Why can't gays be married according to law?

Question

Laws take precedence over morals and religious beleifs, in today's society. Thats why we have seperation of religion and state!

Answer 1

Laws are often dictated by a higher moral standard irregardless of it's religious preference. Societies both past and present devoid of any religious affiliation whatsoever have all believed it is immoral for two people of the same sex to intermarry... and rightly so. Because any intelligent society knows that it's own existence cannot sustain itself by allowing the numerous unions of same sex marriages. A society who allows it's population of sodomites and other sexually deviant populace to exponentially grow will ultimately self-destruct, as our civilization will soon witness in the near future.

Answer 2

I detest people who keep using that elastic expression "separation of church and state" as an excuse to stop any level of government from doing what it has always been doing for over 200 years.

You ought to read the Massachusetts court's ruling on the subject of gay marriage. You ought to read both the main opinion and the concurring opinion.

The first thing that the Massachusetts court did was to deal with the subject of interpretting the Mass. statutes. Statutes are enacted by the state legislature in order to reflect the will of the people of the state (or commonwealth, as Mass. is called). The 7 gay couples of Mass. who were suing to get the right to get married had argued that there is absolutely no statute in the state codes which ever say that marriage is only between one man and one woman. And thus, they argued, there is a clear implication that two people of the same sex MAY get married to one another. But the court rejected that interpretation of the statutes. The court's obligation, it said, is to interpret the statutes in such a way as to fulfill the intentions of the legislature, not to take everything literally. And the court concluded that the legislature's intention was for marriage to be only between two members of the opposite sex -- never between two members of the same sex. That was traditional; that was the "common law;" and that was what was stated in Black's Law Dictionary.

Then the court when on to claim that the state constitution -- not the state statutes -- effectively overrule the legislature's intention. I think it was a deceitful display of legal reasoning. At least I could say that the one concurring opinion was slightly more honest than the other, main opinion of the court. And even the concurring opinion has a very, very significant problem.

You say that "laws take precedence over morals and religious beliefs," but you are ignoring that our laws are made by our society which is full of people with moral beliefs and religious beliefs. "Laws" are not made by robots. "Laws" are made by the people and their elected representatives.

And no matter how much you might wish it, our society has never had a COMPLETE separation of law from morality. Indeed, morality has been the major influence of MOST legislation ever enacted.

Answer 3

It's not about morals or religion...it may have a bit to do with procreation. But the law clearly states that marriage is betwen man and a woman...that is why. You can marry however in some states I believe hawaii is one of them.

Answer 4

Bush and his "Faith Based Initiatives" are making a mockery of the "Separation of Church and State". Right now our country is not a Democracy but a "Theocracy" being run by Bush and hard core right wing evangelicals. Of course you have the people who whine about the "Sanctity of Marriage". The "Sanctity" starting going downhill way before the question of gay marriage came up. Today's society has made marriage a "convenience" that one can dispose of when they tire of it. Kids marry too young and find themselves unwilling or unable to stick it out. Divorce has become way too easy. If Joe and Bob across the street want to marry, it doesn't affect my heterosexual marriage at all. (I will only be offended if I am not invited!) I am also tired of the "it's not natural" argument. While biologically it is true that females and males were "made" for each other ,homosexuality is seen even in the animal kingdom, particularly among Primates, therefore it is apparently natural. There are no non-religious reasons to deny gay marriage rights.
EDIT: Loli...our founding fathers also supported slavery and denied women the right to vote, they weren't necessarily correct on quite a few things.

Answer 5

Because various states and the federal goverment have passed laws against it.

Should gay men and lesbians be allowed to marry in a civil contract? Certainly. However, that doesn't change the fact that the religious right has cleverly confused RELIGIOUS ceremony with CIVIL LAW. When people have voted on amendments to their state constitutions, that confusion has been key to making them think they are protecting their religious rights, when they are in fact buildling prejudice into civil law.

All citizens should be entitled to the rights and responsbilities of marriage, regardless of the gender of the person they want to marry. Religions should be left to choose who they allow to marry - that's protected under the constitution.

Answer 6

Because religion and state AREN'T separate - however much we like to pretend we're past medieval superstition the truth is many people still hold to the moral system of the dark ages, homosexuality is a sin etc, and those people run for government and make the laws.

Answer 7

Marriage is a relationship of deepest commitment between a man and a woman that the family unit is based on. Separation of church and state has nothing to do with it. The only reason we have church and state is to prevent a state church. We wanted freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion. Freedom from religion leads to chaos, relative truth, anarchy...

Answer 8

If the individuals are residents of the State of Massachusets then they can be married. Marriage is a state issue, not federal and Connecticut, Vermont, and New Jersey also allow civil unions with the same rights as married couples.

Answer 9

The founding fathers said marriage was a union between a man and a woman and no one has had been able to change that.
This country was founded on fundamental Christian beliefs...that kind of negates the separation of church and state doesn't it?

Answer 10

Marriage is a union between a man and a woman, not a man and a man, or a woman and a woman.Jesus Christ ordained this as the sacrament of matrimony. Of course, if you don't believe in Christ's teaching, then nothing I say means anything to you.