Why would anyone matter who another man/woman married? Unless the institution is governed by religious motivations- The LGBT community should be allowed secular rights to marry and receive secular benefits as married couples. Are we free or fascist?

Marriage is between two people, regardless of gender. This country was founded on freedom (not, by the way, on Christianity -- see the Treaty of Tripoli for this point), and to deny freedom to a group of people based on their preferences goes against eve

Marriage is not simply manifstation of intense emotion..that's trying to phillosophise a 'b!#%#^$t' using so called intelligent reasons. If so, on this basis alone a son can marry with his mother or a daughter can marry with her father, rite! .

just because you think it's "icky" doesn't give you or anyone else the right to deny someone their freedoms. the same was thought not that long ago that people of different races shouldn't marry and, in fact, there were some states that banned interracial

My loving someone of the same sex does no harm to others, aside from getting nosey people's panties in a twist because of things they believe are going on in the bedroom. If I want to officially show my love for someone, I should be allowed to.

who gives a flying f&#k what the bible says? not everyone in this country is Christian. it is ignorant to even bring the bible into this argument. .

Why would you take the Bible literally regarding gay marriage? Do you also think it's all right to sell your daughters into slavery? The Bible says so.

http://www.ValueALLfamilies.com

Please go to this website. It shows how James Dobson of (Focus on the Family) uses gays for political advantage. Karl Rove had Dobson on his speed dial. Just another way for Republicans to divide and conquer. The marriage amendment will not only make “marriage” illegal for gay Americans but also ANY kind of legal civil unions. What everyone seems to be leaving out is the second sentence of the marriage amendment. It states “all legal rights associated with marriage can not be given to gays.”

In Michigan this month, 375 gay Americans in committed domestic partnerships just lost their health insurance because of the 2004 Michigan “marriage amendment.” This is not what America stands for. It is simply prejudice against gay people. We need to grow up and vote for things that matter. Bashing gay people should not be top of the list. The “caveman” thinking of the Republican party has got to go.

Yabba “W” Doooooooo

Extinguish the CAVEMAN in 2008. Vote Democratic!!!! We the people means ALL the people.

http://www.valueALLfamilies.com

Google: Michigan gays lose health insurance

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&fkt=1344&q=michigan+gays+lose+health+insurance&btnG=Google+Search

We hear that religious people absolutely hate this thing with gay marriages because it's supposabley sinful. da da da do do do thats all i hear. Marriage it more legal these days anyways. when you get married to a person yes , you do love them but, IT ALSO A BIG Financial decision!!! so being gay or not doesnt really apply to being married. if they want to be together let them i support it 100%. religious fanatics should stay in their little corner, where they belong!!!!

there is supposed to be a seperation between church and state....at least in the united states...

The U.S. was founded on secularism, but everyone has this Christian morality where they say "marriage is between man and woman, sacred to god" but they fail to see not everyone believes in their religion. Therefore we spit in the faces of many.

the united was found "under god." the united states was NOT founded on secularism!

listen to you. you can barely type. God is dead. f##k off redneck.

All men are born equal, and deserve the same rights. Furthermore, a person has the right to do as he pleases as long as he doesn't hurt anyone. .

Freedom of religion means that no matter what your religion says, no one is obligated to follow it against his will. If according having sex with fat people is immoral, I can't illegalize fat sex.

I'm not much of a religious person, but didn't God say we weren't to judge people...that it was HIS job? No one has the right to deny two people who love each other the rights that marriage provides.

making a statement about a person's religious convictions is not a judgement. the bible says that we can know them by their fruits.

government's should not be allowed to stop any citizen from freely bonding themselves to another citizen. morality is the province of religions - not governments.

i believe that priests/parsons should not be allowed to "marry" people (legally speaking). i'll say it again...legal unions are gov't things...a marriage is a religious/moral oath - not a gov't thing.

Your only legitimate option in life, if you're anti-gay, is to continue not being gay. It neither breaks your leg nor picks your pocket for gays to be married, so all the moral soap-boxing is exactly that; soap-boxing, and not a thing more.

