No you are wrong. Slavery did exist. What makes you think slavery was always illegal and slaves never existed? Is English your second language?
Where the hell did I say slavery didn't exist?
You said and I quote, "the courts were wrong, slaves were not property." Now you say: It certainly existed and the courts upheld it. Were they RIGHT or WRONG? I think most people who aren't retarded idiots believe they were WRONG! Which WAS my point.... Courts are not always RIGHT!
The courts are there to uphold the law, the law at the time was slavery is legal and slaves are property. What you mean to say is laws are not always good laws.
Sexuality - a person's sexual orientation or preference.
First you say only men and women can get married, the sexual orientation we call heterosexual, then you say sexuality, a person's sexual orientation or preference, has nothing to do with it. This indicates that you are delusional or ignorant to the meaning of the word sexuality. You pick.
You're having a really difficult time with what I actually say and what your illiterate shallow mind must be telling you I say.
I'm using the definition of sexuality, I even posted it for you. What definition of sexuality are you using?
Marriage is the union of a man and woman, without regard for any sexuality.
No you don't get to define the term marriage any more than I do, show me a link to a reference that defines marriage as a union without regard for any sexuality. If it was without regard for any sexuality then by definition it would not be man and woman only. Again you appear to not understand the meanings of words.
They can be heterosexual, homosexual, asexual, doesn't matter. Nothing to do with it. They have to be a man and woman, they have to be of legal age, they have to consent, they have to not be related, they have to be living, they can't already be married to someone, they have to pay for a license. It's not an inherent right, it never has been.
The right to marry has always been an inherent right, and it still is. You're not even on the correct planet with that statement.
You say if I can show you one state where the marriage licenses are issued on the basis of sexuality, you will stand opposed to it. Hmm.. ok:
Here is a link from my state:
THE TEXAS CONSTITUTION ARTICLE 1. BILL OF RIGHTS
Sec. 32. MARRIAGE. (a) Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.
(b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.
(Added Nov. 8, 2005.)
Okay... so where is the part about homosexuals can't marry or only heterosexuals can? I'm not seeing that in what you posted, only the criteria of being a man and woman. Not a thing with regard to what their sexuality is.
Are you mentally handicapped? Yes or No?
Go forth and stand opposed to it.
If it discriminated on the basis of sexuality, I certainly would. It doesn't.
Again, what planet are you on? What definition of sexuality are you basing your whacked out views on?
You say again that I am trying to change the criteria of what is marriage. I say again, no I am not.
Yes, if you want to modify marriage to include same sex unions, you ARE!
Why would I want to modify marriage? That's dumb.
You say I want to make marriage the union of two people who have the same gender. I say again, no I am not.
You ask again why am I arguing this? I say again, I am not.
You say if I support same sex marriage it means I support the government establishing laws which allow for same sex couples to be married. That would be correct.
You seem to be contradicting yourself. Is this a byproduct of your illiteracy?
Nah you just have a low IQ. I'm not contradicting myself one bit.
You ask why I'm being so silly here? I am not being silly.
Yes, you are being silly and ridiculous.
Nope.
You say 70% of the people don't want gay marriage. You are wrong:
The only "POLL" that counts is the ballot box. In every state where "Gay Marriage" has been proposed on the ballot, it has failed. In some places, as many as 80% voted against it. Popular polls like this are very difficult to measure actual voting demographics because so many people out there don't participate in them. For instance, an online poll only charts people who have the Internet and who are willing to participate, which is mostly young, mostly liberal people.
But here again, what we see is, you are more interested in having the fight, rallying behind the issue itself, fomenting hate and divisiveness for political gain... not resolving the issue. If there are SO many people who would support "same sex marriage" out there, then my idea of comprehensive civil union reform and removing government from the marriage business, would be VERY popular.
Nope. I'm more interested in solving the issue.
You say:
No, we don't already have comprehensive civil union reforms that remove governments from the business of issuing marriage licenses, if we did, we wouldn't be having this discussion. There is no discrimination in marriage laws, you are trying to claim a fundamental aspect of marriage criteria is discrimination, and it's not. Marriage is not defined by sexuality. It is not being disallowed to gay people or any other group. Are we also discriminating against pedophiles? What about brothers and sisters who love each other? No... because the law applies to everyone equally. I am heterosexual, I can't marry someone of the same sex. It has nothing to do with my sexuality.
