Gamerman, think for a minute. A person "chooses" to be gay? Why in the world would anyone elect to be a homosexual? No more than a miniscule sliver of the total population (far less than the 8% we have running around as gay) would knowingly subject itself to the verbal abuse, ostracization, family grief, frequent physical danger and general disdain that queers commonly encounter. Choose? Are you serious? It isn't a conscious choice; that would defy all reason. Engage in homosexual sex, yes, that's a choice. Just like I choose to XYZ with females. But I could sleep with nothing but men and I'd still like women. I'd still have a heterosexual mindset, regardless of my conduct. And believe me, all the lunacy my girl-crazy mentality has caused me to endure was not a result of a conscious choice. I was born straight. And it is largely folly to assume others are not born gay. UPDATE: We agree that being discriminated against based upon race is more of a burden than being discriminated against based upon sexual orientation. After all, homosexuality is easier to hide than dark skin. However, when you take the position that one is born into his race whereas sexual orientation is a matter of personal choice, there our opinions diverge.

SZinhonshu, you make some good points but even you have to admit that gays aren't discriminated as much as minorities. When was the last time a gay person was pulled over by a cop? When was a gay person followed in a store by a cop just to make sure that they wouldn't steal anything? People who were slaves weren't put into slavery because of their sexual preference, they were slaves because other people thought that they were inferior. I will admit that I'm not sure if a person is born gay or chooses to be gay, but I know that if you look "different" you can't change the way other people view you. I have nothing against gay people, but you can't compare being gay to racism. I think that gays should be allowed to get married.

Could everyone please bend over and take one for the beauty of homosexuality so's we can move on toward embracing pedophilia and beastiality. Thanks, kids.

I have read many of the foregoing posts on this issue. This issue has more posts on this site than any other issue! This fact points out one of the major contradictions in American political science today: Americans tend to focus more of their attention on irrelevancies than they do on actual important issues of political life. Who gives a rat's ass whether two really nice people in Massachusetts get married? Actually, the question should be: who SHOULD CARE? Will their marriage bring our boys home from Iraq? Will it provide us all with health care at affordable prices? Will it change the tax structure to make it more fair? Will if reduce corruption in government? Will it reduce crime on the streets of our neighborhoods? Civilization has crept along, like an advancing glacier, inexorably towards some far off destination, for over twelve thousand years now. To those of us who have drawn a proper perspective on civilization, the direction of civilization is quite clear, even though the timetable is not. The gay rights issue is an evergreen sprig in the path of this massive ice flow of civilization. There are many important matters to be resolved--gay rights is not among them. The gay question, for those of you who appear from so many of these posts to be clueless, will be resolved in the next twenty or thirty years, if not sooner. It will be resolved the same way that it already has been resolved in much of the civilized world. In those countries which have advanced faster than has the US in so many areas such as highways, and healthcare, we find that they have also resolved the gay rights issue faster than us. Take a look at what you can find on the internet concerning gay rights in the EU. You will see there the direction that the issue will take in this country. All we must do is catch up. And this is the USA--I suspect we will catch up--we always do. And I truly recommend that those of you who lose sleep over that couple in Massachusetts--relax, get a life, try to focus on important matters, and be happy!

Christian conservatives have no brain functioning, i'm surprised these people can even survive with their brain limitations. I am pro-choice as in i believe an individual can do anything they please aslong as they aren't a burden on someone or harming anyone. So people should have gay rights, sometimes people are born gay. I believe that to be true, and all christanity does is give them a guilt complex about it.

LOL WUT IS IGNORANCE??? I'll tell you what it is - it is people thinking that another group of people shouldn't be allowed to be married becuase they're different.

