Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Originally posted by: OrByte
Originally posted by: alphatarget1
These things are never supposed to be decided by courts. The public isn't ready to embrace gay marriage yet, so why doesn't the gay community spend more time and efforts to try to educate to the public about it, instead of trying to have the courts force it down on people?
Forcing people to accept gay marriage does nothing to further your cause.
people aren't being forced to accept anything that hasn't already been established and that is equal treatment and equal protection for all.
If people are feeling "forced" into accepting this then they have a problem.
While I understand your sentiment since I fully support gay marriage and voted no on Amendment 2 (which was Florida's version of prop 8), what you're saying really isn't true.
Similar to driving, marriage is not a right, it' a privilege. It's a license granted by the State and the State can choose to revoke it or disqualify people based on any number of reasons. That applies to heterosexuals too as there are many restrictions on heterosexuals marrying ranging from age, to family relationship, and even based on blood tests.
I agree with AT1. The majority are not ready to accept gay marriage yet. It's unfortunate but the majority have made themselves clear on their wishes. Those wishes should be honored.
The right to marry has got to be about as fundamental as the right to life: I don't know where you get this shit.
A Constitutional Right To Marry
The Fourteenth Amendment: "'No state... shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.'
"While this (Supreme) Court has not attempted to define with exactness the liberty thus guaranteed, the term has received much consideration and some of the included things have been definitely state. Without doubt, it denotes not merely freedom from bodily restraint but also the right of the individual to contract, to engage in any of the common occupations, to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home and bring up children, to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and generally to enjoy those
privileges long recognized at common law as essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men."
- Meyers v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923)