I hate to tell those opponents of gay marriage this, but...

[terrya]

Gay marriage IS going to happen. Maybe not today. Maybe not next week.

It's generational. The fact is, those Americans in their 20's and 30's largely support gay rights...including gay marriage.

Ultimately, we gay people will have our rights. The right to marry and have that marriage legal. The right to adopt children. The right to openly serve in the military. We'll ultimately get everything.

I mean, please. When one of your "arguments" against gay marriage is slogans like "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve", I think you're on a losing side.

I'm angry about this fight right now. But it's tempered by just realizing the course of human events.

Terry

[WillParkinson]

1. Pity...

I probably won't live to see it.

But I wish the future generations the best!

(Until, of course, Pat Robertson funds research to find out that it is genetic and they can learn to turn it off...)

[buck4freedom]

5. Nah...

he'll just decide abortion is OK if genetic testing shows a high probability of a gay child.

[BearFlagDemocrat]

2. I think you're right.

I was listening to RW talk-radio dreck the other day, and the host was complaining about gay rights/marriage. He said, "You realize, we've lost the war on this. We social conservatives. We may win battles here and there, but the war is already over."

I was also listening to NPR this morning, and they had an example of speeches given by pro- and anti-gay marriage advocates in the Mass. legislature. The pro-gay marriage person was saying that she lived through "Separate but Equal" in Alabama (Arkansas?) and she would never place that "second class citizen" status on anyone's shoulders. The anti-gay marriage person's argument was, essentially, "Because God says so."

I'm sorry, but it's just wrong to take rights away from people on the basis of "Because God says so."

[Kathy in Cambridge]

6. Dianne Wilkerson from Boston made the "Separate but Equal" speech

it was very moving...

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. You are absolutley right

It will happen eventually. The big question is when.

[BR_Parkway]

4. It already happens

Gay marriage IS going to happen

Gay marriage is ALREADY happening. There are alot of gay and lesbian couples who have already had a marriage or committment ceremony, many of those were religious ceremonies - they just aren't recognized by the government.

I think it bolsters our argument that some of us are already married. Even some friends of ours, who know we are gay, didn't realize we'd had a committment ceremony - and had absolutely no reply when I asked how their marriage had been affected by knowing us, since we had been "married" longer than they had.

This should be our message - Gays are getting married every day, this is all about government recognition, too many are under the impression that getting married (not to play on semantics here) is going to be some new, scary and therefore potentially harmful thing. They need to understand that we've been doing this for years and the sky hasn't fallen yet

[buck4freedom]

8. Gay Weddings

As a Gnostic minister I've performed two PUBLIC gay weddings in a small southern town of about 30,000 people.

Big Whup! It happens all the time. My partner and I have as many legal protections as we can rig up using contracts, powers of attorney, joint accounts, etc. We'd like the rest now, please. K?

I don't know any of my straight friends who openly oppose gay marriage. I have my thoughts about one of the owners of the company I work for, but I know the other two are cool with it... even asking me yesterday what I was getting Michael (my partner) for Valentine's Day. ;-)

[BR_Parkway]

13. exactly, we need to get this info out

because the opponents are trying to motivate the masses through fear - and ignorance = fear.

Just like the number of people who were really freaked out over gay people but didn't know they knew any - as more came out of the closet, more everyday folks realized we were ok, nice, just like every one else.

When these voters start realizing that many of us are already married, the fear of the unknown goes away. Obviously, nothing will stop the rabid radicals, but they are a minority.

[Kazak]

12. Yeah, but...

I think what the poster means really is that is IS going to be widely accepted, and I agree. In time this issue will come to be viewed much like women's suffrage and desegregation and the bigots will be exposed as such.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

7. I'm walking over to the State House soon-legislature reconvenes at 12

I thought you'd be interested that evangelicals from the Bible Belt and elsewhere have been shipped to Mass and have donated money to lobby legislators. I wish they'd stay the fuck out of my state!

:grr:

[buck4freedom]

9. But hey...

If they're up there... they aren't causing problems down here.

