Will gay marriage be a major issue in the 2008 presidential election?

[Albus Dumbledore]

Republicans will try using it to mobilize people but it won't work quite as well as it did in 2004.

[Albus Dumbledore]

A very minor issue, and McCain cannot exploit it nearly as well as a Bush or a Huckabee could have.

Agree....although a smile still comes to my face when I think of how hugely it was shot down in 2004.

Why do you oppose equal rights for gays?

[Albus Dumbledore]

A very minor issue, and McCain cannot exploit it nearly as well as a Bush or a Huckabee could have.

Agree....although a smile still comes to my face when I think of how hugely it was shot down in 2004.

Why do you oppose equal rights for gays?

Marriage isn't a right. I do, however, support civil unions so don't tell me I'm not for "equal rights" for gays.

Unless you support everyone getting civil unions(and leaving marriage soley for churches to handle with no state presence), your position still opposes gay rights. It may be more moderate and a good start but it's still anti-gay rights.

[Albus Dumbledore]

A very minor issue, and McCain cannot exploit it nearly as well as a Bush or a Huckabee could have.

Agree....although a smile still comes to my face when I think of how hugely it was shot down in 2004.

Why do you oppose equal rights for gays?

Marriage isn't a right. I do, however, support civil unions so don't tell me I'm not for "equal rights" for gays.

Unless you support everyone getting civil unions(and leaving marriage soley for churches to handle with no state presence), your position still opposes gay rights. It may be more moderate and a good start but it's still anti-gay rights.

Oh darn. I guess I'm against gay rights then.

By the way, marriage still isn't a right.

The constitution guarentees equal rights for citizens. If heterosexuals can get marriage benefits why not homosexuals?

[Albus Dumbledore]

Would you be okay with leaving marriage entirely for churches to handle and having everyone get civil unions via the state(they can get a church ceremony afterwards)?

[Albus Dumbledore]

So you're against a simple reform which would more or less end political bickering over gay marriage by moving the question of recognizing gay marriage to the churches?

[Albus Dumbledore]

Would you be okay with leaving marriage entirely for churches to handle and having everyone get civil unions via the state(they can get a church ceremony afterwards)?

I still don't have a problem with the government recognizing marriage. I guess this is the "anti gay equality" in me.

Sounds like it.

He needs to realize that America isn't only a christian nation.

[Albus Dumbledore]

How would civil unions end this issue where the government is still explicitly identifying one type of relationship as "superior"?

It wouldn't.

[Albus Dumbledore]

Note how my proposal involved having the churches decide what marriage is and left all the administrative/benefits related to it to civil unions.

[Albus Dumbledore]

Give it 10 or so years and the debate will be civil unions vs gay marriage.

[Albus Dumbledore]

Yup. That particular debate will probably not be solved for several decades. My guess is it'll take until 2050 or so for the last holdouts in deep dixie and the mormon belt to have legal gay marriage(but they'll have gotten civil unions by the 2020s).

[Albus Dumbledore]

Have your religious lifestyle but leave the rest of us out of it. I'm not a protestant so why should I have to be forced to follow protestant mores?

[Albus Dumbledore]

The way the church handles it shouldn't affect how the state/the rest of society handles it. Or does america need a Kulturkampf?