I'm confused as to why the gay agenda is pushing for 'equal rights'? If you notice, quite blatantly, we all have equal rights. I, just as any other, could marry a member of the opposite sex. I could not, nor could any other, marry a member of the same sex. Where's the unequality? Oh yes, thats right! The gays are not pushing for 'equal' rights, but 'extra' rights! Funny ol' thing isn't it? Even worse to think about is the fact that if we allow 'gays' this special right, who's to say we don't have to extend this rule to any others who feel they are being treated unequal? A man could marry himself if he so pleases, or even as far fetched as a man to marry his donkey. Whos to stop them, for that would be, as you all say, 'unequal'. Remind me again how this wouldn't be detrimental to society? Allowing everyone any marriage right they want because the gays started the thought of unequality. Psh, you can have a committed relationship; all your asking for is society to put our stamp of approval on it. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

I have to say, this entire discussion is absurd. After reading page after page of comments, I am left with a bad taste in my mouth. I personaly am Christan, Female, A Minority and a lesbian. I have been through therapy to try to change who I am, I have been abandoned by my family for who I am, as well as verbally abused by strangers for what I am. Do u want to kno what I am, I am a Human, a Mother, a Provider. Many of you see gay rights as a slipery slope leading to the further couruption of our country. Hey honestly if thats your belief then who am I to challange it. But let me ask you something, If this "homosexual epidimic" is so bad then why do so many men find lesbian "sex" so erotic? Why is it ok for two super models to kiss but not fo two men? It seems to me that as a society we want to see what we want to see and nothing else. ***to digress a bit, my sexual orientation has nothing to do with my capasity to love and raise my child. my child has both his biological father as well as myself raising him. If anything he will be raised to be an adult tolerant of other peoples difrences. * As a person all I am asking is the right to make decisions for my life without them being overturned. What I mean is, If You are UNCOMFORTABLE with gays marrying, then fine, but DO NOT over turn their wills, DO NOT deny people who have lived together for 25 years the right to make important decisions in each others lives. Think about it, How would you feel if You as a straight person willed your estate to your straight roommate of thirty years, how would feel if your estranged family contested your will and took EVERYTHING away from them..... thats what hurts, having your wishes, yor beliefs, your Rights not respected.

Anyone who did not give this a five is most likely a) an idiot or b) a Christian conservative. Actually, I retract, both are the same anyways. The question at stake here is not whether being gay is alright, whether the bible says its ok, NO. All gays are asking for is the same rights as others. Like marrying. If you morons giving it one's weren't so homophobic, you'd realize this. And justice for all, they said.

Fake moral fiber. The puritanical maniacs aka Christian fundamentalists, blame some vague lack of moral values on everyone but themselves. Homosexuality has nothing to do with murder, crime, lying, cheating, stealing, coveting. The bible is so unreliable as a source of information about what our fathers believed, it is irrelevant. Besides, the most deadly STDs in this world that are passed down generation to generation are ideas that fundamentalist are beholden to some kind of divine righteousness. Fundamentalists are simply slaves to Isreal and its unrighteous invention. The New World Order has promised a place for them and they do the bidding of a rich and powerful elite who control the worlds most powerful nations. Their hypocrisy of pro-life and pro-warfare only points to the real agenda. Siding with Isreal is a signature on the death warrents of Palestinians and who knows who else. Ultimately this points to the intrinsic atheistic/ anarchistic/ satanic nature of these elite Capitalist/Communist cattle.

Here is the problem with Gay Rights. If a hetrosexual person lives with another hetro should this mean that both should be covered by the one's insurance. The line was drawn many years ago that a legitamate relationship, marriage is between two people of the opposite sex. This means that living with your great aunt or some one you just met and moves in does not have the same rights as a hetrosexual married couple. So we move the line where does it end? Now I don't believe any one should be beaten or mistreated because of their sexual orientation but I do not believe they should have more rights than any one else.

This is another one that I think is sad, that it even has to be an issue. With tolerance and logical minds, they are just like everybody else. Thus, their rights should never come in to question. Their rights should be the same as, say, a bagel lover's rights. It's just a preference. To me, they shouldn't even have to be a seperate group. Just normal people to me. Which is why I think it's silly when a homosexual says something like, I have to tell you something......don't freak out........I'm gay. I think, So what, I prefer vaginas. To me, gays should already have rights called....................'The Bill of Rights.' It's sad that they have to fight for their rights, because of a sexual preference. You're gay? So what? - I like movies, basketball, and mash potatoes. Their rights have become an imprtant issue, but never should've in the first place. They aren't different......at all. They are not even a seperate group in my mind. Just people with a preference.

