Anonymous Poll: Should homosexuals be allowed to get married?

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Flabbibulin

I can understand the people that are vehemently against, or in support of gay marraige. What I don understand are the people that say marraige is just a word. If its just a word, and not a life long committment, then why are we arguing about it? I dont argue or have an opinion about the word "express", or "instantly" because they are just words.

The "its just a word" crowd may explain why marraiges are ended 50% of the time.

It may explain it...until you have a divorced person argue against gay marriage. I find it pretty hard to believe that there would be no religious person against gay marriage who is divorced.

I'm part of the "marriage is just a word" crowd. I think the meaning behind the term is more important than the actual word. To me, there is no difference between "marriage" or "civil union". They should both mean a lifelong committment to each other.

[RedHot25]

"Marriage" is a loaded/subjective term; its not merely a word. You have even added value/personal bias to it yourself, the yen man.

[Sylvanfan]

No, Divorce lawyers don't need to have their client base increased so they can up their rates.

Seriously though, it does seem like there is a real hang up on the word of marriage. I'm one of those who can't be bothered to care too much either way. But I can see why the church or whatever organization still have the right to choose who can and can not be married, and enforce their own rules. I don't see the fight over the word "marriage" ending anytime soon. For a couple thousand years it's meant a man and a woman living in union, so to change the definition now, thats not happening in the course of 20 years.

The acceptance of homosexual couples having a civil union and the same rights as a heterosexual couple is pretty high and will continue to increase. But the fight over that one word, not ending anytime soon.

[worth]

I support anonymous homosexual pole marriages, and so should you.

[Knalus]

Originally Posted by transplant99

LOL!!

Yes i took a vow to the word marriage...not my wife.

Vow is just a word, too.

[Huntingwhale]

This is my opinion,,,

I could care less what other people do in their own spare time. If 2 men/women love each other, then who are we to stand in their way? Let them get married and enjoy their lives together.

That is all.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

No, Divorce lawyers don't need to have their client base increased so they can up their rates.

Divorce lawyers can make money off the break-ups of gay couples, whether they are married or not (common law).
I think you should be able to marry anyone you want - 2 women, 14 women, your brother, your sister, 6 men, whatever. As long as everyone consents, have at 'er...

[Bunk]

But Marriage is not just a word, but a state of being with a partner that is deeply important to many people. I've lived with my fiancee for quite a while now, nothing about our living arrangement or our love will really change, so why are we bothering to get married? It's because it is important symbollically to us, the bond of marriage is important in formally tie us together as a family and so forth.

The institution of marriage is clearly something that has endured over a long period of time and across virtually every culture, society and religion. Homosexuality is also something that has existed over a long period of time across virtually every culture, society and religion. No reason to expect that committed homosexual couples wouldn't also want the same things that heterosexual couples also want out of marriage. It's just that we're in this transitional period where homosexuals, a group that has been marginalized for basically all of history because of their difference from the majority are gaining acceptence and equality in progressive places. It's no different than how interracial marriage was once viewed as an abomination by some but then people smartened up and it gained mainstream acceptance in our country and others. Should society have "compromised" on interracial marriage as well at the time? Give interracial couples the right to civil union, but not rock the boat on conventions of marriage at the time as being only acceptable as between two people of the same race?

[Rerun]

When gay people get married, does the frequency of sex die off... just like it does for the rest of us?

I say yes... gay people should be able to enjoy all the advantages of marriage... and all its disadvantages too.... especially the divorce part.... just like the rest of the heterosexual world.

[photon]

Marriage is just a word which is a placeholder for the concept of marriage. Other languages have different words for similar concepts.

Concepts change over time, I don't see anyone trying to avoid using the word marriage because it used to (or still) mean more along the lines of ownership and obligation, or arranged setups without free choice, or relationships with what we would today consider under-age people.

So it seems to me that the "dictionary defense" for not allowing homosexual marriage is just a proxy for some other argument.

