Same-sex couples ready to make history in Massachusetts
First state in U.S. to allow such unions
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) – The champagne is chilled, the cakes are frosted, and gay and lesbian couples across Massachusetts are ready to make history Monday by saying “I do.”
On Monday, Massachusetts becomes the first state to make it legal for same-sex couples to marry. It follows a highly controversial decision from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, striking down the heterosexuals-only restriction in the state’s marriage law…
Indeed. I’m all for SSM’s. It’s a good direction that Mass. is pointing the rest of the states towards, IMO.
Too bad this will only give the Islamic extremists more ammo against our collective way of life, knowing what they think of homosexual individuals. And now with the government officially backing that lifestyle, I’m sure the call to jihad against the U.S. will be a little greater. :raspberry: :bluemad: :fume:
That figures. Describing your body as that of a man might be stretching it a bit. :upyours: Just cuz you can shoot a gun…[/quote]
Well…your wife was stretching ‘it’ last nite…actually, she stretched it quite a bit!
Now look between your legs and sigh with regret and disappointment. From what your wife says, it’s completely understandable. And before you waste any money, I’d like to suggest you checkout this website. I’ve heard from others with your condition (like Traveller and Mother Theresa) that it helped them alot.
That figures. Describing your body as that of a man might be stretching it a bit. :upyours: Just cuz you can shoot a gun…[/quote]
Well…your wife was stretching ‘it’ last night…actually, she stretched it quite a bit!
Now look between your legs and sigh with regret and disappointment. From what your wife says, it’s completely understandable. And before you waste any money, I’d like to suggest you checkout this website. I’ve heard from others with your condition (like Traveller and Mother Theresa) that it helped them alot.
There’s another, stronger line of reasoning they could have used, however, one that’s become a topic of intense conversation in law school circles in the past year and a half. It was developed by Pamela S. Karlan and William B. Rubenstein, law professors from Stanford and UCLA respectively, and it has a nickname: “rational basis-plus.” Karlan and Rubenstein wanted to ease the way for the Supreme Court’s moderates to expand equal protection law, both for gay rights and more generally. And even Justice Antonin Scalia, no friend of the concept, has signaled that their approach may be the smoothest path to winning gay marriage throughout the country… . .
It’s not really too surprising that a liberal state like Mass. would allow same-sex marriages. What does this really mean? The couple is recognized in one state but not in others. Thus, the victory is not so great although it is a step in the right direction.
However, I believe that when this issue comes forward in places like, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, etc. (you get my drift), then I doubt that same-sex marriages will be ever be sanctioned by the state.
Possibly a familiar sight to you Americans, but I was rather surprised to see a picture of a protestor with “God Hates Fags” on their T-shirt. When did He quit?
I thought hate and Christianity were mutually incompatible concepts. Scary people. We have a religious right in Australia, but they don’t usually go that far. I think. Even at the Mardi Gras it’s usually “Jesus Loves You”.
[quote=“daasgrrl”]Possibly a familiar sight to you Americans, but I was rather surprised to see a picture of a protestor with “God Hates Fags” on their T-shirt. When did He quit?
I thought hate and Christianity were mutually incompatible concepts. Scary people. We have a religious right in Australia, but they don’t usually go that far. I think. Even at the Mardi Gras it’s usually “Jesus Loves You”.[/quote]
They’ve been at it forever. Years ago they used to write hate messages on the Source’s bulletin board–they’ve since gotten in trouble many times for harrassing people and stopped a lot of their antics. They wrote something like, “fags’ rectal blood stains the Taiwanese flag”. I kindly sent them an e-mail letting them know there was officially no Taiwanese flag, but a Republic of China flag, and to take a high school social studies class. They got a little defensive about being called on not knowing their shit, and wrote something like, “we meant the Republic of China flag, that’s what we meant.”
It truly is a wonderful day and I am thrilled to see the U.S. slowly sink into pure sin, and it can only go downhill from here. God hates fags, my fucking foot.
[quote=“daasgrrl”]Possibly a familiar sight to you Americans, but I was rather surprised to see a picture of a protestor with “God Hates Fags” on their T-shirt. When did He quit?
I thought hate and Christianity were mutually incompatible concepts. Scary people. We have a religious right in Australia, but they don’t usually go that far. I think. Even at the Mardi Gras it’s usually “Jesus Loves You”.[/quote]
Actually, there is a disbarred attorney in America who had (has?) a website which is called, I believe, Godhatefags.com or something like that. His name is Fred Phelps and he really has a vendetta against homosexuals and he and his rather large family will hold protests at places where they are likely to encounter homosexuals or people who support gays and lesbians.
Phelps is a clown but he is very vocal in his hatred of gays and lesbians and he can be seen with his signs and T-shirts which proclaim that homosexuals are going to burn in hell. He also engages in modern day witch hunts against all his perceived enemies. Due to his unrelenting diatribes, which are in both verbal and written form, many people have suffered greatly due to his harassment.
However, while Phelps is a joke, there are many other good and sincere people who oppose allowing homosexuals to marry, and while I do support same-sex marriages in the USA, many of these people have valid reasons for opposing same-sex marriages. (Opponents to same-sex marriages are not all nuts or fools. They are just people with their own agenda, just like many gay and lesbians have their own agenda).
