First, nobody is denied the right to marry. If anything, gays already enjoy special protections under the law that are denied to straight individuals. Homosexuals have MORE rights, not less.
With all due respect, Gunner, you really don't understand the point of anti-discrimination laws as stated. Give you an example, here in Washington State, we recently had GLBT anti-discrimination laws enacted, for housing, credit and insurance, employment. You can find more information on it here:
WSHRC Website, look at the bottomAs a result of the law passing here, if I were the owner of a home (not residing there, that's exempted and rightfully so), and I wanted it to be a "gays only" house in terms of renting out, that would be discriminatory against heterosexuals, I could be sued, and I would lose. Before the new law took effect, Washington State did not exempt owner occupied homes at all (like federal law did). However, with the new law, more freedom was gained for those in owner occupied buildings in line with the federal laws on such issues. Gunner, if you can cite for me any case law on the issue where somehow the discrimination law is turned on it's head and where discrimination against the "majority" was ruled to be somehow acceptable, then please cite it. The law goes both ways on issues such as this, and if any court rule to rule against that idea, then the case is flawed.
That being said, it is still legal to fire or otherwise discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation in 33 states. (CA, CT, HI, IL, ME, MD, MA, MN, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, RI, VT, WA, WI all have laws against sexual orientation discrimination plus DC). Canards have been used against such laws here in Washington that "we shouldn't protect things based on choices". I then asked the people opposing that law to propose a bill to repeal religion, creed, marital status, and such as protected classes under Washington State laws, because those things are supposedly choices too. They change the subject or they pontificate about some other issue with gays, "they're all diseased", like richyoung was saying.
Speaking of richyoung, I seem to recall that this forum is called "Armed POLITE Society", and his posts have been anything but polite for the reasons BrokenPaw stated.
Despite the fact that people like me are going to be the best hope for reaching out to liberals about our right to keep and bear arms and personal protection, there are some people who just hate gays so much that they let it blind them to the opportunity that we present. It's easy to dismiss hetero WASP person, it's not easy for liberals to do the same thing to a left leaning gay man. I have converted quite a few liberals on RKBA due merely to the fact that I was not your typical "gun owner" in their mind. I realize APS is not a "Gun Forum", but this site spawned out of The High Road, and has it's pedigree accordingly.
We are some of the most hated minorities in the world. We get attacked politically all of the time, we are the nation's whipping boys for all that is wrong with the country because we are uppity enough to call bullshit on idea of heterosexual privilege.
My opinion on same gender marriage as stated:
It should be an absolute non-issue. Civil Unions for EVERYONE, not just same gender partners. Leave marriage to the churches, synagogues and other religious institutions. This has been suggested, and rejected multiple times by the people who oppose the same gender marriage. We wanted equality in the sense of being able to do everything opposite gendered couples can do in a LEGAL sense, including in name. Olive branches were sent out to the people who opposed same gender marriage, in the sense of "you guys can get married all you want, this takes the word marriage out of the equation in civil discourse". Of course, it was rejected because:
1. Pure out and out hate
2. Money
In regards to 1, they simply hate gay people, or want to "cure them" of their homosexuality, using methods like
this to cure them of it, or want to turn the legal clock to 1960, where every state had an anti-gay sodomy law (Illinois was the first in 1961 to modernize it's criminal code). The thinking on this runs the gamut to just being being able to fire someone for being what they are, to "put them in cattle cars and gas them in camps" types. Then you have people like
Freddie Phelps who are protesting at military funerals because we as a nation have the gall to not execute gay people. If it's not money attracting these leaches in the religious right, it's because they believe in what Fred Phelps says. Despite all of their PR statements saying that "Fred Phelps is a loon and we don't believe in what they believe in", it's still shades of the same color: They hate gay people. Whether or not they only support just people people in jail versus summary executions of gay people if found like what Fred Phelps supports, it still does not change the one fact: They either hate gay people, or they are just in it for the love of money, and with certain people, probably a bit of both.
That leads to the second part, which is just simple greed on the part of the anti-gay leadership. Without gay marriage as a fear, they simply cannot get as much donations and cash from their faithful followers. Peace and tranquility doesn't bring in the cash, new boogeyman who will "destroy America with their filth" will bring in money. They need more money so they can build expensive mansions out in the middle of nowhere and buy new luxury cars. Anti-gunners in a similar sense do that kind of crap too, fearmongering just to get more money. Gee, we wouldn't as those who are pro-gun know anything about being outfoxed by superior planning and outspent many times over right?
Follow the money, and everything will make sense from then on out as to why Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Robert Dotson and company do what they do.
