Gay Marriage

[Yaz Pistachio]

Discuss.

[chex]

There is absolutely no reason it should not be legal. None of this "oh, give them the same benefits but call it something different" febreeze. None of this "let everyone who wants it get the legal benefits, and have a church bless it to call it a marriage" febreeze. Unless you live in a theocracy, keep your goddamn religion out of legal matters. Religion does not own the word "marriage." Gay, straight, I don't care. If you are two consenting adults, you should be able to marry whoever the smurf you want. Being gay isn't a choice. But even if it was, who gives a smurf? It doesn't affect anyone else.

Hi, I can get pretty passionate about this topic.

[Yaz Pistachio]

Me too. And I think the same thing. I'm gonna get married by a legal official, not a priest. I know some kids who are against gay people, and they blame it on their religion. smurf them. I believe that everyone has the right to get married to who they love. No restrictions.

Hi, I can also get pretty passionate about this topic.

[chex]

My husband and I didn't want any mentioning of god or religion in our ceremony, so we had a JP do the ceremony. That JP was also the guy who owned our towns only move theater and he also subbed at our high school. The JP said he was nervous about our ceremony, since he had never officiated a big one before.

I have a lesbian atheist friend (parenting board) who is an ordained minister. She got ordained to officiate a friends wedding.

[Yaz Pistachio]

That's awesome!

[Wesley]

As far as the law and stuff.... Back in the day, certain benefits were allotted to married couples because while the female was carrying, giving birth to, and raising a child she would be unable to hold what was considered then to be a normal job. Many of the benefits associated with marriage today are held over from those older and outdated concepts. This is part of what upsets people about the newer marriage laws. Why should the benefits be given to a partner who is not physically incapacitated with the rearing of a child? Even if some nice men adopt some children and one of them takes the role of homemaker, he does not go through the trauma of childbirth and is fully capable of having a job if he choses.

See? It is all semantics. It's all about taxes and liability. Otherwise why, in this modern age, do we need marriage at all? Since 68% of marriages end in divorce, is it not just the same as dating someone? If so, then why the need for the title of Husband or Wife or Life Partner?

I am not opposed to gay marriage, I am opposed to all marriage.


Or not.




I love stirring things up.

[chex]

Said friend has two kids, both of whom sound incredibly awesome (you know, going by her posts ) so smurf that "think of the children" febreeze, too.

[chex]

If they want to call pregnancy and childbirth into it, they should be opposed to infertile couples marrying as well.

[Yaz Pistachio]

Exactly. I've watched many TV shows about gay couple with kids, and they all turn out fine.

[LaLou]

Zot, honey, giving birth is not traumatic. If it would be, we (women) would not do it so much.
Having said that, maybe to men it would be.

In the NL marriage between two people of the same gender is legal for years now. The legal and religious ceremonies are strictly seperated. So we have to go to the cityhall and to church. (If we want a religous confirmation of the marriage that is.)
When the law for gay marriage was introduced the world did not fall apart, and the Netherlands did not cease to excist. Despite of what Effie thinks.

If they want to confirm the love they feel for each other, that's great. If not, it's great too.
I'd say, love and let love.

[chex]

I think Zot was referring to the physical trauma. Tearing, the possibility of a c-section, etc.

[Wesley]

And honestly, childbirth is traumatic compared to most things a woman has experienced before that. But I was being histrionic to show a point. There is hospital stay involved, high risk, etc.

[chex]

Maybe one night at most, unless there are complications (or a c-section, of course)

Sometimes there is no hospital time involved. (Damn, I'd love to do a home birth!)

[Giana]

I agree with Zot...no marriage at all would be the best

[Dowster]

From the legal aspect of it I would also agree, I think it's probably better to have a big celebration call each other husband, wife, or whatever you wish. But don't do any paperwork or have any kind of official

Our situation now is that my wife has 0 income, she should be receiving child tax credits, but they're being withheld (still) due to the mountain of smurf ups that the tax office made between 2005-2008 and the fact that stopping her benefit is the only way to recover money from her. Now that aside, if we were not legally married, she would be entitled to unemployment benefits, and as a mother - income support, but because we are married and I work full time, she`s entitled to jack shazam!.

Marriage now just seems to be a way for the government to screw you even further, and whatever "benefits" that there may have been in the past, have long gone. In England it seems more and more like the best thing you can do is sit at home all day, never get a job and never get married. That way you get money every week, everything paid for you and no risk of debt or being made homeless or bankrupt

[chex]

Without being legally married, I would have to pay for plane tickets if I want to live with my husband and children when we move. I wouldn't be allowed on base unless he signs me in as a guest and escorts me every time. That would mean I would have to live off base, even in foreign countries. I would have no medical insurance.

A legal marriage is a damn good thing in my world.

[Dowster]

Military yes - civilian - No

For us anything we try to do is bad, because we tried to buy our own home, if we lose it we're not entitled to be rehoused, if however we not tried to buy our own home we could go through a bankruptcy without losing anything - they only consider possesions worth over £500, and don't include vehicles if you need them for work - so we have nothing but the house to lose, but if the house goes so does all our stuff because we can't keep it on the street

Everything we've ever done has only made our situation worse, and the only options now are raise £500 per month above my regular wage somehow, or end up homeless. Great huh?

[chex]

Damn. Not only do we have the military/civilian differences, but we also have the US/UK differences. That could make for a difficult discussion.

[bella]

Meh, how can a government be so messed up that someone working his butt off can't live without financial worries?

[Dowster]

I never knew it was anything like this until going through it, and didn't even know 2 years ago that getting married would screw us even further. It's all messed up..