Gay marriage in California

now legalized and recognized. About time. But here's the question.....can I now marry my dog and he can get on my health care policy? The vet bills are out of control!

Fri. May 16, 10:33am

I think dogs are another issue altogether. But I don't have health insurance--will you marry me?

Friday, May 16, 2008, 12:05 PM

ha ha you are both very funny... but homosexual "marriage" is bad for America.

...so not so much with the "about time"

Friday, May 16, 2008, 1:30 PM

I am so PROUD of my state and it's decision! YAY for gay marriage! I am so excited (and I'm straight!!)

Friday, May 16, 2008, 1:31 PM

1:30 - You have GOT to be kidding me. I would try to argue with you, but stupidity and narrow-mindedness will take longer to overcome than I care to take on this sight. Luckily, educated Judges, educated politicians, and educated people throughout America disagree with you.

Friday, May 16, 2008, 1:41 PM

I am really happy about it too (and i am straight). Even though VT already allows it CA is has a much larger percentage of total US population - it will help a lot more people looking for those rights.

Friday, May 16, 2008, 1:54 PM

not kidding, somebody has to represent.
For the majority of Western History and in Islam, Judaism and Christianity this is behavior that is veiwed as punishable, not rewardable by the civil governments... but hey, I am just representing the opinion of the majority of world religions throughout history here, so what do I know...
Glad to see you think that America has "advanced" morally -Is that why our families, schools, communities and young people are TOTALLY BREAKING DOWN? - because we are morally superior to our national predecessors? I am sure you can see that America's "new morality" is working out just fine when you look at the murder / suicide / drug use / depression / divorce rate / crime rate here - yeah that stuff is up like 3000% since we decided to chuck the old ideas, moral "improvement" is rampant in America..

1:30

I know, hate the conservative...go ahead....

Friday, May 16, 2008, 2:06 PM

1:30 I AM SO WITH YOU!!

GET A GRIP PEOPLE...MANY OF US EDUCATED AMERICANS ARE VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH THIS DECISION AND WILL CONTINUE TO OBJECT TO THIS INAPPROPRIATE RULING. SINCE YOU MENTIONED THE DOG...TAKE LESSONS FROM OUR ANIMAL FREINDS THEY ALWAYS FIND A MATE OF THE OPPOSITE SEX,

Friday, May 16, 2008, 2:34 PM

2:34 No they don't. Hence homosexuality is all natural. Much more natural than handguns, or sunglasses, or airplains, or food coloring.

Don't you have something better to be bothered about? There was a big earth quake in China. Lots of people are suffering. Go worry about that for a while.

Friday, May 16, 2008, 2:57 PM

majority of western history...hmmm...so 2000 years out of millions is the majority? If you take a look through hisotry you will see that homosexuality has been present since the beginning of man. In most societies (historically and outside of modern western cultures) there is actually a place in socieity for homosexuals as a third gender rather than the dichotomy based on sex (as in male/female) that we have. If you go to a non-christain college and take a 100 level anthropology or sociology class you will learn about this.

Friday, May 16, 2008, 3:24 PM

I think gay marriage is a great idea. (I'm straight. And unmarried.) Why on Earth would anyone object to two adult people in love wanting to commit to each other? And what business is it of yours, if it's not your relationship? I sure wouldn't appreciate anyone sticking their nose into _my_ relationship and telling me my boyfriend was too tall for me to marry, too weird for me, the wrong race for me, the wrong religion for me, or anything else.

As for the "take the lead from other animals" argument, you don't know much about other species I take it? (Link goes to BBC's "sex pest seal")

Link

Friday, May 16, 2008, 3:51 PM

I'm British and we've had Civil Partnerships here since 5th December 2005 and it is absolubtly fantastic. (i'm straight however)
Like someone said earlier, homosexuality has been present throughout all of history, it's common knowledge that the Ancient Greeks were rampant homosexuals for crying out loud!

And I think that those of you who are complaining about gay marriage being "against God/religion" are entirely missing the point. A Civil Partnership is about expressing love and commitment for another person so what's the problem for that?
I think it's important to point out that this ceremonies DONT take place in churches because of them not actually being the same as a marriage, so therefore it really isn't like a marriage in every sence of the word.

And finally, laws like this have to be passed in order to keep up with changing society, it's just a shame that a minority of people can't keep up too!

Friday, May 16, 2008, 4:07 PM

PP -- I fully agree with you. However, the fact that some people here are freaking out about is that California actually legalized gay marriage... not just civil unions. I'm still in full support of it though!

Friday, May 16, 2008, 4:11 PM

Man, now I wanna become gay and get married just to piss off conservatives!!!

