I understand why slaves wanted their freedom, but what do gays want to get married for, and why now???

Answer 1

some people want free dick all the time.

Answer 2

I don't know maybe so we can have the same right as every other American. Why do we have to be told who or how to love? Why cant we commence our relationship with a recognized public ceremony? We Want are freedom the same as slaves wanted freedom. We want the right that is promised us in our constitution! Pursuit of happiness, Liberty and Justice for all! Not some , but all! Why now?! Now is as good a time as any to start, b4 we were afraid and so repressed we were scared sh*tless to even show our affection publicly. So the question is why are straight people so threatened by homo's getting married?

Answer 3

From a practical position -- let me give you a personal example. My partner and I have been together for 15 years in a few months. I am 38. If I die tomorrow, even though I have a will, relatives I haven't seen since I was 8 can challenge, and may well win the challenge to obtain the property that we have in my name -- although we earned the money and saved it and collected the wealth -- they may be able to just take it -- because gay relationships are not recognized. If I were sickened and put in the hospital, even though I have a health proxy -- since he is not my spouse, someone I don't know could possibly take over directing my care -- he has no status, and anyone willing to fight can almost certainly overcome the proxy.

I could go on with that. There are many rights, hundreds and possibly thousands that we simply don't have. I don't give a damn about the name -- but I do care about the rights. We already have religious marriage if we want it -- it just has no secular recognition.

Which brings me to the other point. I support governmental recognition of all marriages performed by recognized religious group, and that is the secret about the gay marriage question.

The gay marriage fight is really a battle between two groups of religious denominations - Christian and other in both cases. That battle is being missed by the media, and I believe that the battle threatens democracy in America.

One of the reasons for the Revolution, in which ancestors of mine fought -- was to establish freedom of religion in the new nation. Now, we are throwing that away, because contrary to what those on the Right would like you to think, this is not a battle between "people of faith" and "atheists" or some such -- this is a battle between two groups of people of faith, using the government to establish one side’s views -- the EXACT THING that the anti-establishmentarian clause of the Constitution is there to prevent.

Of course no one should "make" those whose faiths oppose gay marriage perform such marriages, and no one ever would. So ministers from the Southern Baptists and Assemblies of God and Ultra-Orthodox Jews and Fundamentalist Muslims should never be asked to perform gay marriages, and certainly not forced to.

On the other hand, why should faith groups that support gay marriage -- such as the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian/Universalist Society, the North American Spiritualist Church, Reform Judaism, and the Correllian Tradition of Wicca -- all recognized Churches and 501c3s be barred from practicing their religious faiths, which say it is ok to marry same sex couples?

The first group of faith groups is realistically using the government to prevent the second group of faith groups from practicing what they believe and having it legally recognized. The founders tried to prevent this, for the stability of the country. It doesn't matter that everyone "thinks" they are right and others are wrong -- it matters that we are plural as a society and the government should recognize everyone's ceremonies the same -- which means that gay marriages committed by churches and faith groups that believe in gay marriages, should be honored by the government regardless of what groups that don't like it say.

Everyone's beliefs can be honored, thus preserving the values that my 12 times removed Great Grandfather died for -- but not if we allow one side to legislate away the rights of the other side.

Since I do not believe the government should be used to control religious belief -- I think that the government should recognize gay marriage, when performed by members of clergy -- and should create a civil union equivalent for those interested only in secular marriage.

Otherwise we should stop saying we don't have an establishment of religion.

Hope that helps.

Regards,

Reynolds Jones
http://www.rebuff.org
[e-mail]

Answer 4

Maybe so that we get our freedom. Hetros have the right of freedom with everything that marriage brings - gays don't.

It is like we are treated as the underdog. We are still human so we are allowed to fight for our cause as are the slaves you mention.

Gays want to get married because it is no different to them than a hetro marriage. It is about the love, committment and basic human rights.

Why now? It's always been around. It is only now that we are starting to make a difference and get our word out. There may be more of us now and that is why we are being heard.

