[libertyminded]

Personally I don't think the government has any business marrying anyone to anyone. In what way is it of vital interest to the government with whom you are cohabitating or copulating? Taxes that's why... and they'll consider you common-law if you live together anyway. As far as I know marriage was originally the providence of religion and was primarily a function of passing women from their father's possession off to the possession of the husband. A quaint idea that's long since gone by the wayside. If it's the legal protections gays are interested in (i. e. medical decisions, passing on of property) then you can go to a lawyer with your partner... or whatever... and get that all drawn up. I think straights should have to do the same thing.

In the mean time I'm a little perturbed at how gays are attempting to equate their fight for marriage with the civil rights movement in the 60s. Racial discrimination seemed inherently unfair because you are born with black skin or slanted eyes or whatever, and it's an inalienable physical feature (i. e. you are black or asian or indian). Homosexuality is a behavior you engage in. It is an aspect of your psychological makeup not of your physical makeup. Schizophrenic people believe there are voices in their heads, hypochondriacs believe they're sick when they are not, people with severe depression perceive the world in much gloomier way than the rest of us and homosexuals urge to mate is directed towards the wrong gender. These are characteristics of mental abnormalities but society does not have to endorse these behaviors. If you have an urge to act in a way out of the ordinary, great, but don't come up to me and demand that I recognize it as perfectly normal.

I can understand gays not wanting to be thought of as pariahs (after all, having gotten out of high school recently I can attest to the fact that the primary insult between adolescent boys is "faggot"), but there's no getting around that. As long as the behavior that homosexuals engage in is inherently repulsive to the majority of people (and it will be forever) then homosexuals will always be looked down on, even if we try our best not to openly discriminate it will always "gross us out".

No it's not fair... but hey... that's life.