[elston]

Originally Posted by southernnaturelover

I'm pretty sure both of my parents are heterosexual, even though I'm not.

same with me.....and there were no family members who were "out".....

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by sleepless in Bham

One of the reason im not a huge fan of the Democrat party in this state.

Same-sex marriage ban a slam-dunk with both parties in Alabama State House 10 years ago | AL.com

You don't get votes in Alabama unless you pander to the Southern Baptists.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by southernnaturelover

You don't get votes in Alabama unless you pander to the Southern Baptists.

Oh you mean the same simpletons that jump ship from the National Baptist Convention because it was pro-integration? Well, they seem to be beacons of social progress or rationale...

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by FSUMike

Congratulations to one Federal Judge who thinks he has the authority to override and redefine 2000 years of Church teaching and thousands more years of human history! Federal Judges always know best, don't they

The Constitution wasn't written in order to uphold Christianity. In fact, if you'd like a privileged glimpse into the minds of the Constitution's guiding philosophy, read the Federalist Papers. You will only find one mention of Christianity in the entire work, and that was making reference to the Germanic tribes at the end of Roman Empire. Otherwise, you will not find the words Jesus, Christ, or Christian. You won't find the word God in the Federalist Papers either, at least in the Judeo-Christian version of God.

That's not because the Founding Fathers were anti-Christian, but rather because they recognized the abuses of power that can take place with Christianity as the official state religion. Remember that the Enlightenment arose in reaction to the Reformation, the Counterreformation, the Thirty Years War, the slaughter of the Huguenots, and the English Civil War, all bloody, ruinous conflicts fought essentially over which religion would prevail. In fact, one of the great ironies of the modern world is that while Christianity remains the official religion of Western Europe, their cathedrals are mostly empty. Meanwhile, Christianity isn't an official religion in the United States, yet religious faith remains far stronger than it was before the Second Great Awakening. Why is that? Because when Christianity becomes the establishment faith of the state, Christianity suffers.

[elston]

Those who ask....."why do they have to call it marriage" don't have the empathy to understand what it means to be the butt of light in the loafer jokes, to be unable to come out and take your same sex interest to the prom; what it feels like to go to showers and bachelor parties and stand up for brothers or buddies getting married....to borrow a line from a Doris Day song....not to be able to "Shout it from the Highest Hill and even tell the golden daffodils." Marriage is the way a mature love is announced to the community and honored by society; civil unions are not only separate but inherently not equal. Legal marriages are not a function of or defined by any church...they are a civil right. My church happens to have no objection to marriage and happily performs religious ceremonies for all couple who present themselves seeking to be married before God and the congregation.

[PeaceOut001]

Originally Posted by sleepless in Bham

I wonder how many millions of dollars (money we don't have BTW) will be spent on a losing cause?

The losing cause is what? How many millions of dollars did companies spend to do the research that proves they can bring in more business by offering domestic partnership benefits and the countless hours to get this pushed through state by state? If the state just offered equal rights (including marriage for partners), how many millions of dollars would they have saved? Gad ... Alabama ... that's amazing.

[PeaceOut001]

Originally Posted by elston

Those who ask....."why do they have to call it marriage" don't have the empathy to understand what it means to be the butt of light in the loafer jokes, to be unable to come out and take your same sex interest to the prom; what it feels like to go to showers and bachelor parties and stand up for brothers or buddies getting married....to borrow a line from a Doris Day song....not to be able to "Shout it from the Highest Hill and even tell the golden daffodils." Marriage is the way a mature love is announced to the community and honored by society; civil unions are not only separate but inherently not equal. Legal marriages are not a function of or defined by any church...they are a civil right. My church happens to have no objection to marriage and happily performs religious ceremonies for all couple who present themselves seeking to be married before God and the congregation.

I was really against calling it marriage because it lights a useless fire against the glbt community. But apparently calling it a civil union has specific implications (so legally, that wasn't going to work and you say that clearly). I didn't know until a few months ago and I fought to get DP benefits in a few corporations successfully years ago, thank goodness.

Your writing and explanation are really lovely. It's great that there's no animosity coming from your church.

Cool quoting Doris Day.

We "hid" kind of by having what we called a commitment ceremony performed by a lesbian Methodist Minister (no one in her congregation knew and it was in 1993). But we had it and dinner and dancing after in another part of the church. Now, we don't need to hide anything and can legally marry when the time is right. It's pretty thrilling.

[Alphareign]

Good.

[Joeyj42]

Originally Posted by PeaceOut001

The losing cause is what? How many millions of dollars did companies spend to do the research that proves they can bring in more business by offering domestic partnership benefits and the countless hours to get this pushed through state by state? If the state just offered equal rights (including marriage for partners), how many millions of dollars would they have saved? Gad ... Alabama ... that's amazing.

He/she meant the losing cause would be to try and appeal/fight against this ruling. It would be worthless to do so. The entire country is moving towards marriage equality. I'm just glad Alabama isn't last for once.

[xboxmas]

You mean, openly gay people exist in Alabama?

(I kid, I kid).