Friday, May 16, 2008, 4:15 PM

Also, drug use was far more rampant before it became illegal (in the 60's and 70's) and people started actually trying to follow those laws (in the late 80's, via programs such as DARE.) Before then, no one cared about drug usage.

Friday, May 16, 2008, 4:15 PM

1:30...I agree with you (somewhat)...3:24...

sin has also been around since the beginning of time. And since the beginning of time, the major religions have punished homosexuality because it is sinful and dirty in God's eyes.

However, I believe in separation of church and state. Why? Because I don't want the state to get involved with my relationship with God. California's ruling does not make it mandatory for any religion to marry homosexual couples - so religion can still uphold the sanctity of marriage. I do believe in equal rights for those we choose to share our lives with simply because it is humane and proper.

I do not condone homosexuality, but I do not condemn those. Jesus said to hate the sin, not the sinner.

Friday, May 16, 2008, 4:19 PM

What the heck is "just" a civil union? The idea of a civil union is that it confers the same legal rights as marriage, without any religious overtone. The same people who are against gay marriage are against civil unions as well (bills to ban both have been introducted to my state's legislature). Because (1) they think if they stick their fingers in their ears and yell homosexuality will disappear, and; (2) we straight atheist folks could have civil unions too, and thereby enjoy atheism without the hypocrisy of a religous name put to the relationship.

What a thought! :-)

Friday, May 16, 2008, 4:21 PM

pp here - well, apparently I haven't met anyone like 4:19 before.
Separation of church and state -- exactly!

Friday, May 16, 2008, 4:23 PM

I am gay and and I have been with my partner exclusively for more than 30 years. I know very few straight people who can say the same. Most of my (gay) friends are in long term relationships reaching over the span of 20 years.I live in MA where gay marriage is legalized too (we were first state to do this). All I can say is it is about time.

This is happening around the country. Quite a few states have legalized civil unions. Other COUNTRIES did this years ago (Canada for example). The US is supposed to be a leader of nations......we are a little behind the curve on this one.

Friday, May 16, 2008, 4:28 PM

Good going California!!!

I think its fantastic. Gay marriage is legal in Canada, which is where I am from, but when its important when the US does something - the whole world is influenced by American culture - so I think its a great thing!

Friday, May 16, 2008, 4:31 PM

2:06....

I will never hate you... : ) haha

Friday, May 16, 2008, 5:18 PM

I woud LOVE it if my baby dogs had insurance!!!!

Friday, May 16, 2008, 5:20 PM

I agree ...

way to go California!!!

Booooooo to the haters!!!!! ... no one is saying you have to have a gay marriage now so what's your problem?

Friday, May 16, 2008, 6:19 PM

As someone has mentioned, there's a difference between civil unions and marriage. I'm personally against the govt's involvement in marriage AT ALL.

What ideally should have been done in Cda when we legalized gay marriage was that the gov't just should have abolished marriage from any and all legislation and subbed in civil unions.

Face it, from the gov't perspective, "marriage" is ONLY about a contract- love? You don't need to love someone to marry them, so it's completely irrelevant. Commitment? Look at the divorce rate and all the laws we have to do with dissolution of marriages. "Marriage" is ONLY about legal rights and obligations stemming from the relationship. Gays wanted the same legal rights as straight married couples. Have the gov't only issue civil union licenses to people, and if they wanted to "marry" then they could find a church to do it. (United and some Anglican churches would marry them anyways).

However, in most judeo-Christian religions, "marriage" is a sacrament/religious event. And most judeo-Christian religions are still either opposed to gay unions, or at best on the fence. By continuing to use the term marriage simply for legally sactioned unions, it DOES detract from the meaning that many hold for the word marriage- which is why many conservatives are entitled to be upset.

It's funny though, that so many now fight for all the rights of marriage without the marriage (common-law) and then some want marriage even though because the couple is already commonlaw, it's not going to change anything.

Friday, May 16, 2008, 9:00 PM

I haven't had time to read all of the comments so I might be repeating here...

I'm straight, married, and Catholic. I completely support gay marraige. I think it's time society and religion took a giant leap forward and started respecting all people. For the big deal that LOVE is in religion, we sure put a lot of restiction on it.

Yeah California!

Friday, May 16, 2008, 9:22 PM

I'm straight, married, pretty much agnostic, and I think it's great that gay marriage is allowed in CA now. The idea that homophobia is sinful has always seemed much more like a 'man-made' convention to me; surely if God exists, he loves us all, regardless of who we fall in love with.

Saturday, May 17, 2008, 10:40 AM

Oops, I mean homosexuality, not homophobia.

Saturday, May 17, 2008, 10:41 AM

Haha...great slip 10:40...from where I stand, homophobia (fear or hatred of homosexuality) is a sin....or at least a shame.