Because if the concept behind a civil union and the concept behind a marriage is the same, and if there's no resistance to the concept, why the different terms?

Marriage is about commitment and trust and making a vow or contract with a partner in the eyes of society that will be given special status. There is nothing fundamentally different about a homosexual marriage that requires it to be a different institution, and giving it a different name only because it's same sex is divisive.

[Azure]

The meaning of 'marriage' should be an individual concept anyways.

[The Goon]

Same taxes, same rights.

[Jordan!]

Originally Posted by The Goon

Same taxes, same rights.

Yup

[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

I've always been a fan of the "No to marriage, but let's just call it a Civil Union" side.

I mean it makes perfect sense. They can be Equal, but still seperate.

Yup, "Seperate but equal" now that's a philosophy I can get behind.

Why not just call it gayriagge? Maybe you can get behind that.

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by Flame Of Liberty

Why not just call it gayriagge? Maybe you can get behind that.

[Kidder]

Throughout human history the homosexual's existance
Has been met with suppression or hostile resistance

Unabashedly bashed, martyrs to a flame
Persecution rehashed, and yet they remain

Stretched across time, religion, cultural divide,
Races and species; all corners worldwide

But those who possessed vast righteous acumen
Knew gays were not worthy for rights of the human

At present we're witness to a societal shift
But one which still causes a sizable rift

A culture of acceptance and tolerance pervades
One that can even celebrate homosexual parades

An understanding that although you're not exactly like me
We're all still deserving of love and equality

And no longer is it considered a preposterous notion
That two men or two women can live in mutual devotion

Still as times change there are those who exist
Who can't stroke the issue off their own laundry list

Unconfomist, perverted. Wrong or immoral,
Mutated, deviant, unnatural, abnormal

Why the world should oppress these abominations
They stand rigid and firm behind their justifications

And of course in the spirit to leave no one offended
I must point out that last stanza garnered no pun intended

One thing that these zealots may not understand
Is the day of reckoning is always at hand

For to live in a society where homosexuality is barred
May leave your very own children internally scarred

For if mommy and daddy believe that who I am is wrong
Then maybe this world is one in which I don't belong

And I'll go through my life incomplete and in fear
Because who I desire is labeled as queer

And who would dare argue that when push comes to shove
They should feel at all uneasy so that I may feel love

For selfishness certainly does not apply
When faced with a dude who wants to marry a guy

Why should a minority be given a voice
When gays' nefarious nature is clearly a choice

Or even if it's not, what difference should it make
When what comprises their being is nature's mistake

Just be certain to thank God every single night
That you were so fortunate to be born in the right

And pray to Him that in the future you shall not view
A time when the righteous should try to repudiate you

But if the time should come you will humbly accept
The sanctimonious decision, however inept

So heaven forbid your child be a gay
Because Lord only knows you didn't raise it that way


Noble are you who have joined up in this fight
Lending a hand to the homosexuals' plight

For anyone who joined in this intervention
Before it became part of social convention

You aided a human who felt helpless or meek
Gave them a platform when they had no place to speak

You understood that the human condition
Shouldn't rely on a predisposition

You may have saved a soul, yet to be born
From an adolescence of guilt, shame and of scorn

And that they may grow up to realize
The joy of staring in your partner's eyes

Surronded by all your family and friends
A euphoric feeling that simply transcends

As you recite a promise to the one you adore
That you will love and honour them... forever more.



Honestly. To anyone who has voted yes in this poll. Or supported gay rights in anyway. Thank-you. You are a commendable person.

[puckluck]

Bump for the people that stopped by for the draft.

[Azure]

I'm curious to hear some of the reasons people say no.

Maybe if some of you wouldn't rag on them all the time they might stop by to explain.

[Pastiche]

Absolutely not. Wont someone think of the unborn children?

[onetwo_threefour]

Unconfomist, perverted. Wrong or immoral,
Mutated, deviant, unnatural, abnormal

Kidder,

Nice use of assonance...