If being gay is learned behaviour, then so is being an intolerant, uncultured windbag, but hey, THAT'S not a crime...technically

I'm not sure why, being a decidedly straight person, but this issue has always been very important to me. Perhaps because privacy and my personal freedoms are more important to me than anything political. Maybe it's because the thought of being told who I can or can not love is so horrifying to me. To hate someone because they love someone else, how can that attitude and the word Christian ever find themselves in the same thought. The bigoted and narrow minded attitudes of so-called Christians is the very reason I will never set foot in a church again. Jesus said for us to be kind to one another and to love one another, period. And for those who love to quote the Bible so much, remember this one?, Judge not lest ye be judged. What does it matter how large or small the gay community is, no one has the right to keep anyone else from living their lives the way they choose. We are all what God made us, gay or straight. As the saying goes, it takes all kinds. I've always found it interesting that the Bible thumping people who point to the story of Sodom and Gomorrha never get indignant about the fact that Lot offered his daughters to the evil doers in exchange for the angels so they could know them. And did it never occur to anyone that what the evil was was not that the evil doers wanted to have homosexual sex with the angels but that they wanted to RAPE the angels. Furthermore, these same Christians never mention that after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha when Lot was hiding in the mountains with these same daughters, they got him drunk so they could sleep with him so they could conceive. Hard to imagine or believe but it seems being gay is worse than rape and incest in some Christians way of thinking.

MY FINAL COMMENT: So the shrinks are bending over for the gays, I would classify that as a marketing ploy intended to drum up additional clients for therapy. When Phd.'s become salesmen, they can be pretty shameless. Still waiting for some objective quantification for the aggregate US gay population. And the funniest thing I've noticed is that when you argue with some of these gays, they always accuse you of being a closet homosexual, insulting YOUR sexuality/masculinity with THEIR psychological disorder. Because being gay is normal, except in your case. Sort of like the crazy person calling all the normal people crazy. 3rd UPDATE: Teq, the common law isn't a pending constitutional amendment. It's the traditional structure of our existing non-criminal laws, codified in England in the 17th and 18th centuries, on which many of our laws (in America, today) are based. Regarding your small numbers, I challenge you, here and now, to provide any, any objective credible study, poll, survey or other documentation that manifests the number of gay people at greater than 1% of the US population. 2nd UPDATE: This is about a thousand bucks a year in benefits? Whew. Let's give them all a thousand dollars per year tax break for being betrothed in a gay civil union, let them visit each other in the hospital and debate something important. And it is VERY different from interracial marriage. Those laws outlawing interracial marriages, as written and passed, were racist. No such law was passed, with any malicious motivation, regarding gay unions. You're trying to change the Common Law, in each state, for a very small, shrill minority. Most gays have no interest in marriage of any sort. UPDATE: tequilafied, most (but not all)of the state statutes outlawing interracial marriage have been repealed. But interracial marriage between one man and one woman is not the same as legalizing gay marriage. To legalize interracial marriage, the repeal of certain specific statutes was voted on and the majority ruled. Legalizing gay marriage entails changing the fundamental law defining what makes up a legitimate marriage, in each state, as it exists today. I just don't see all 50 states, individually, legislating this for less than 1% of their respective populations. ORIGINAL POST 1/10/05: This political issue has been completely obfuscated and it doesn't appear to me its proponents know what they are screeching in favor of. What rights, guaranteed to all Americans, are being denied gays? Somebody, anybody? Sans screeching, please. UPDATE: Amdillus, what civil rights? Whose civil rights, whether specifically secured by the US Constitution, or implied, have been denied? Finally, perhaps an answer! 2nd UPDATE: Ah, now we're getting somewhere. They have the right to get married, but according to the custom in most states, it has to be with someone of the opposite sex, like it has always been. The right to be comfortable and/or unashamed isn't a civil right, I know because I don't have it 100% of the time. It's not in the US Constitution. They have every right to join the Boy Scouts, just as I do, so long as I abide by their rules. The Boy Scouts are not a government funded organization and can reject anyone they want if they don't obey the rules. So far, your brain busters don't wash. To save time, when you post your next list, please specify the law or statute which conveys or guarantees the right you specify as civil.

