Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm a pretty conservative guy. I'm an independent voter and believe in a balance of power. I collect guns and am an NRA life member.
I also believe that by blocking same sex marriage we send a message that not all men are created equal. Religious dogma has been the domineering power in U.S. politics.
However this is not 1987 nor is it 2004, it's 2014 and the power has shifted to include the GLBT community as a community that historically has been on the receiving end of bias and abuse by said religious organizations.
The religious sects that decry discrimination based on their belief system is the same as any other organization that was a controlling power in this country. The KKK was massive during the early part of the last century with a demonstration of their power and influence accumulating with the Klan's March On Washington in 1928 where an estimate of 40,000 Klans men and women draped in the hood and American flag marched.
As reprehensible as the KKK was and is, it was a time in our history where religious sects discriminated against other human beings, that time those human beings were blacks, Catholics, Jews, Gypsies, etc.
During the late seventies Jerry Falwell used a platform of religion to promote a power base consisting overwhelmingly of white, middle class Christian families that had a "" My way or the highway "" approach to life including controlling much of D.C. thus controlling much of the country.
In 2014 we see a continuing rapid decline in right wing Christian based power and a rise in what that organization calls deviant secular humanistic and atheist control of the country.
As the old guard fades their voices become louder in an attempt to compensate for their dwindling representation. A new guard of tolerant and accepting Christian faiths have and are quickly taking over as the majority representation of Christianity. They fully accept the GLBT community and their rights to not only exist but to be treated fairly and equally without discrimination.
The fight for civil rights of the GLBT community has been ongoing since the late sixties, what many see as a heavy handed approach to social and legal change is the power shift I mentioned earlier growing stronger to the tipping point.
My sister is lesbian. We grew up in a fire and brimstone fundamentalist Christian church. In our family tree we have great great aunts and uncles who were ranking members of the KKK. As time progressed our family distanced ourselves from that history. The reason why I tell you this is that I am not just writing this from a standpoint of being a news junky but I have also been directly affected by the very groups that I publicly denounce.
The GLBT community will have their civil rights and a decade from now we as a collective whole will be arguing about other things that are pressing matters of the day.
Very well said! It's easy to ignore prejudice and bigotry as long as you or anybody you know personally isn't touched by it. When you realize that bigotry touches your neighbor, your classmate, your co-worker, even your relatives, that changes the whole game. It takes it from an abstract idea to a very personal, very real thing. That's when people who don't personally suffer the prejudice and bigotry decide that they do have a dog in this fight, be it the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s or GLBT rights in the 2010s.
I have no idea why homosexuals keep moving into conservative states, of course they will say that they are protecting their rights but why not be smart and move to a liberal state that accepts you all?, this is a simple resolution if you are a homosexual go to a state that supports it if you are not pro-gay move to a conservative state, if you do not want to move then too bad you are screwed.
You have a point. Maybe gay folks should move to liberal places like Houston, Texas, where they elected and then re-elected an openly Lesbian mayor. Didn't she recently marry her female partner?
Another liberal place gay folks can move to is San Antonio, Texas. I hear they enacted a pro-gay rights city ordinance last year. Austin, too, is a "gay friendly" city I hear.
You're on to something. Maybe all these gay folks should move to Texas.
On the other hand, it could be these gay people are moving to "conservative" states just to pi$$ off conservatives.
It seems that the OP has failed to participate in the 'great debate' he started. Perhaps this should die like many attempts to chum the water with no goal or purpose in mind.
I agree it was a troll post to get a debate going.
But it was refreshing to see that over 90% of the posters are STRONG believers in equality!
It seems that so many people have problems with "Gay Marriage".. The religious folks say it's wrong.. Marriage is defined as between a man and a woman.. Ok.. Minor compromise here for them.. Anyone have a problem if there are no same-sex marriages? Only "Legally recognized unions" between same-sex couples?
Same rights as someone who is 'married'.. Just don't get to use the term "married".. Anyone have a problem with that? Shuts up the religious folks (well, partially) and same-sex couples get (partially) what they want.. Isn't that the sign of compromise? noone's freaking happy.. Noone gets everything they want.. but.. You give a little and get a little and neither side is completely ticked off.
It seems that so many people have problems with "Gay Marriage".. The religious folks say it's wrong.. Marriage is defined as between a man and a woman.. Ok.. Minor compromise here for them.. Anyone have a problem if there are no same-sex marriages? Only "Legally recognized unions" between same-sex couples?
Same rights as someone who is 'married'.. Just don't get to use the term "married".. Anyone have a problem with that? Shuts up the religious folks (well, partially) and same-sex couples get (partially) what they want.. Isn't that the sign of compromise? noone's freaking happy.. Noone gets everything they want.. but.. You give a little and get a little and neither side is completely ticked off.
I'm not against same-sex marriage, and I'm not homophobic at all, but why is this thing everywhere I look now? Can't they just take care of business like normal marriages should on their own time and place?
Because the NYC media sets the agenda and what are their politics? Outside of News Corp, that is.
It seems that so many people have problems with "Gay Marriage".. The religious folks say it's wrong.. Marriage is defined as between a man and a woman.. Ok.. Minor compromise here for them.. Anyone have a problem if there are no same-sex marriages? Only "Legally recognized unions" between same-sex couples?
Same rights as someone who is 'married'.. Just don't get to use the term "married".. Anyone have a problem with that? Shuts up the religious folks (well, partially) and same-sex couples get (partially) what they want.. Isn't that the sign of compromise? noone's freaking happy.. Noone gets everything they want.. but.. You give a little and get a little and neither side is completely ticked off.
The United States is NOT a theocracy, so what some religions want or don't want doesn't matter -- and NOT all churches/religions oppose same sex marriage. If particular religious groups don't like that, then they don't have to marry same sex couples any more than they have to marry opposite couples who don't follow their tenets/practices. Furthermore, depriving some citizens of their rights to appease some religions is a blatant violation of the First Amendment.
Marriage is a function of the state for the purpose of creating and maintaining an orderly society where the rights and responsibilities of married couples are well defined. There's a huge body of state and federal law, both legislative and judicial to do that, covering a broad range of issues from criminal proceedings, child custody issues, inheritances, etc. It makes absolutely no sense to rewrite thousands of laws and review thousands of court decisions to apply them to "legally recognized unions" when, in fact, by simply changing one law per state to allow same sex couples the right to marry, all the laws and court decisions automatically apply.
I would also like to state that everyone who keeps stating "every man is created equal" <= this is referring to race, this was said when the majority of the people in this country were racist against another race <= not sexual orientation, and please stop the oh but we are protecting our rights like slaves, women, etc. these people would . . .
Really? Did you know that "all men are created equal" comes from the Declaration of Independence? Did you know that at the time it was rare for a white person to agree that these words mean that the races are equal?
Do you have some theory why we should not apply this very noble concept to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters?
LOL @ Equality agenda. You want people that flip burgers to make $60k a year as well. This isnt "equality" its political and economic destruction.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It's easy to ignore prejudice and bigotry as long as you or anybody you know personally isn't touched by it. When you realize that bigotry touches your neighbor, your classmate, your co-worker, even your relatives, that changes the whole game. It takes it from an abstract idea to a very personal, very real thing. That's when people who don't personally suffer the prejudice and bigotry decide that they do have a dog in this fight, be it the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s or GLBT rights in the 2010s.