I know I have addressed this issue before. That does not alter the fact that marriage licenses are not granted by the church. There are plenty of churches out there willing and able to perform the rites associated with marriage to same sex couples. (and they do it on a regular basis.) This issue is not about religion, or the rites involved. It is about equal treatment under the law. The Netherlands has no mention of gender in their marriage laws, yet they are one of the most civilized nations today. In the US, "families" who have disowned and abandoned their offspring because of the choices that offspring has made in life (choosing a same sex partner) suddenly appear when their gay son or lesbian daughter dies, and proceed with all haste to take everything that the couple has worked their whole lives for away from the surviving partner. I personally had to fight the state of Nevada to release my dead lover's body to me for burial. They would rather have given her a pauper's grave at state expense than let me bury her next to my son in our family plot. (I won that one, I lost another one of the same nature later on.) Same sex couples must go through extraordinary measures to insure all they work for together cannot be taken from them at the whim of angry relations who have not been heard from for decades. If and when heterosexual couples have to jump through the same hoops to keep what is theirs, or to get joint insurance, joint taxpayer status etc etc etc.. then my voice will be still on the subject.

It is my experience that the average person does not even know the difference between morals and ethics. Morals are between you and whatever god you believe in.. ethics are the social interactions of people.. and what I have seen under the law .. with respect to same sex couples is so unethical it makes me sick.

Equal treatment under the law is the force behind legalization of same sex marriage.. and will eventually prevail.

As long as two people love each other i don't think it really matters about there gender.

There should be no debate. No problem at all..go for it. Why does society try to control what we do?

LGBT individuals should enjoy the rights of marriage, because marriage is a legal union that bestows several benefits and recognizes the relationship in the eyes of the law. Religious marriage, on the other hand, recognizes the sanctity of marriage and should be left up to the individual religions.

Our Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law and I see no reason why this clause shouldn't apply to the legal rights of marriage as well. If we were going to give tax cuts only to men or only to white people, there would rightly be an uproar. Why shouldn't there be such an uproar when LGBT individuals are systematically discriminated against?

Of course gays should have the right to have a legally-recognized marriage. The only reason that gays are so looked down upon is because the Bible and all Christian teachings tell us that being gay is "wrong". But if God makes no mistakes, then He did not make a mistake when he made a gay person. Being gay is not a choice; why would someone CHOOSE to be ostracized by society in general? But the Bible teaches us that gay sex is wrong because it doesn't produce a child....hmmmm.......which means if you are gay you are not adding to the ranks, dammit, and that is your sole reason for being on this earth (according to Christians, anyway) I am not gay, but I fully support the rights of one human being to love another, without restriction, as long as they are consenting adults. I do hope there will soon come a time when this neanderthal mentality will die.

gay marraiges are in no way harmful to every day american culture. if anything, the vision of revelution should be seen in the unions.

and all of that is really just bullshitting anyway-love is pure in any form it is felt.

What is this supposed to mean?

uh.. that the rest of us are married and miserable, why should homosexuals be exempt. .

The universe is big. Really, really big. Big to the power of 'you have no farking clue'. And the biblethumpers would have us believe that the alleged creator of thousands of identified, countable galaxies, each with hundreds of millions of stars and resultant solar systems in them, would give a damn about telling some desert-dwellers in one specific part of one specific world in one specific solar system in our particular galaxy how to fuck? Talk about arrogance on the parts of those who really believe hilarity on that scale.

O'yea, for the hubris of man is eclipsed only by it's inventive stupidity. There's some holy scripture for ya, biblethumpers.

this SHOULD not be about children or sexual preference. but both sides seem hell bent to put it in thoes terms.

governement took control of marriage due to consanguinuity, estate legality, divorce, inter-racial marriage, polygamy, etc... the racial bit aside (bigotry is what i hope to be the growing pains of an adolesent culture) society has demonstrated a need for regulation in several of these areas. regulation means government sanctioning.

the sad fact that a state supreme court couldn't find the stones to make a legal decison (which is what they do... used to do) doesn't make matters any better. it should never have gone to the voters in california.

