Cog did a better job, but here's my 2 cents, too...
Bizzy: As it stands now, homosexuals have the freedom to freely express their sexuality without interference. So that is not the issue.
Correct. The issue is whether gay people will be extended the dignity of inclusion in society's forms, whether we will be allowed to sit at the table.
This can be viewed as an extension of the Stonewall riots. Will gays be allowed to congregate in a bar? Will they be denied the same social standing that straight people take for granted?
Bizzy: I am not clear on the ramifications to the legal system.
Some of the impacts are that it can be impossible for me to visit my sick or injured partner in the hospital, and can my partner inherit my property, without having to go through special effort and expense to document our relationship - and then be prepared to prove that relatinoship by carrying around documentation everywhere I go.
Even with state-sanctioned marriage in some cases, my marriage will still not be recognized automatically in other states. That's yet another battle. My straight peers can get married in any state of the union and be legally married in every other state they choose to visit or move to. Not so for us gays.
A friend of mine lost his partner of decades. With no legal marriage, civil union, or domestic partnership available, all his interest in his dead partner's property and effects were removed by the dead partner's family.
Being second-class citizens is not healthy for the individual nor for society.
Bizzy: The fact is, we do not bring equal skills, needs or contributions to the table.
Riiiiight...gay people contribute so little to society...we don't pay our taxes, our insurance premiums, babysit our relatives, work as nannies, make great music, serve as politicians...we are such drains! Heck, we might want FREE marriage certificates, FREE honeymoons, FREE minister services...does anyone have a clue how much a gay wedding industry would generate in taxes and tourism?
Bizzy: For everyone who brings more needs than contributions, someone else has to pick up the slack.
As a gay man with no desire for children, I gladly support schools with my taxes, welfare for single mothers with infants, contribute to the United Way, and...wait, I guess I'm picking up the slack for my straight neighbors!
Bizzy: We've existed for centuries without gay marriage. We can survive another few years.
Then let's fix some errors of the past - certainly Black Americans won't mind giving up the right to vote (what an expense maintaining those voters lists are, and processing all those ballots!), and let's stop granting interracial marriage licenses (hey, it's just for a few years, it doesn't impact all that many people anyway, they can wait).
Slavery - now there's a big money maker! Biggest mistake this country ever made, getting rid of slavery - what that did to the cost of goods when we started to pay workers rather than own slaves! They can make things work, it's done all the time.
Gotta love traditional values.
Bizzy: Equality for everyone and rule by the people.
Like the civil war...and the civil rights movement...we were so wrong to push those non-traditional values on the Confederate states.
Bizzy: Simply ignore the will of the people because we don't like it?
Like the civil war...and the civil rights movement...oh, already said that.
Bizzy: Ultimately there has to be a decision as to whether marriage is a religious institution or a government sanction.
Why? There has "always" been a distinction between a church wedding and a civil wedding. I won't demand a wedding in your church, don't deny me eqaul standing under the law.
Bizzy: Now, make it a strictly religious ceremony - which is already done all the time - but that is not enough, is it?
Of course that's enough. Make it a strictly religious ceremony, you go to your church, I'll go to mine.
But that's not the case.
I don't want your church to marry me. I just want the state to afford equal legal standing, which happens to also be supportive if societal health.
Bizzy: In practical appliocation, same-sex marriage is fraught with dilemmas.
As any marriage is.
