The Same People

I have no problems with gay civil unions with the same rights to partners as those that spouses have in marriage. But I don???t want a gay union called marriage. You don???t redefine a centuries-old word to suit your selfish aims. The reason the word is crucial, though, is because they want to force those with a different viewpoint not just to accept, but to endorse their lifestyle.

The title of this piece is SOOO ridiculous. If the "gay debate" is "over", why are there so many people back here debating it????? Anna, you write some silly fluff pieces.

Unlike many of the posts below, I agree with the author. I am high school teacher and a mother of three children. We live on a farm and I drive a minivan to soccer, baseball and to the YMCA. We are active volunteers in our community, members of the PTO, home room parents and attend church most Sundays. While people will always have different opinions and make different choices for themselves, today's young people have a very tolerant "live and let live" attitude. They are a generation that accepts differences. Whether it's hair style, fashion, music or politics, they don't all fit into the same box anymore. "Yeah, so s/he is not the same as I am; so what?" That is their attitude. "What's the big deal?" Years of teaching about diversity and inclusive policies, teaching people not to"judge others" and "do unto others" has finally sunk in. My same sex partner and I have been together for 25 years, and we were married in our church 15 years ago in front of 200 of our closest friends and family. Maybe sometime soon that marriage will be recognized as legal, and we can protect our family like opposite sex couples can. We won't have to worry about if we can see each other or our children in the hospital, we will get the same tax breaks or the other 1100+ federal "special rights" given to those who are heterosexual, we can collect from the social security system (which we have been paying into for decades), we will be able to keep our property in our family in the event of our deaths, we will have the same protections in custody and family courts, and so much more that straight people take for granted. The youth of today are the laws of tomorrow, and it's right around the corner. And, by the way, Kitchenaid is one of the LGBT community's greatest supporters. We love their appliances even if we had to buy them ourselves.

J

A total of 8 out of 14 justices and one governor in three liberal states saying gay marriage is a ???right??? hardly ends the debate. What it does do is weaken the rule of law and rob the citizens (and gays also) of some of the future benefits and protections of our tri-cameral government system.

But if you believe that 8 judges can and should end the democratic process, you are showing your elitist, undemocratic, unconstitutional side. In state after state when the people have spoken, the experimental invention of gay marriage has not been approved.

And since gay marriage was not a right ever envisioned or debated by the founders (or any civilization) as was slavery, it doesn???t make sense to compare gay marriage slavery and black civil rights. It just doesn???t fit historically.

True love is not selfish or demanding. Yet gay marriage as all the signs of being selfish by turning children into possessions that gay couples ???want??? and then by robbing the children of the benefits and value ??? the right even - of diversity.

Surely we should love children enough in this country to guarantee them the right to grow up with the strength and benefits of the diversity of one male parent and one female parent?

Or is diversity only valuable and important in law classes? Or is the notion of the value of diversity really just a sham?

Nothing like a liberal dictating to the rest of Americans that a "debate" is over. What debate? Seems liberals are as pedantic and close minded as the conservatives they continously berate and demean. Anna - didn't you give up a high powered career to become a stay at home mom, betraying all your "feminist" friends and values? Isn't being a stay at home mom such an ugly conservative choice according to feminists. Didn't feminists determine that the "debate" was over to whether or not being a stay at home Mom was the wrong choice for all enlightened women to make. .


T

The debate over gay marriage is over? I don't remember a debate taking place at all. Many conservatives, like me, are ambivalent on gay marriage, and would prefer to have the government completely out of the marriage business altogether. However, more important to me is to live under a government of laws, openly debated, and decided by my elected representatives. The "debate" over abortion was supposedly over 35 years ago, but it still rages on because the people were robbed of their democratic rights. Expect the same on this issue. I'm open to hear all sides, but I prefer not to have a judge write my laws. That is tyranny.

The debate is over. This is the sound of the left wing jack boots once again. I'm a Libertarian and favor gay marriage, unlike Saint Barack to whom this once proud magazine has sold its soul. But I don't believe debates are over because the left wants to shove it's boot down our throats. You can't have a rational discussion of global warming science because the "debate is over" and any deviation from the party line makes you a holocaust denier or corporate tool. It's so funny, I never feel like WalMart or Chevron or McDonalds or any other big corporations are trying to control my thoughts. Nor the NRA, Michigan Militia or Boy Scouts of America. It's always leftwing free speech fans declaring debates over, dissenters Nazis, and disagreement with THEM hate,

I have to agree with Toujours. Just as Racists have begun dying out, soon those bigotted against homosexuals will also begin dying out. My kids and their friends can't see the big deal about gay marriage. They are so much more accepting than their elders. It's so encouraging to see hatred and bigotry decline with each generation. Anna, your right, the debate is really over, of course those who believe the church should run the government and those with hate in the heart will fight on. But it's a pointless fight that they will loose in the end. Gay marriage is inevitable. It may be 10 - 30 years before it's available in all of the States, but there can be no doubt that it's coming. Any one who disagrees, go to a high school, talk to the next generation about their feelings. You'll see the future, one with less hate than today. Makes me smile!!

I favor gay marriage, but I am puzzled by the liberal need to always shove their boot in the mouths of people who disagree. The debate is over is essentially a fascist term. It is the same term used for global warming. Why is this particular phrase so beloved by the left? The debate is over. Ms. Quindlen, which debates are open and closed, please tell us enlightened one?

Democrats are always the ones touting democracy. It's not over till they vote in November. Personally I'm so sick of hearing about it I hope they get the right to marry. It's not like not giving it to them will make them go away. I see no point in the argument. They're here, they're queer, let them marry if they want.

The writer says it is the most sacred business of judges to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. Who, pray tell, is going to protect the majority from the tyranny of the minority? Who is going to protect any of us from the tyranny of the judges? The tyranny of the judges was an object of much concern and debate at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

The title of this piece is SOOO ridiculous. If the "gay debate" is over.............why are there so many people back here debating it????? Anna, you write some silly fluff pieces.

thank God you can't pass on ignorance
no matter how hard you try.