Decision on Gay Marriage Has Wide Impact

Gay marriage John McCain

Can John McCain be trusted???

He is a Catholic, and we can assume he had a Catholic wedding to his first wife. He stood before God, his church, friends and family and recited his SACRED wedding vows to love honor,cherish, be there in sickness and in health, his wife until death do they part. Well guess what happened to his first wife? The one how stood by him all those years when he was a POW in vietnam. He left her(while she was sick) after having an affair with his current wife Cindy.

So how can this man be trusted? He stood before GOD and lied. Those Sacred vows meant NOTHING. And now we are to believe John McCain will place his hand on the holy bible and swear he will uphold, defend and protect the Constitution of The United States of America????

Why it's "gay" instead of "homosexual"

The word "homosexual" carries a lot of subjective cultural and/or emotional coloration in addition to the explicit or denotative meaning of the word.

From the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Reference Guide:

Because of the clinical history of the word "homosexual," it has been adopted by anti-gay extremists to suggest that lesbians and gay men are somehow diseased or psychologically/emotionally disordered — notions discredited by both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association in the 1970s.

Why "gay"??

Why are they calling "homosexuals" "Gay"?? Let's face it, there are heterosexuals and homosexuals. The term "gay" has always meant happy. Are all these homosexual men happy? I don't think so... Then why do they look to have their sexual orientation be call something other than what it really is? Could someone help me with this? If the homosexual lifestyle is what they wish, I have no problem with that... I just don't understand why these folks don't call it what it is...

same right

I believe gays have the same right as everyone dose, they pay taxes

they have the right to a home, they a right to a marraige or civil union,

and we all will have to stand before God someday and give a account to him and not to each other and true christian would not be standing judging one another over it.

It's Okay

gay marriage is okay with me.you can swing both ways but you're still human.there is no need to treat gay's like freaks!I hav lots of gay friends and it makes them no less human than I am!

It's Okay

gay marriage is okay with me.you can swing both ways but you're still human.there is no need to treat gay's like freaks!I hav lots of gay friends and it makes them no less human than I am!

It is cool with me!

you can swing both ways you shoudent have to fight forit!

It's Okay

gay marriage is okay with me.you can swing both ways but you're still human.there is no need to treat gay's like freaks!I hav lots of gay friends and it makes them no less human than I am!

Gay marriage is OKAY!

I think gay marriage is okay. humans have the right to like what eveer they want guy or girl.they are just as human as we so there is no need to treat them like freaks the way I see it you can do what you like!

RE: John Stemberger's article in The Sun Sentinel

I read with great disgust John Stemberger’s 5/31/08 article entitled “Redefining Marriage Opens Floodgates.” I am, however, grateful for The Sun Sentinel’s wise opinions against Amendment 2, a ballot measure which is clearly homophobic and only serves to continue prejudice and discrimination against a significant segment of the population.

Many groups have suffered discrimination in the State of Florida. Far too much of this was done under the protection of the law. All of it was wrong and unjust - whether it was the discrimination suffered by blacks under segregation, the housing prohibitions against the Jewish community in Miami Beach in the 1940s, or laws against Florida's Native American tribes. All discriminatory laws are anti-American, and clearly unconstitutional. We are all guaranteed equal protection under the laws.

Laws which prohibited a person of one group from marrying a person of another group have a long history in Florida, and throughout The South. Discriminatory laws have been on the books in The Sunshine State for far longer than ever should have been allowed. For example, laws banning interracial marriages were enacted in 1832 in Florida, repealed during The Reconstruction period, and then later reenacted.

In the article Stemberger states that opponents to Amendment 2’s motive is “to advance special rights for gay-identified (sic) persons by dishonestly scaring senior citizens using tortured arguments that ‘benefits’ will be taken away.” Can’t you just feel the hatred in that statement? Gay people do not want special rights – they want equal rights, which are protected under the U.S. and Florida Constitutions. No extremist group’s amendment, no matter how contorted and confusing, can change the most important right of any American – equal protection under the laws.

Constitutional amendments can remain law for far longer than society would warrant them to. It was not until 1998 that voters in South Carolina removed a ban on interracial marriage from the state constitution there. The anti-miscegenation clause was added in 1895 to forbid the marriage of anyone with more than 1/8 Negro blood to any white person. So up until ten years ago it was illegal for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to marry a white woman. Does that seem right and just?

The extremists who successfully added Amendment 2 to the ballot in November seek only to deny human rights to gay people. Masking their bigotry and hatefulness in Christianity and Judaism is an affront to all Floridians and in my opinion an affront to God. The hypocrisy of it is what is most shocking. It cannot be tolerated. They must be stopped.

Protecting the Florida and U.S Constitutions from attacks by anti-human rights extremists is incredibly important for all minority groups. If a constitutional amendment is allowed to be the basis for discrimination against one minority group, which group will be next? The opening of these floodgates is the true danger here. Rejecting Amendment 2 is not only critical for gay people, but for all in our society. Floridians must not allow Amendment 2 to become law. The consequences may be dire.

Stemberger’s article is filled with misinformation, as well as unscientific arguments and terminology. Clearly, he has no idea whatsoever that homosexuality is a natural occurrence, existent in all species. Gay people have just about as much choice about their sexual orientation as a person has about what race they are born into or whether they get juvenile diabetes.

Stemberger’s statement: “The time has come for us to stand up and protect the human institutions that have sustained civilization since the beginning of time...for children, for family and for the common good of society…” seems to forget that gay people are mothers and fathers, and sons and daughters. I would like to know what possible threat there will be, to a totally unrelated family, when Ellen DeGeneres marries Portia De Rossi. Is Stemberger worried that Ellen is going to molest his children? Let’s get real. To suggest that gay people marrying is in any way a threat to families or children is equally idiotic. The actual threat is in the hatred and intolerance of these extremists.

Let it be clear to all: the root of the anti-human rights Amendment 2 is homophobia. It’s hard to believe that this sort of archaic thinking is acceptable in any way, shape or form in the year 2008. It’s regrettable that Florida voters will be forced to decide whether to deny any group equal rights. Any law that discriminates against any group of law-abiding people should not even be considered. It is discrimination that should be illegal, not vice versa. It seems absolutely absurd that the amendment even got on the ballot. What next – reinstatement of Jim Crow?

Pastor Martin Niemoeller’s poem seems to speak to this best:

First they came for the Communists,

- but I was not a communist so I did not speak out.

Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists,

- but I was neither, so I did not speak out.

Then they came for the Jews,

- but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out.

And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.

Whether you are gay or straight you need to send a message to those who hate by voting NO on Amendment 2.

William J. Iannarelli, Jr.

Coconut Creek FL 33073

williannarelli@aol.com