People who want gay marriage to be illegal! A not saracastic question!?

Question

I try to see things from everyone`s point of view, so I want some help here.
Isn`t the United States supposed to have freedom? Shouldn`t that include choosing who you marry? We have seperation of church and state, so why do people think that religion is a good reason?

Seriously, I am not being saracastic, but I don`t understand your point of view, so please tell me.

roseytobe...- This is the United States of America! We have freedom of religion here! That means that your bible and religious believes have nothing to do with the country`s laws. If you want to ban gay people from your church, then go right ahead, but that has nothing to do with the country`s laws.

E. I - Honey, I`m not gay, but if I was I wouldn`t be ashamed to admit it. My boyfriend is bisexual, but just like with a straight boyfriend, if he doesn`t cheat on me, I don`t care. You just proved my point. Hatred towards gay people is what the problem is, there is no good reason. That isn`t supposed to happen in this country.

Answer 1

Yo...E.I...the people who signed the constitution weren't thinking about equality for their slaves were they?

The founding fathers probably never would have thought that society would have developed into what it has become...but...they layed the basic principle of what our county was founded on....equal treatment for all....even though they didn't practice equal treatment, they were themselves slaves to their society. It was accepted to have slaves at that time period...but eventually common sense kicked in and after a little cival war, slavery became abolished.

Eventually homosexuals will have equal treatment in this country...it's just a matter of time...idiots like you will fade away...and common sense will prevail.

Answer 2

Just to be clear, as a Pagan I fully support same sex marriage, as well as plural marriage, open marriage, line marriage, even marriages with expiration dates, all of which have been considered normal in various places around the world throughout history, I believe it should be a question left entirely to the people involved, they are the ones who have to live with it, after all. That said, let me play Devil's Advocate here.
First Freedom can never be absolute, since if one person has more, another must have less, one person's freedom of expression stops at another person's nose. Law reflects social convention, which will always be effected by the prevailing religious views. That being the case, true separation of church and state cannot be achieved, there will always be a religious influence. Many people have been raised to denigrate and revile gay people, for them it is not a Religious matter any more, it has become a gut reaction. They will therefor go with what they believe is right regardless of logic. In a social contract, which is what the laws are, it can be argued that if a significant majority of people are united in the need for a law, then the law should be passed, that was the basis for outlawing gambling, prostitution, drugs, and, during prohibition, even alcohol. Popular support for the alcohol ban was enough to get a constitutional ammendment passed, the 18th. Why then, if the popular support of a similar ban of same sex marriage is sufficient to get a constitutional ammendment passed should the majority not do so? As recently as 1986, in Bowers v Hardwick, the Supreme Court ruled that laws forbidding homosexual activity were constitutional, that would certainly include homosexual marriage, so legal precedent has been established. What more do they need?

Answer 3

The United States is not as free as you may think.
Although there are laws limiting freedom when another person is harmed (murder, robbery, etc.), there are many laws against actions that arguably do not harm other people (gambling, drug use, prostitution, pornography, polygamy, bigamy, public intoxication, loitering, mandatory seat belt use, legal suicide in the event of being terminally ill, etc.).
If you look at the laws that do not harm others (some harm the person themselves, I am just stating these to make a point), these laws are mostly rooted in moral beliefs, not in actually protecting other members of society. People have been successful in legislating their own morality on other people through laws. Even Prohibition against alcohol lasted 14 years. Some of these people are also contradictory such as someone being against gambling except when they go to bingo or someone being against drugs except then they drink alcohol.

Technically there is also no separation of church and state; the first amendment states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". It can be argued that, by banning federal recognition of gay marriage, that the law does respect an establishment of certain religious beliefs and prohibits the free exercise of churches wanting to perform same sex marriages.

Personally I think 2 adults in a committed relationship should not be treated differently based on the gender of who they are committed to.

Answer 4

I want someone to tell me where they claim to see the phrase " seperation of church and state" in our constitution.It is not there.The part of our constitution that covers religion is in the 1st amendment and reads as follows: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the exercise thereof". There is nothing that says a persons religous beliefs should not be considered when making political decisions. The truth is , if a person does not consider his religous beliefs in all decisions, he is not being true to his faith. The only place the phrase " seperation of church and state" was used wasin a letter from Thomas Jefferson to a Baptist church in Virginia, assuring them that the goevernment would not interfere in thier business.

Answer 5

It's not a matter of freedom of religion, it's a simple matter of equity. Bottom line: homosexuality harms no one. Whether someone is heterosexual or homosexual neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg--or anyone else's. To persecute anyone and deny them equal rights for no just reason is immoral. An irrational prejudice written down in ancient literature, even if that literature is believed by some to have been inspired by a supernatural being, is not a just reason.

Answer 6

Whatever happened to the separation between Church and State? Not everyone believes in the same religion or in any religion. Besides isn't not allowing same-sex couples to marry gender discrimination? I'm surprised they allow two people of different races to marry in this country.

Answer 7

First of all, we don't have separation of church and state. That expression doesn't existing anywhere in the constitution. It was unconstitutionally created sixty years ago by the courts.

As for freedom, our country does not have unlimited freedoms. There are plenty of restrictions place on our behavior in order to safegaurd our society as a whole. Marriage is already heavily regulated: you can't marry a close relative, or someone under the age of 16, or more than one person at a time.

Marriage is the single most important institution in any culture. It is about much more than just emotional feelings toward someone. Men and women contribute entirely different skill sets to the development of their children. The American Psychiatric Association has hundred of studies which demonstrate that children who are raised in a home with both biological parents are at much lower risk for drug abuse, criminal behavior, teen pregnancy, homosexuality, dropping out of high school and getting a divorce.

There is much more at stake here than merely satisfying the emotional desires of two people.

Answer 8

Because homosexuality is a perversion of relationship God designed for men and women. This does not just affect Christians.

Society is built upon the institution of marriage between a man and a woman, and that institution has held society together for thousands of years. If gay marriage is made legal, than they can adopt and spread this perversion to innocent children that do not know any better-- it makes me sick to think about it!

Many people say that you should have the right to do whatever you want, so long as it only affects yourself. Making gay marriage legal would affect the children adopted by these couples, and ruin their lives for them.

Call me prejudiced, deride me and hate me, but I will not suffer to have this done to children!

Answer 9

Yes, they are supposed to be free but it's like youre trying to twist and misuse the constitution to go in their favor. you can't actually believe that it's ok to act selfish just to like your own kind. in the beginning if you wanna go that far the people who signed the constituion wasn't thinking about gay people. they were thinking about equal opportunities to make life easier. waking up to the person that's the same sex as you wouldn't make your life better or easier it would make your life fun. so all that crap about same sex marriages people going both ways should just wake up in the morning smell the lata and stop thinking about people that you can't be in the American Society. You might as well go to China or somein and take you and yo gay lova with ya. and never speak of the words gay and USA in the same sentence. So there does that answer yo question?

Answer 10

i agree with you - i'll be interested to see what people say