Ending marriage licenses is a different topic, and does not touch the other 20k marriage laws in this country. Marriage law by definition is discrimination against singles, plural marriage, and same sex couples. Saying a gay person can get married by becoming heterosexual is equivalent to saying black people were not discriminated against because they could bleach their skin white. Sexual orientation is not the same as murder, rape, pedophilia, or incest. No harm comes from gays coupling. Both people in a gay relationship are consenting adults. Yes the law used to not allow women or blacks to vote. We call that discrimination.
I've not said a gay person can become married by becoming heterosexual.
Yes you did. There is no law anywhere that prohibits a gay person from becoming married because they are homosexual.
Yes there is, I already cited one.
Yes harm does come to societal structure of the family. That's why it's an issue. There is no law that prohibits homosexuals from being homosexual or engaging in homosexual acts. If there were such laws, I'd be opposed to them. If homosexuals were denied the right to obtain a license to marry someone of the opposite sex, I would be opposed to that. You keep presenting examples of where we DID discriminate against a particular group and didn't allow them to do something that others could do. That's not the case here. Heterosexuals can't marry same sex partners either. The law applies equally to all, you want to change the criteria for what marriage is to legitimize something as marriage that isn't marriage. The exact same argument could be used by any sexual deviant.
Huh? Where is the law that forces you to be married to have children?
You say
And I wish you'd stop lying about being conservative and republican. I've known you for a while on this and another board, and you have NEVER been remotely close to either. You're a liberal pissweasel who is lying through your teeth in order to try and appear objective. You're far too much of a dumbass illiterate to pull that off.
I'm a constitutional conservative always have been. Reagan was my favorite President. Switched from Republican to Libertarian when I gave up on the republican party picking moderate-socialists like McCain and Romney. I've only done a lot of posts on one board before, it was a hobby board with place called the basement, and I doubt seriously that you knew me there. I challenge you to post a quote of me stating my support for a socialist / liberal view point. My politics are based on the precept of liberty, in so far as that liberty is not used to cause harm to others, such as by taking liberty away from others.
I've never seen you post anything that wasn't straight out of the left-wing looney bin. I don't think you are smart enough to be a Libertarian, to be honest.
How smart do I have to be to be a Libertarian? And how do you measure "smart?"
But let's entertain this thought about "liberty" for a moment...
Do you think we should have laws that restrict 15-year-olds from marriage?
Yes.
Are they not entitled to the same liberty as everyone else?
No.
How about 12-year-olds?
Already answered.
Do you think we should have laws against public indecency?
Yes.
Why would you restrict their liberties when they aren't harming anyone?
Who are you referring to?
How about drunk drivers?
Should be restricted.
You restrict their liberty on the basis of what you THINK might happen, but they may be very good drivers who never kill anyone.
Wrong, drunk drivers are not very good drivers.
How about people who distribute kiddie porn?
They should be hung.
They aren't harming you in any way, why restrict their liberty?
Wrong, they are causing harm to those children. Please tell me you are not trying to defend kiddie pron.
How about people who fight dogs or abuse animals... animals aren't people, why do we restrict their liberties?
We restrict their liberties because society has deemed it morally repugnant.
The legal drinking age is 21, shouldn't it be at least 18?
Yes.
We have soldiers going off to die in wars who can't legally purchase alcohol.
Already answered.
You see, we have LOTS of laws, and most of them specifically restrict someone's liberty to do whatever they want to do. We can't have a civil society where everyone gets to behave like it's Pleasure Island and just do whatever they please. That just turns into anarchy and pretty soon we're all living in cesspool that no one wants to live in. So we elect political leaders to represent us in government, to establish the laws we want to set the parameters and boundaries for our liberties. If you don't like something, you have the constitutional right to protest it, petition for a redress of your grievances, advocate for change. If enough people join you, this happens as matter of law. That's how the process works.
Correct.
You seem to want some judge or court to rule upon high instead.
No I never said that.
Well, if a court can deem "same sex marriage" law of the land, it can also deem "traditional marriage" law of the land, or it can suspend things like "legal consent" and "age of accountability" to accommodate some special interest who thinks they have a right.
Correct.