And I say yay California too....welcome to a world where legislation is more reflective of the realities of how people live.

Now, how many states to go?

id

Saturday, May 17, 2008, 3:29 PM

6:47...

and because they were rampant homosexuals, that makes the practice right? That's kind of like saying because slave labor existed in the 1800s that it is okay. Come on...

Sunday, May 18, 2008, 2:19 AM

6:47...

actually that was a Brit who clearly pushed your button ;)

Sunday, May 18, 2008, 2:56 AM

There's a reason that that kind of sex is referred to as "greek style". Heh.

Sunday, May 18, 2008, 11:03 AM

Never heard of Greek Style before...(I'm a liberal from CA, BTW) Homosexuality has been a MAJOR part of most nation's histories - what's the big freaking deal?! And to the ignorant poster about humans being the only ones who are homo, that's just sillyness. It's rampant in the animal kingdom - they just wanna get some, very non-discrimanate!

Sunday, May 18, 2008, 11:49 PM

******************

If "God" does exist, surely he wants us all to be happy. We are all people who are deserving of everything good in this life. Take away all of our possessions and what does this life really come down to? It's the people we love and our relationships with them (romantic, family, friends, or otherwise). Everyone has a different kind of family. Every family should be afforded the same rights as any other.

Way to go, California!

Monday, May 19, 2008, 10:34 AM

I find the ingorance of religion and history in this string very off putting. Name some other personal moral action that has been VILIFIED by major religions and societies for THOUSANDS of years that is now lauded and praised - which repesents a positive step in moral progress for society.

Really, you think that 21st century Europe / America is morally superior to the rest of historical humankind? Do you look at our current world and think that a cheif characteristic is the moral purity that it has acheived ? ?

Monday, May 19, 2008, 10:59 AM

9:22 - you state, "I'm ...Catholic. I completely support gay marraige"
What? ? Isn't part of being a Catholic backing what the catholic church and the pope teaches, in what sense are you Catholic? ?

That make NO sense. That is like saying, "I am a member of Greenpeace and I completely support oil drilling in America's National Parks"

WTF ??

Monday, May 19, 2008, 11:10 AM

So if we're going by the Bible, should we bring back slavery and crucifixion? As we have advanced in society, we have come to learn that some of the ideas of the past are pointless. The bible also states about a woman's "place" in society....so should we lose our right to vote? We should all be about moving forward.

Straight, female, married.

Monday, May 19, 2008, 11:26 AM

9:22 here

What can I say...I guess I'm a bad Catholic. I disagree with the pope all the time and I've considered leaving the church, but there is also so much I love about the Catholic church I've decided to stay.

By the way, I know I'm not alone. I know plently of Catholics that support gat marriage.

Monday, May 19, 2008, 11:27 AM

9:22

you sound like a GREAT Catholic! I wish here were more like you & your friends!

Monday, May 19, 2008, 11:34 AM

wow 11:26 so you think that "support the bible = bring back crucifiction"?

Are you serious ? ?

In the Bible that was a practice of the Roman Empire that represented the worst of what pagan society could unleash on the innocent and good. If you think the message of the bible is to follow Roman cruelties, you really haven't ever even tried to understand Christianity at all...
I'm sorry, but you are proving my point.

Monday, May 19, 2008, 11:36 AM

11:10
For many people, identifying as member of a religious group is about tradition and family history. It doesn't necessarily mean you subscribe to every thing the hierarchy promotes. Catholicism is not an ideology for many people ...but instead, a practice.

There are many progressive Catholics. If you do a little reading and looking around you will find them. Most religions, at their best, are living traditions and a range of people with a range of ideas will be represented in the population.

Greenpeace, on the other hand is an organization you join. It has been around for less than half a century. It came in response to the huge problems we are facing because pollution and industrial living have gotten out of hand. You are comparing apples to water...there are qualities both entities share but there are vast differences.

Getting back to the theme of this thread...YAY CALIFORNIA....way to go. One more state moving toward a more truly representative democracy.

Monday, May 19, 2008, 11:37 AM

Please don't get on your theological high horse......my connection with bible and crucifixion is merely that there are many past practices that, in the light of modern day society, are now archaic. Condemning homosexuality as a sin is one of them. My grandmother almost died (as well as my mother, the baby) in childbirth and was told to use condoms by her doctor in 1940 to avoid future pregnancies. As a good Catholic, she went to her priest and was told that she should willingly give up her life in childbirth for God and the propagation of the faith. Should that still be true today????? Things change, we move forward, we realize that some ideas are separatist and cruel.

And by the way, my grandmother went straight to the drug store, bought the condoms and lived a long happy life. Her theory: it would be a greater sin to leave 2 children motherless than to use birth control.

Monday, May 19, 2008, 1:02 PM

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