People are people. Gay's don't deserve any more or less.

Homosexuals are entitled to the same rights as hetrosexuals! Gays should no longer be treated as second class citizens in the worlds most developed country!

and I know of no place in the world where homosexual behavior is accepted Never heard of Europe? Only the most backwards countries are anti-gay, and the most backward part of this country. Who cares what consenting adults do on their own? Seriously, why do people care?

With all the other things happening in our world, who someone chooses to have sex with or marry should be the last thing on our govt leaders minds. My motto is stay out of someone's private life unless it spills over and effects the general public in a negative way. No credible argument can be made that gays affect the general public negatively, so the govt should just butt out (no pun intended)

I honestly and truly do not know why so many people have a problem with gay rights. Why do you hate them so much? What have they done to you to make you oppose their rights to marry and be happy so strongly? One of my best friends is gay. He is probably one of the nicest people I will ever know, and his boyfriend is a great person too. Niether one of them deserves the hate they are getting from other people. I have asked this question to myself repeated times: Why do so many republicans and Christians have a problem with these people marrying? Sure, they are different from you sexually. Does that make them monsters? I think not. They are people with feelings, just like you. I know how important religon is to most Christians. But just because your religon says that gay and lesbian behavior is wrong, does not make that true. Nor does it give you the right to take away their rights such as marrying. Marriage is a right that should belong to everybody, no matter what their gender, skin color, religon, or sexual preference. Being gay is NOT unmoral. Of course it would be unnatural to a straight person, because they are straight, after all. But gay and lesbian people cannot help it if they are. They were born gay and it isn't their fault. They deserve to live in a society where they have the same rights as straight people and they are respected for who they are--not a society where their rights are violated in the name of somebody else's religon.

I will simplify this issue for everyone: We are all human beings on this same earth, WE ARE ALL EQUAL AND NOT ONE OF US HAS THE RIGHT TO TELL ONE ANOTHER HOW TO LIVE NOR DO WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO INTERFERE WITH THE PERSONAL RIGHTS OF OTHERS. IS THE HAPPINESS OF GAY COUPLES REALLY HURTING YOU???

Homosexual behavior is unmoral, unhealthy, unnatural, and screws up family dynamics. Gay behaviors have never been acceptable and I know of no place in the world where homosexual behavior is accepted. Last time I checked, gays are aloud to vote, run for office, own property, etc. Giving gays the right to marry will never be something I will support and they have all the rights they need.

UPDATE: Eschew, the right being denied is the right to marry whoever he or she wants to marry. We had this issue regarding interracial marriages and such as well. No, marrying a person of the opposite sex is not possible because they don't have those kinds of FEELINGS for them. How about the right to fight for freedom's cause? Once again, blacks at one time only could fight in seperate regimens than whites. Thankfully the Supreme Court deemed seperate but equal to be WRONG under our Constitution. ORIGINAL MESSAGE: This IS an important issue to me, so I give it 5 stars. We understand the poll perfectly well thank you very much. We just think that this IS a very important issue. We simply cannot judge what we do not understand. I don't think homosexuality is a choice. How many people would CHOOSE that when they are met with so much hate from ignorant people? No, I have a gay relative and sadly that's what it takes until people realize how serious the issue is.

What gay rights Eschew?? Um...lets see...the right to get MARRIED! The right to be able to be open and yourself without being made to feel ashamed (military). The right to be able to join normal orginazations (the boyscouts). Any more brain busters?

I changed my rating to 1 because it isn't very important. But seeing all these posts, I really have to laugh. It is SO funny to see you guys ranting and raving about God and the bible, when it DOES NOT MATTER. First of all, none of it is real. Second, this is an issue of civil rights, and not letting these people marry is a direct violation of their rights. Yes, Christians, they are PEOPLE just like you, hard to believe isn't it, because gays certainly can't be real people can they? Gay and lesbian people cannot HELP IT if they are gay, it is NOT all in their heads and it is not their fault. Maybe your religon is important to you, but the very idea of religon being brought up in this issue perfectly SICKENS me.

yes I think Gay people deserve their rights, but PBeavr is right, its not as important as the war.