Homosexuals should be aloud the same benefits for marriage as heterosexuals because it is SEXIST to deny them otherwise. . If homosexuality is a biological development, it is wrong to deny marriage. And in our modern society, you almost have to be married to afford a home, insurance, and other societal needs.

Stopping gay marriages will not stop gay people from homosexual activities. .

There is no rational, or logical, argument against homosexuality, or homosexual marriage. However, an argument can be made from any moral standpoint in support of gay marriage. Thus, gay marriage should be allowed and it is immoral to refuse it.

People have free will and should be allowed to live how they should. No everyone believes in the Bible, using that as a point of reference becomes annoying to people who think the Bible is a waste of paper. So stop using it as a crutch, idiot.

Maybe if gays were accepted in society our gay republican congressmen would be able to be themselves and live happy lives with their partner without having to seek out gay sex through the anonymity of a bathroom stall.

Or have illicit conversations with their pageboys via the internet. (snickering).

Celebrity marriage and high divorce rates are how you quote end quote "Christians" handle something SACRED like marriage. Why should legislature take time to create laws to limit a love between two people? We have bigger problems. Global Warming?!. People can actually register on line for a license to join two people in marriage. The points that have been made on the other side of this page are hardly good arguments. . Homosexuals should be allowed to marry because of love. I'm gay, and if I can't get married in the church so be it. But you can get married by a Justice of the Peace. When two people love each other they should be allowed to marry. Oh, and since when has marriage just been about pro-creating. Last time I checked, it IS possible to get pregnant without marriage. Marriage isn't sacred anymore. It's a way of showing a union with state & government.

Civil liberties are a much debated topic. The question of whether or not a same sex couple should be able to have equal marriage rights often times turns in to a heated discussion. Recently, there are more brave people, gay and straight alike responding with a resounding yes to this highly deliberated topic. Homosexual couples should be given the same marriage rights as straight people.

One could argue that a civil partnership is just as good as marriage, but they would be wrong. Civil Unions aren’t marriages because marriages are recognized by every state and every country. Civil unions aren’t any good outside of the state that granted them in most cases. History has always showed us that separate is not equal. You can put nice cushions in the back of the bus, but it’s still the back of the bus.

One reason same sex marriage has become such a hard pill to swallow is due to the conservative views of most religious sects, but even now those numbers are dwindling. Marriage Equality USA confirms individual congregations of Reform Jews, American Baptists, Buddhists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Unitarian Universalists, Methodists, the Society of Friends and members of the United Church of Christ have performed ceremonies for same-sex couples. Reform Jews have even included it into their church constitution and have gone so far to call it “marriage” instead of civil partnership. When pressed with the religious aspect of whether or not gay couples should be allowed to marry it is very important to remember the difference between a religious marriage and a civil marriage. At the end of a tearful wedding when the clergy member announces Mr. and Mrs. Happy Couple they are only married in the eyes of God and no more legally married than they were when the bride walked down the aisle. Civil marriages are only good once the paper work has been filed. The conservative right need not worry about their religious views unless their individual churches are performing these ceremonies.

Another reason same sex couples should be able to have legally binding marriages is because all civil unions do not give complete marriage rights. Citing more information from Marriage Equality USA, in the United States of America there is no option for same sex couples, even those in civil partnerships to file their taxes jointly, therefore the deductible expenses of the one cannot shelter the income of the other. Gay men and lesbians are forced to pay federal taxes for military personnel but, under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy," are refused enlistment or discharged if the military should find out. Gay people pay into the state tax system for benefits such as child welfare even though in many states they are prevented from having custody of children, becoming a foster parent, or adopting children. There are countless other injustices, but these are a few of the worst. Time and time again upstanding members of the LGBT community are forced to pay taxes that support the system that shames and berates them.

Government cannot take away the rights of law abiding citizens. Regardless of the opinions of the majority, especially in a democracy, gay marriage should be legalized in the United States. The arguments against the legalization of same-sex marriage do not merit the legal support of the state, since the state's job is not to promote popular morality or opinion, but the rights of its citizens.

