my dad thinks he’s jesus or something, which basically means that i can’t get a word in edgewise if i even mention gays or homosexual relationships.

HATE.

if i had a time machine, i would go back in time to become his mother’s life partner.

The bible says a lot of things. It says that disobedient children should be stoned. It says that a woman found not to be a virgin on her wedding night should be stoned. (Notice that it does not say anything about male virginity). Picking and choosing what you will and will not follow, or which group of biblical laws you will or will not adhere to is a luxury that makes being ‘religious’ much easier I would think.

You said:

"This country was founded on the premise of protecting the minority view."

That is true, however it is only part of several premises of our founding documents. I think it is fair to say that our strain of Democracy was built to protect the rights of the individual while having the government represent the popular will. We elect people who get the majority of votes, not the other way around.

Regarding:

"Many fled to this country to escape religious persecution. Now, many of those very people’s ancestors are the same people persecuting gay Americans today."

This is a non-sequitur that I wanted to explore. It is more accurate to say that the Puritans were expelled from England. They were crazy religious extremists that the Crown did not want to deal with so they were packed off to cold and dismal America. What did these people do when they got here? Killed native americans and burned women because they were "witches". Is it surprising that some of the ancestors of these people would not look favorably upon "Queer" people.

"They assert that permitting same-sex marriage would jeopardize the institution of marriage."

The Religious claim that same-sex marriage would jeopardize the institution of marriage is ludicrous. Religious organizations have absolutely no place in dictating public policy. The fact that the Religious Right does exert so much influence in this arena only indicates that there is a strong public will from perhaps another "minority" of people who do not believe gay people should be allowed to marry. Their view is certainly protected.

This is one of the trickier parts of securing same-sex marriage rights. Although the separation of the church and state is another of the premises of our founding documents, the fact remains that you cannot separate yourself from your beliefs. There are a great many people in government office who are religious and that certainly affects their judgement in the administration of their duties. I have no idea as how to go about solving this except that if more gays and lesbians found themselves in public office that would do a lot to change the political culture. For instance all the states that recognize same-sex marriage have a higher number of openly gay politicians in office.

"The United States military is over-taxed with our involvement in so many regions of the world and we cannot afford to lose so many qualified and talented people."

That is so true! Whether the conflicts we are involved in are justified is another open discussion. Did you hear about the Arabic translator (of which there are already a deficit) who was discharged from his duties because he was gay? How does something like that even happen?

I have heard stories of roman legions where entire units were composed of homosexual males. The rationale was that these men who were all intimately connected with each other and surely had lovers would fight harder to protect those they loved. Whether that is true or not, it is interesting to think about.

Thanks for the article!

Relating to this topic: I will never ever forget a house I saw while driving by it last year. The yard was overgrown and not tended to. The house itself was in really bad condition; roof needed replacing and it could use a new paint job. Not to mention the ovious areas of age and decay on the body of the home. Overall, just really bad home in a not so great area. But there was a sign out front: 'McCain for President'.
The only thing I can figure about that is the old adage I hear time and time again; people vote against their self interest. It's quite baffling to me.

I am impressed with everything you have written on your site. You've made some really great points. Keep up the good work.

Speaking Biblically, homosexuality is condemned as "an abomination before God" in Leviticus CH 19.
Furthermore, according to the Moses Laws, homosexuals are to be stoned to death.

Obviously, we have progressed as a society in that we do not stone people, because we are of sinful nature ourselves; therefore we do not have the right.

We do, however, have the right to believe whether or not we feel homosexuality is a sin, or whether we believe it fails in the definition of a "marriage."

Likewise, divorce is condemned by Jesus in the Bible, in which he says "He who divorces his wife, thus forcing her to re-wed, forces her to commit adultery."

However, the Laws of Moses permitted divorce as a social law, while Jesus openly condemned this activity.

From a religious point of view,
I agree with your remark that divorce should be banned. However, as a religious person, I also believe that homosexuality does not have any place in the life of a God-fearing person.

That's my current religious take.

My name is Brenda and I have been writing my honest lesbian erotica blog at http://alesbiankiss2desire.blogspot.com for about 2 years .

After visiting your tremendously well done site, I believe we both would have alot to gain by crosslinking our sites. I believe the readers of both of our sites would have much in common.

Please let me know if you would exchange links onsite with me …and also, any hints about promoting your blog would be greatly appreciated.

Much happiness to you

Brenda

I’m surprised that there is a perception that Republicanism will mean a strong economy, too!

It’s going to be a bit of an uphill battle to get some change in the White House!