I think Chris Rock got it right. Gay people should have every right to be as miserable as straight people.

No, we are not sent here to be gay. It's very wrong. Honestly, who does this when god sees you do it?

It's Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve!

Well, first off, let me thank Ralph for that vivid description I got to read after I just ate (lol). Anyway, the term used to describe this issue kind of irks me. I mean, if you oppose this, you're made out to look like your against rights when in reality, you just have a different idea of what rights people are entitiled to. As a Chrisitian, I don't feel homosexuality is right. However, I really don't care if you're gay, straight or purple with pink polka dots! Just please, conduct yourself in a responsible manner (and no, making out in the bathroom with an 8 year old present during Gay Week at Disney World is not responsible). Frankly, marriage is between a man and a women but heck, do all you want with civil unions. I think it's important for my fellow conservatives to realize that homosexuality is now something to be dealt with in the world and the best route to take is through compromise. UPDATE: DenverJuusan, you are in serious need of a reality check.

Daccory, you forgot to read one small note in Scripture, recorded in Deuteronomy: If an man lies with a man as he would lie with a woman, the two commit an abomination before the Lord. Now if that isn't plain enough about what God thinks about the act, I don't know what is. And about marriage, there's a little passage that goes like this: There will come a time when a man will leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife, and the two will be made one flesh. In the original Greek of this passage, the gender tense of man and wife are very specific. God ordains marriage to be between *one* man and *one* woman, and nothing else, and I agree completely. I would not disagree to allowing a legal union under the state for tax purposes, but marriage is properly a matter for the church, and not the state. UPDATE: Once again you have stepped on yourself, Ralphie. Let's turn our Bibles forward from the Torah to Romans. There is this little verse that states clearly The wages of sin are death.... Sodom and Gomorah burned because they would not turn from sin and repent. God still loved them, but He cannot save those who do not want to be. Sin kills. The only way to be safe from the second death is to turn from sin and accept the free gift of grace through Christ's death and resurrection. You can believe what you will, and I'm gonna live what I believe. God even loves you, Ralphie, even if you don't believe it. I hope someday you'll be able to let go of whatever hate or what have you that's keeping you tied down. You might turn out to be the next Paul, but that's not for me to say, only for me to pray about. :)

if pressed, i could probably find about 100 issues more important than this one. personally i don't believe that there is a lot of government discrimination against gays and lesbians, but in public life i would say that it exists more. gay people scare a number of americans who oppose their lifestyle and agenda on moral and religious grounds. simple legislation will not cause change; the hearts and minds opposed to the agenda must change first, and that appear to be imminent.

Love the sinner, hate the sin.

Update to Ralph: I don't believe in the same God as you...who's right, who's wrong? The Torah to me is no more the blueprint to life than any other, sorry about that. What makes you think that your version of life is the truth against any other? You are no more qualified than I am to say what is and isn't God. Don't try and put your very odd beliefs onto the way other people should live! God is Life not a he or a she or anything else...God is everything there is ! Orig comments:Who really told any really told these Bible-pushers what was right and wrong? Did God come down and speak to them personally? Perhaps he said: 'I didn't say two men, two loving human beings, could find and express love to each other'. Even though I AM love in its purest essence and wherever it is expressed I am there, I don't think two humans I created should do things that would upset the neighbors.' What bunk! So much hatred has come out of religion. Some of what I read from the Bible pushers here on this site confirms it! The bile and hatred - who wants to follow a God like that? These people would believe the world was flat if someone told them it was a sin to think otherwise. They love to experience guilt on every level and simply can't think for themselves. Is that really what a loving God is all about? I don't think so. This issue concerns itself with whether gay people should get rights 'equal' to everyone else - not 'extra' to. Nothing is being taken away from heterosexuals, just that the same benefits or 'rights' are being asked to be applied to those of the same sex who consent to be together. The human experience is a myriad of sexual expressions and that's the way God chose it to be. There are no limits to love and some people should stop telling other people how they should live. Religious nuts should know it is not for them to make judgments.Their discomfort about homosexuality has nothing to do with God and His workings, but the way their belief system works (which was probably learned via someone else) The day this religious fundamentalism s dies a death can't come too soon. UPDATE LANCE: C'mon mate, just what is your beef with this? This really has no impact on you whatsoever. It is being fair and honest with a large section of the community and isn't that what life should be? They aren't demanding anything more than the rights you have. In fact, given your comments, you wouldn't be missing out at all, you'd have the opportunity to marry a man if you wanted to. Kwyhyman: This applies only if you believe in the Christian version of events..but what if you are someone who doesn't? This has no bearing at all on offering equal provision to gay people; whether you call it marriage or civil union is not the issue here. It's consideration of your fellow man. FURTHER UPDATE\: I don't remember saying anything about beastiality, incest or paedaphilia etc. being acceptable. I was talking about two consenting adult males or females. Please don't twist these words and try to extrapolate them onto other situations that are non-related (which a lot of people seem want to do) To be frank, I am more disgusted by Ralphie's comments than I would be by seeing two men kissing!

