Gay Stuff : Republicans Support Gay Marriage?
“Republicans Sign Brief in Support of Gay Marriage.”
Need to read that again?
“Republicans Sign Brief in Support of Gay Marriage.”
I had to read that twice this morning when I first saw it come through a Twitter alert on my iPhone. I eagerly tapped the link to read the article. Dozens of prominent Republicans have signed a legal brief stating that gay people have the right to marry.
First, let me introduce myself. My name is Jason. I am a soon to be 31 year old gay man living in a small town in North Carolina. I was born in High Point, the same town that Fantasia Barrino is from and also known as the furniture market of the world. I workin retail. I am dating a wonderful guy and have a lot of friends. I have a great life here in NC and wouldn’t trade it for the world. I am a tech savvy guy that pays attention to what is going on around me, especially in matters relating to medical, religion and politics.
Now, I am not so naive to not realize that not all Republicans are the self-centered, close-minded people that they are portrayed. I have always suspected that there were some out there who were on our side.
But I never expected for so many to come out so publicly in support for us after the controversial election we just had last year. Unless you had your head in the sand, we all know how different the candidates stood on gay marriage. President Obama was the first president in history to ever publically offer his support for it. Mitt Romney made it no secret that he was against anything related to it.
I didn’t know exactly what a legal brief was so I Googled it. A legal brief is a document stating facts and points of law of a client’s case. This will be presented to the Supreme Court this week in support of a suit seeking to get rid of Proposition 8, which most of us remember coming into law the same time we voted in our first black president.
It argues that same-sex marriage promotes family values by allowing children of gay couples to grow up in a two-parent home. As a kid who grew up in a single parent home, I understand the importance of that.
The court will hear several arguments next month and another case that challenges the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. We have several supporters, some who supported Prop 8 or have publically opposed same sex marriage. I won’t bore you with there names, several of them I have never heard of. But two names to note, former first lady Laura Bush, former Vice-President Dick Cheney, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell all support same-sex marriage, but were not included in the brief.
I really believe and hope that in my lifetime I will see same-sex marriage become legal in our country. It’s not been an easy road and we still have a lot more progress to make. However, with support like this, it just may become a reality a lot sooner.
I also want to note that as I was writing this, I saw on my facebook feed that Apple, Intel, Morgan Stanley, Facebook and over 200 other companies and 250 employers are filing amicus briefs in the Prop 8 and DOMA cases asking the Supreme Court to make same-sex legal and says that bans in 41 states harm workplace morale and undermines recruiting. That makes me even more optimistic that this could be a reality sooner than later.
Jason
Laura Bush has always supported Same-Sex Marriage, that much has been known for quite some time. Dick Cheney, not even going there. Colin Powell has also always been known to support SSM.
The corporations who filed the brief have also voiced their support in the past for SSM. So, to be honest, I’m not seeing this as the giant leap many others are. It’s nothing different than what we’ve already known or they’ve already stated.
No “big named” Republicans have signed onto the support wagon to my knowledge, not any currently elected individuals either. They’re mainly campaign workers for past Presidents who didn’t support SSM. Which isn’t all that surprising really.
Marriage is a religious rite. The government should get out of this religious event and gay republicans with a brain shouldn’t care. Gays who do care about marriage are hypocrites.
Thanks Jason for the blog post. Exciting times to see civil rights expanded.
the greedy republicans will do anything for a vote–and take any amount u will give them….$$$
Dear Randy,
It’s not just about religion but also about equal rights and sharing civil benefits from a civil union between gay community. Your statement makes me so disappointed how simple minded people have.
It’s only the far Left, the deeply Liberal, those that spout “acceptance of diverrrrrrrrrrrrsity!” who have pushed the “label” that “Republicans hate gays”.
Surpriiiiiiise! There are all kinds of “Republicans”, those who lean toward smaller government, less regulation, less taxation, who are pro-gay … if not gay (as all hell) them-very-selves.
Undoubtedly, there are Liberals, Democrats, those on (or who lean toward) the “Left” who just might not be so excited about the whole concept of “gay”, as well.
Do not forget that marriage is a superstition, humans are not biologically set up for just one mate-sex partner for life. Religion was invented when a con man met a fool.1/2 of all marriages in the USA fail; very few really means to keep their marriage vows. Pres. Bill Clinton signed DOMA into law.