Though people may not agree with the way some people practice their religion, we do not stop them from practicing it. Why should we stop people from exercising their sexuality? If they can find a church to marry them, then who are we to stop them?

I agree that this world is about balance, but to say that it revolves around gender just seems much too short-sighted. Anyone (who is consenting) should be have the choice to get married.

Marriage is nothing more than a legal institution, a contract, in the eyes of the government. Homosexuals can sign other contracts, why not let them marry?. Marriage is not the sacred union many make it out to be. With a divorce rate of over 50% in this country marriage is almost a joke. Rarely does anyone say "until death" and mean it.

If two homosexuals want to pledge their life to each other, and actually mean it, more power to them.

Gays do not have the same rights as heterosexuals. In america, LGBT people can still be fired from their job and gay can be written on the pink slip. That is one of the few ways that homosexuals do not yet have the same rights as heterosexuals.

There are a lot of hot-button issues being discussed all over the country right now, but few subjects incite as much controversy and discussion as the rights of a gay person to marry. A great many people feel that they should not be allowed to, and they seem to have their own reasons, chief among them is that marriage should be known as a union between a man and a woman, because that’s how marriage is defined. That argument raises the question: who should define a marriage? Shouldn’t the people who want to get married be the ones to define what a marriage is and what it constitutes?

People also argue that because no children can be produced naturally between homosexual couples, their marriage isn’t valid. Why, then, is a childless couple’s marriage valid? Suppose you fell in love with someone thirty years older than you were, but the state decided that because the two of you couldn’t produce children, your marriage isn’t valid. You’d call that unconstitutional, wouldn’t you? The reality is that there is no valid reason for not allowing homosexuals to get married, and it doesn’t make any sense that people are fighting to prove that they should be able to get married. You have the right to love who you want, why shouldn’t you be allowed to marry them as well?

The next argument is, of course, that homosexuality is immoral because the Bible defines it as so. One group that makes such claims is the American Family Association. Whether you believe in God or not, this face remains: religion has no place in federal and state law, hence the separation of church and state. Just as the government should not be allowed to control what you choose to believe and what God you choose to worship, no religious group should be able to influence federal law.

People also claim that allowing homosexuals to get married somehow tarnishes the institution of marriage. While it’s true that marriage is a sacred oath, it’s only sacred to those who truly feel that it should be respected. People choose to get married for all sorts of reasons. Think about this: you can go to Las Vegas, pick up a hooker and marry her after you’ve known her for five minutes, and that constitutes a sacred, binding marriage contract. But if you happen to be homosexual and have been with your partner for ten years – if you’ve made a home together or even raised children – you cannot get married, simply because you both happen to be the same sex. Why is the first scenario more valid and worthy of marriage than the second? Because of the reproductive organs involved? And what about divorces? What do those do to the institution of marriage? The argument simply doesn’t make sense.

Another hot-button issue connected to gay marriage is the issue of raising children. People claim children will suffer growing up in a household where only one gender is present, and will thus be maladjusted. They also claim that being raised by homosexuals means the child will become homosexual as well. However, multiple studies have disproved all of that. Children are no more likely to end up being gay when they are raised in a “straight house” than they are when they are raised in a “gay house.”

When you look at this subject logically and really do your research, you’ll find that most arguments against gay marriage are based on ideas that are outdated or just plain wrong on their face. It’s just prejudice disguised as morality, and that is inexcusable – and more importantly, it violates a person’s civil rights. No government should tell you who you can and can’t love, and by extension who you can and can’t marry. This is not an issue of religion or morality – it’s an issue of civil rights, whether you want to believe it or not. Denying someone the right to marry is unconstitutional and goes against everything this country is supposed to stand for. That is why gay people should be allowed to marry – because they have the right to love and be happy just like everyone else.

Not sex, not race, not gender.

Love. Plain and simple.

Homosexuals are no less than other people and hence should be able to get married. They are consenting adults, just of the same sex. I don't see a problem here.