I'm all for gay rights, by which I mean that I am all for the same rights for all Americans; gay, straight, conservatives, progressives, dwarves, midgets, one-legged soccer players, bearded ladies, bisexual, trisexual, unicyclists, children, Republicans (yes, even them), trapeze artists, con artists, and even the occasional hypocritical christian, whose god apparently says love thy neighbor except for the gay ones. Call me silly, but that whole Declaration of Independence and Constitution thing doesn't differentiate among different classes of Americans entitled to more or fewer rights. Those who hate in the name of their religion need to take a long look in the mirror.

Gay marriage is a big part of gay rights. As a political issue, it is valid; we see the ramifications it had in the recent election. The Bill of Rights was created not just to protect and uphold the rights of the many over the rights of the few. Nope, it was to promote equality, even for those whose rights a majority deems less equal or less important. Being able to form a lifelong romantic partnership between two consenting adults can be a source of happiness, stability. But marriage gives that partnership legal standing in a court of law, for the purposes of death benefits, hospital visits, inheritance...the list could go on. Without a legally recognized partnership (a marriage), gay couples are entitled to few if any of the benefits I mentioned. Unmarried heterosexuals who are merely cohabiting have more rights. For one thing, such relationships eventually become common-law marriages. If one can accept that homosexuality is not a choice (and I really think thats the rub), there is no more reason to deny gays the right to civil unions than there is to deny women or minorities the right to vote (an idea which once seemed just as radical as gay civil unions). Just because some people are uncomfortable with it doesnt mean it isnt a valid right.

The most deporable and shameless political movement of this generation is being waged by homo-rights activists equating sexual perversion with the battle for race equality. One is a deviant behavior and the other is an intrinsic existing human composite. Gays are afforded every right under the constitution that heterosexuals are: I can't marry another man either! Gay rights activists however advocate special additional rights be disportionately fabricated by courts, that subvert the principles of democracy and trample the Natural Law underpinnings of this nation in their quest to impose their radical deconstructionalist agenda on the masses- the gay tyranny. All our citizens should be afforded the same rights to pursue our own ends withing the boundaries of ordered liberty. Gays should not be discrimiated against insofar that anyone should who is acting in accordance with those boundaries. They should not however be able to redefine them through tyrannical measures to serve their own ends. Such is why Defense of Marriage initiatives passed in 11 of 11 states overwhelmingly this past election. The Civil Rights movement was fought to allow ALL citizens to legally engage in the same acts; NOT to allow portions of the citizenry to redefine what actions it wanted to legally engage. ****Daccory, refuting anything you say is futile in light of your opinion that everything is relative to perception position and things are good to us cause they work but then your attempt to argue against genocide because it doesn't work because you couldn't implicitly say it was immoral- because THAT might give people the idea that you are a religious freak. But let me say this: I am no religious freak but I do believe God is speaking to us through an empirical Natural Law; and through human reason our capacity for wisdom reveals moral truths. Our institutions reflect the principles inherent in those traditions and most rational individuals understand that. People like you contend that freedom is defined by individuals acting to experience life through a myriad of expressions truncated from any moral or Natural obligation to society, family and the Creator. This supposition is untenable and erodes on the principle of power: declaring special provisions for favored groups and imposing them by force on the unrepresented masses is tyranny. Utilizing your logic beastiality, incest and polygamy should not only be legal but legally protected rights. Most Americans like me totally disagree. ****Also, your logic is a complete failure. Causative postions don't exist in a vacuum. Hence the statement that who are you to say what is right or wrong is in intrinsically a substative position. If you cannot tell someone what is right and wrong why are you telling me my position is? In essence you are arguing for a radical position not a non-position. You are arguing for a radical morally deconstructionalist position- one that promotes anarchic individualism. And that is with what most categorically disagree.