Sorry, that's selfish of me! :-)

[Kathy in Cambridge]

14. They are MOVING up here, unfortunately

A guy that now leads the Coalition for Marriage and Massachusetts Family Institute in Mass., Ronald A. Crews, is a former Georgia legislator.

http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/1997_98/house/gash078.htm

http://www.mafamily.org/inthemedia.htm

Mass. is a tolerant state that's predominately Catholic, Jewish, and Episcopalian. There is a small core of conservative Catholics, but by and large most Catholics are "live and let live".

They fundies are invading and raising their kids here. My fear is that they will degrade our public education system by forcing their religious views into the curriculum. I went to Catholic school growing up, and we had religion in religion class and science in science class. I'm really afraid for my state.

[Tripper11]

10. I must say...

as simply put as I can..I don't get the big hoopla??

My thinking is very simple, if two people love each other, work hard, contribute positively to society based on good intentions not sexuality, pay their share of taxes, and all the other societal things then who cares if it's two men, two women or a woman and man?

[emanymton]

11. It Is Equal Rights, Folks!

Your position is unassailable as long you YOU set the agenda. Don't argue with people on their terms. State your position as equal rights and you cannot be wrong.

What arguments can you have against equal rights?

[LeahMira]

15. Don't forget the older generation... we also support you!

It's generational. The fact is, those Americans in their 20's and 30's largely support gay rights...including gay marriage.

Also, please remember that a lot of us who are not in our 20s and 30s also support you. Every person who is gay has a mother and father, and most have sisters, brothers, and cousins.

Most of us who are older grew up in a time when homosexuality wasn't even discussed. But we are learning. Because we weren't brought up in the open atmosphere that our children are experiencing today, we don't always know quite how to help or what to do. Still, we love our children. There really isn't anything that those children could possibly do that can change that love.

So, tell us what you need, and don't pay any attention to the pointy-nosed busybodies who criticize you. They criticize everybody. Plus, they tend to get even louder when they know they're losing. So smile.

[lovedems]

16. Did anybody see Nightline last night?

There was a Human Rights Coalition member speaking and then some woman from some "families" organization (sorry, I can't remember which one). The argument the lady from the "families" organization was so stupid and bigoted I could hardly believe anyone with half a brain would support her notions.

She wants to define families as "married mom and dad with kids". I find that so offensive because you cannot define a family anymore. My dad is on his 3rd marriage, my mom is on her 2nd so I have 7 step brothers and sisters. Some I know well, some I don't care for. How many grandparents raise their grandchildren these days? How many people adopt? How many single parent households are out there?

Not one of the opponents of gay marriage has an argument that holds water. You cannot define families, you cannot claim that a child needs a mom and a dad, a child needs love to turn out fine. You cannot argue that certain people are entitled to rights while others are not...Their arguments should be an embarrassment to a person with common sense rather than a vehicle for intolerance.

[Atman]

17. What, you want REAL equality?

"Ultimately, we gay people will have our rights. The right to marry and have that marriage legal. The right to adopt children. The right to openly serve in the military."

This is so simple it is scary that some are discussing God and the sanctity of the institution. The fact is, the court was very clear. You CANNOT create seperate classes of people. If you pay your taxes, obey the law, contribute to you community...or even if you are a loner sloth deadbeat...the constitution states that you have equal rights. The court didn't get into Church or God or strength of character, or the future of marriage. This could be about whether you are allowed to wear a plaid skirt that the majority of people find ugly...sorry you don't like it, but how does if impact YOUR life?

I actually read an op-ed yesterday from a guy who didn't want to now have to qualify his marriage to people. You know, when asked "are you married?" he'd have to answer, "Yes, I'm in a heterosexual marriage!" He doesn't feel he should have to say that, as if someone will force him too. But someone will. Himself. And it brings up a deeper issue.

For years, a gay man or woman could get married to a member of the opposite sex (or join the clergy, but that is tangential) and it would shut up Mom and Dad, and people would assume he/she was straight. Now, guys faces with their own sexual ambiguity will have no such refuge.

"Of course I'm not gay, I'm married!" Well, so what?

It opens up a lot of scary things for the paranoid and the closeted.