomy for example, it spreads disease like wildfire, it injures the "recipient" over time... it should be considered assault.

Originally posted by Misoir
What truly makes me sit back and think is that beginning in the 1950s the GOP put in place a plank of their platform which called for expanding civil rights to women while the Democratic Party platform had nothing about equal rights for women. Now 60 years later the GOP is fighting against expanding civil rights to a minority group.

Has nothing to do with civil rights... gay people aren't denied any civil right, they have every right that I do.

The people who have ever claimed homosexuality to be a choice have never been a homosexual themselves and therefore have no idea what it's actually like. It's not something you wake up one morning and decide you're going to be. It's the result of having no attraction to members of the opposite sex, due to an error in the wiring of the brain. Studies have actually been done that show the brains of homosexual males to be similar to those of heterosexual females. For this reason, I support same sex unions. Why should two people who have absolutely no control over their attraction be denied the right to marry?

You can give me a box of tools, and put me in a car shop and put my name on a piece of paper, but that will not mean I am an auto mechanic. Two men can get the paper from the state, they can even say the words, but they will never be married and will not be in a marriage. Marriage is a trinuine relationship between a man and woman and God. Since God says that homosexuality is an abominable sin He can not, nor would He ever bless it or be partner to it. Homosexuals are merely going through the motions pretending to be married. They're just two guys or two women having unmarried homosexual sex. Nothing else. This American does not support homosexual marriage, and there's nothing "gay" about homosexuality.

Originally posted by 9Nania
The people who have ever claimed homosexuality to be a choice have never been a homosexual themselves and therefore have no idea what it's actually like. It's not something you wake up one morning and decide you're going to be. It's the result of having no attraction to members of the opposite sex, due to an error in the wiring of the brain. Studies have actually been done that show the brains of homosexual males to be similar to those of heterosexual females. For this reason, I support same sex unions. Why should two people who have absolutely no control over their attraction be denied the right to marry?

Whether it's a choice or not is irrelevent.

Have whatever kind of marraige you want, government recognition of it (IE. intrusion) is not a right.