Gays want to be treated like a special group of people? Are married heterosexuals a special group of people because they are married? Homosexuals are denied the special rights that come with mating with another person. These include seeing a sick spouse in the hospital, assignment of prepoerty when a spouse dies, and much more. Homosexuality has become the sin of the week for no reason at all. What people don't realize is that homosexuals never chose to be gay; they were born that way. Did YOU wake up one morning and say OK.... I'll be straight for the rest of my life? The arguments said against homosexual marriage are the same as the arguments against interracial marriage.

Sick, just plain sick. Who want's to see a man and a man marry. Gross, only Retards go into gay marriage. Real people get a man and a women together.

Are gays individuals? Yes! So, they already have rights, right? What do they want special rights? I think so. Special rights for individuals is wrong! If we are going to offer special rights it should be for hetrosexuals, not homosexuals.

This is AMERICA, land of liberty, and that includes the liberty of two hairy men to sodomize each other on their wedding night. But I really don't care what happens.

Would you like me to say it again.... Being homosexual in any shape or fashion (gay, lesbian, bi, transexual) is utterly and disgustingly wrong. It is truly a perversion. People say they can't help it, but there is help, and civil unions are NOT the answer.

I believe in and support gay rights, however I rate it this low because it's simply not an issue of national significance, despite what the brainwashed religious conservatives want us to think.

Since I rated this subject the first time I have met another gay couple who confirmed my deep beliefs in this area. They are friends of my wife and although they dont seem to be bad folk they are clearly missing something. While one was definitely born without any feminine charms of any kind her partner is a seemingly a sweet lady who was a victim of an abusive man. She could not tell me enough about how her x latino husband beating her and made her feel like mud. (I struck something with her since I am half latino myself)This is exactly what I lended to the first time. Every gay person I have met in my 45 years was a victim of some kind. There sexual preference was a decision they made after dealing with whatever it was that made them a victim. In this case an abusive man, in others, lack of a father figure, or weak father, lack of love lack of nurturing or worse. #1American hit the nail on the head. They deserve all the right that anyone with a mental issue of some kind should have. They need to be helped, not promoted or given rights that whole functioning people have. You cannot give them children. We just dont know enough to take that kind of chance. It is a lifestyle born of conflict. That does not make for a solid and dependable stable citizen. Again we cannot let our willingness to be politically correct here make us turn the other way with someting this important.

Homosexuals have the same rights as anyone else (who is mentally ill.) By the way, if nature intended us to be homosexuals, there'd only be one gender. BACK TO THE CLOSET, UNNATURAL PEDERASTS!

RebelYell1861 - YES, you Are an animal. Humans are animals - primates. The idea that humans are not part of the animal realm - and therefore, separate from, or above it - is a very dangerous one. Let me go further to say that not only are you an animal, but you are a living, breathing microcosmos - a host to millions of species of organisms that live on or inside you, some of which are essential to your survival. So you see, you can never separate yourself from the animals. The ability to reason is an evolutionary adaptation, and humans are not alone in finding it beneficial to survival. Many other species have this ability, or are in some phase of acquiring it. I believe you refuse to observe this because it is a threat to your feeling of superiority over all the other organisms you share the earth with. I suggest you drive yourself to some remote spot and go for a walk, and observe - look, listen, feel, smell. Just for a moment, turn off the reasoning machine - it is indeed useful, but often only serves to alienate us from the environment that so willingly, unbegrudgingly, and fabulously supports our life systems. As to the issue of gay rights in general, I am very very irritated with this idea that the institution of marriage is such a sacred one, and that the possibility of gays participating in it is a threat to this sacredness. If marriage is generally held to be SO sacred, then why do almost half of all marriages end in divorce? Why are there so many serial marriages? Why are there so many kids out there getting dragged through these divorces, at the whim of their parents' love lives? To me, this is the absolute height of hypocrisy.