Answer 5

I think "shabug" summed it up pretty good. I'm not gay, but understand their desire to marry. Other than the "love" side, there are several reasons on the legal side. What if you were gay and you were in a horrible car wreck and landed in the hospital. Would you want the one you love and live with being told they can't see you because you were not married or a family member? And, as others have said, power of attorney, wills, buying things, children/adoption, and not being able to be "legally" with the one you love and want to spend the rest of you life with.

It's a real shame that in todays world, that this can't happen. I pity those that are opposed to it for haveing such a narrow mind. Besides, how does it hurt them? It doesn't. They are just scared. Of what I have no idea.

Answer 6

It's so good of you to understand why slaves wanted freedom. Do you understand why they wanted to vote, use the restroom, and drink from a water fountain... where ever they wanted? Do you understand why women wanted equality?

Gay people want to get married for the same reasons straight people want to get married. They love each other and want to pledge to spend the rest of their lives together.

Why now? Why not now? Equal rights sometimes takes time. It's not like we just wave our fairy wands and make everybody equal by magic.

Answer 7

I try to imagine a society where I, as a man, wouldn't be able to marry the woman I love but I'd be allowed to marry someone if I were homosexual. I would feel like a second class citizen and that my rights were violated. Same thing with today and homosexuals.

Answer 8

Ewww, comparing gays to slaves. Not cool. But anyway, they want all the rights given to heterosexual couples, like insurance coverage, the right to inherit after a mate's death, not to mention being able to decide things for the mate in case of accident, or disablilty. things like that, that us straight people take for granted. It's just for legal reasons. Calm down.

Answer 9

Maybe we feel that we are all equals under the law. After all we all pay the same taxes and are denied some of the benefits. I suppose in your thinking that women should never have been given the vote either.....Why now?---because we've worked long and hard and suffered under years of oppression..where we lost our jobs, our families,people wouldn't even rent appartments to two people of the same sex,,etc etc etc.....And now we've had enough and we have the strength and numbers to make some positive changes.

Answer 10

Why now? Gay ppl have always wanted to get married. We are just fighting harder for it now because there are finally protections against abusing us for speaking out and protesting such as hate crime laws.

Why is the public so fussy about gay marriage? Is it because we are calling it gay marriage instead of a civil union?

Us gay ppl would be more than willing to withdraw our argument/protest if the states would stop giving heteorsexual couples 'special rights'. ie, next of kind rights, tax dependents, heathcare of spouse, inheritance laws, foreign spouse citizenship rights, etc... They could still have their sacred marriage in their churches under GOD, just no special rights for it by the state.

At one point in time, blacks were not considered human beings but property; therefore, had no rights of a citizen. I forgot the case but that actually went all the way to the supreme court and failed to be overturned.

It amazes me that we seem to be going back in time when it comes to equal rights.

The only argument that the opposing side has is religious based. Then when you bring up separation of church and state they try to bring up the forefathers who used some religious based ideas to form our government.

What they fail to see is that this is called 'progression'. Just like when the forefathers failed to give blacks rights then over time, we as society realized that was wrong then corrected it.

A lot of other countries have realized that homosexuality has been declared completely mentally stable by the Association of Mental Health after many many studies. (Before the 1960s it was considered a mental disorder)

There is no basis whatsoever for the denial of the right of two homosexual people, being of adult age, to form a union recognized by the state that gives them the same rights of a heterosexual couple. Gay ppl pay taxes too, are also citizens, and fight/die for their country.

The problem is that many heteorsexual people use their religious beliefs to oppose it then they go on to say that it will influence their children. Many things ppl disagree with influence all of our children. It is up to each of us to teach our children right from wrong as we see it.

Some try to say 'gay ppl r ramming it down their throats' with shows like Will and Grace. I say.. then don't watch it and do gay ppl not have every right to have shows on tv about their lifestyle in an appealing way.

They fail to realize that gay ppl have to tolerate the heteorsexual lifestyle and beliefs being rammed down their throats.

Answer 11

Because we've been treated differently than straight people for far too long! We finally are able to live openly, but you want to deprive us of inheritance rights, adoption rights, tax advantages and the right to care for a sick loved one by making medical decisions or even visiting them in intensive care. We are created equal but treated unequal.

Why now? Because it's about darn time!