[quote=“daasgrrl”]Possibly a familiar sight to you Americans, but I was rather surprised to see a picture of a protestor with “God Hates Fags” on their T-shirt. When did He quit?
I thought hate and Christianity were mutually incompatible concepts. Scary people. We have a religious right in Australia, but they don’t usually go that far. I think. Even at the Mardi Gras it’s usually “Jesus Loves You”.[/quote]
You may not know it yet, dg (or maybe you do), but you’ve truly stepped in it now.
Sigh.
Fred Phelps is a Mississippian reconstructed as a Kansan.
A fellow Kansan. [gag]
He’s the head of a large family [“13 children, 52 grandchildren (to date) and one great-grandchild (to date).”] and the minister of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas.
[quote=“cableguy”]Actually, there is a disbarred attorney in America who had (has?) a website which is called, I believe, Godhatefags.com or something like that. His name is Fred Phelps and he really has a vendetta against homosexuals and he and his rather large family will hold protests at places where they are likely to encounter homosexuals or people who support gays and lesbians.
Phelps is a clown but he is very vocal in his hatred of gays and lesbians and he can be seen with his signs and T-shirts which proclaim that homosexuals are going to burn in hell. He also engages in modern day witch hunts against all his perceived enemies. Due to his unrelenting diatribes, which are in both verbal and written form, many people have suffered greatly due to his harassment.
[/quote]
Although he was disbarred in 1979, one of the problems with his family is that most of his children are also lawyers, and they do not hesitate to sue in civil court, in Kansas, to defend the patriarch.
[quote=“Flicka”]They’ve been at it forever. Years ago they used to write hate messages on the Source’s bulletin board–they’ve since gotten in trouble many times for harrassing people and stopped a lot of their antics. They wrote something like, “fags’ rectal blood stains the Taiwanese flag”. I kindly sent them an e-mail letting them know there was officially no Taiwanese flag, but a Republic of China flag, and to take a high school social studies class. They got a little defensive about being called on not knowing their shit, and wrote something like, “we meant the Republic of China flag, that’s what we meant.”
It truly is a wonderful day and I am thrilled to see the U.S. slowly sink into pure sin, and it can only go downhill from here. God hates fags, my fucking foot.[/quote]
It makes my blood boil to think that this guy can get away with the stuff he gets away with. I would not be in the least bit surprised, Flicka, if you are on some kind of very real shit list even now. No kidding, the Phelps keep track of letters sent them. They’re a real piece of work, the Phelps clan.
To think that the modern GOP embraces much of their ideology makes this “shit list” idea, in the face of the existence of the Patriot Act, a disturbing, a very disturbing idea, imo.
Yeah, well to give you the benefit of the doubt, I’m sure you’re just trying to be evenhanded.
But can you delineate even one “valid” argument for opposing same-sex marriages?
Yeah, well to give you the benefit of the doubt, I’m sure you’re just trying to be evenhanded.
But can you delineate even one “valid” argument for opposing same-sex marriages?[/quote]
While you are right that I was trying to be evenhanded, I do believe that if someone feels that something truly goes against their religious beliefs, and thus the person opposes that issue, then I would say that is a valid reason. For instance, if a person doesn’t eat meat because of his religious beliefs, or if someone refuses to go to war due to his religious beliefs, I would say these are valid reasons.
Thus, opposing same-sex marriages falls into the same category. Therefore, while I may disagree with someone’s beliefs, I think it is important to not just dismiss the beliefs as “stupid” or use some other similar insulting term.
[quote=“flike”]Yeah, well to give you the benefit of the doubt, I’m sure you’re just trying to be evenhanded.
But can you delineate even one “valid” argument for opposing same-sex marriages?[/quote]
[quote=“cableguy”]While you are right that I was trying to be evenhanded, I do believe that if someone feels that something truly goes against their religious beliefs, and thus the person opposes that issue, then I would say that is a valid reason. For instance, if a person doesn’t eat meat because of his religious beliefs, or if someone refuses to go to war due to his religious beliefs, I would say these are valid reasons.
Thus, opposing same-sex marriages falls into the same category. Therefore, while I may disagree with someone’s beliefs, I think it is important to not just dismiss the beliefs as “stupid” or use some other similar insulting term.[/quote]
I thought you meant that there exists valid arguments outside Christianity (even that defined by Phelps primitive Baptist “teachings” and personified at his Westboro Baptist Church; this gets at daasgrrl’s point), but apparently I was wrong. In fact, according to what you wrote, you actually do not disagree with Fred Phelps. After all, he believes “fags” deserve God’s “hate” solely on the basis of his religious views, and that’s something you can’t condemn (apparently).
Are there any valid arguments against same-sex marriage that are independent of Christianity?
Because I do not believe that any such argument exists.
If I’m correct, then GW Bush’s push for an amendment to the US Constitution banning such rights is an outright argument for denying Americans certain civil rights based solely on their professed sexual orientation.
God hates fags, my fucking foot.[/quote]