Stephen: Do you have any gay friends? Do you know any gay people? Do you actually know anything about us at all? I cheerfully concede that the Bible condemns homosexuality. That is one of the reasons I am now a Buddhist. Do you understand that the whole world does not share your understanding of the teachings of Jesus? Jesus himself said exactly nothing about homosexuality. Maybe you should reflect on his example until you know more about who gay people actually are. Knowing some would be a good start. You may still think we are wrong. That's fine! Think what you want. It might be a bit more difficulty for you to be so hateful. If people are not supposed to reply to individual people like this, I am sorry. I am new to the sight. The moderator can tell me how to do it correctly if I am wrong. Berean: Jesus didn't say that. Paul did

if there were some negative numbers i would choose those. Power to all who are against it. Power to all christians who agree. hopefully the rest of the world will open there eyes and see the truth about how far this lifestyle and the morals and values of our society have been shot in the ass. i hope the non christians in this world find a way to get themselves out of the hole they have fallen into. maybe the world should start listening to the youth of our nation. Stephen Hagen- Age 15

Gay rights are not about civil equality or human rights. What this gay rights for marriage mess boils down to, just like every other issue, is money. Gays want the tax and insurance benefits of married couples. Otherwise why would they give a d*mn about whether the state recognizes them and their partner as a couple? I don't think something like this should require a constitutional amendment, but I think values and good sense need a serious resurgence in our society. And I also don't mind pointing out that this does not have to be a religious issue at all. I know people want to defend gay marriage by saying there should be a separation of church and state (the true definition of which has ridiculously been marred), but any reasonable person can realize that homosexuality simply does not work in nature. The sterility (setting aside widespread STDs - it's not an alternative lifestyle, it's a death-style) involved are destructive of life, not conducive to it. If homosexuality was natural, plants and animals alike would die out and become extinct. And I've also heard the ridiculous rebuttal to this stating that some animals have been shown to practice homoerotic behavior, so it is found in nature after all. Well folks, I don't know about you, but I'm human, not an animal. I have the ability to reason and use logic and judgement; something animals are not blessed with. And as another rater on here correctly pointed out some time ago, homosexuality is possibly the only mental illness (yes, it's a defect) that society has decided to cater to and welcome rather than to seek help for. Honestly, what if we catered to the interests of pedophiles the we do with gays? I mean if that's who they are, right? Unfortunately we currently have yet another event in which the interests of a small minority are seeking, possibly with some potential success, to overturn the values and interests of the tradition of the majority. But this is what is now common, as America has continued to leave more and more decisions up to the will of judges. There must be a line drawn somewhere. I mean if legal marriage becomes open to homosexuals, I can assure you the slippery-slope effect will set in. And what would be the rationale for not allowing people to marry children or close relatives? I mean if they're in love who is the state to deny these people of being together? Do you see where this could go? The morality of law ultimately has to be based on something, otherwise anyone's idea of what is and is not acceptable would have as much credibility and significance as the next guy.

Some of the comments here disturb me highly. One person calls gays politically correct sodomites. Darthrater says Queers. Rebelyell calls them fags. What's with all the immature name calling? You three need to grow up and stop resorting back to pre-school behavior. Gays are people too. You may not agree with their sexlife, But that shouldn't make you hate. ANOTHER THING I WOULD LIKE TO ADRESS! Gay rights does not mean special rights and exclusive catering. It just gives gays the rights to marry. Please understand that. And saying crap like They can marry a member of the opposite sex or God says no shows nothing's improved for the gay community. And by the way, This is a bisexual girl talking and I couldn't care less about the religious right's money-grubbing agenda!