Please stop making the accusation (yeah I know I spelt it wrong) that all republicans are against the democrats… You need to have people in both parties to start and make chance …. Us younger generation kids are seeing this I am a gay republican and I agree with some of the things republicans say and some I don’t… Same with democrats
Thanks
I am neither for or against SSM. I have lived my life the way I have in the ‘status quo,’ and have no desire to marry. But, I have no offense to gays who want to marry. It’s the divorce part that worries me!
“Gays who do care about marriage are hypocrites.”
That’s one of the most idiotic things I’ve ever heard. You’re either stating that it’s hypocrisy for gays to be religious and thus want a religious rite (which marriage is so much more)… or that it’s hypocrisy for gays to want equal access to what other adult taxpayers have. Both being woefully ignorant conclusions to make.
Randy is sadly misinformed. Marriage is absolutely granted by the government. You do not go to the church for a marriage license, only the government can grant one. The church is simply performing a ceremony
This day in time we need to be concerned about our economy instead of marriage. I’m a proud republican and the democrats have ran this country in the ground. Without a good job or money to pay for items .. how can you even support a partner in life ? Marriage will come but dancing half naked on parade floats during pride isn’t the way tp persuade americans to support it!!!
I am a 21 year old Republican and my father is one of those Republicans to have signed that legal brief. I am 21 years old and gay and though I personally am not going to get married to a man, because of my religious standings, I do think that SSM is a beautiful thing. My father comes home every day to tell me tat Republicans are changing their minds every day about siding with SSM marriage because they realize that taking away someone’s right to something is unfair. But don’t be naive, several of these Republicans signed it to gain popularity so that way they have the gay populations vote. Things are changing every day! Lets stay informed and educated!
To those whom believe that we in the gay community are seeking holy matrimony and think marriage is a religious issue are incorrect. What we are seeking in the community is the ability to have unions and secure our families as a whole, Which is marriage, we are not trying to have the churches recognize us under the grounds of holy matrimony which is the religious area. So hate to tell you this Randy, but your observation is incorrect and absolutely ridiculous. Please learn the facts of what you state so that you don’t make yourself look uneducated or unknowing.
Your not gonna see any real progress in equal rights for gay couples(stop calling it marriage and you might actually get somewhere). The liberal and progressive politicians that gays continue to support and elect dont give a damn about the gay community. They see a political football they can continue to use for their own benefit and they dont wanna lose it. The dems have no argument when it comes to fiscal and foriegn policy or anything else that actually matters. They need the social issues to divert the conversation to something they can win on and continue to portray all conservatives as “evil hate mongers”.
Hmm…I believe that the government should not be involved in the institution of marriage to begin with.
Is it me but am I the only one scared everyone jumping on the bandwagon in order to keepkeep voters, supports, and the steady flow of campaign money flowing? I don’t so much care if your for or against it but don’t try to shake things up and gain supporters just to keep your position some of them now speaking weren’t saying shit 5 years about but now its “in” to support the gays….. Don’t blow smoke up our asses
Well, for me I see both parties the exact same on this issue. The republicans are not 100% for it and neither are the democrats. Barak Obama spoke in favor but everyone knows he would sell his first born to get votes. Me personally, I think marriage is between a man and a woman but I stand 100% for civil liberties.
Thanks for sharing this Jason, it is a step in the right direction. I however feel the need to clarify or expand on the comment made by Randy……. First, this is not a religious situation…… Marriage is actually determined by the government, whereas holy matrimony is what is determind by the church, the 2 words have similar meaning but are not the same thing. If they were you would not be able to get married at your local courthouse. This I hope clears up your misconception of the words….. So you are incorrect in stating the the government has no place in making a judgement on this issue……. It is Marriage we are fighting for not Holy Matrimony. Everyone should have the right to commit and make their family unit whole.
Randy, marriage is not just a religious rite, it has legal and financial implications. If you have a partner and something happens to him, his family can freeze you right out of the picture. Also, if your partner dies unexpectedly, you have no inheritance rights unless he had a very well written will. In the states wher gay marriage is recognized, businesses provide health care coverage and pension benefits to the partners of their gay employees.
Maybe you intend on remaining single and screwing around for your entire life, but there are a lot of gay men who want something more out of life. Try to respect that. They are definitely not hypocrites!
I dnt see all the fuss abt gay marriage. I had a Civil Union ceremony in ’95 in NYC it was legally recognized by the state. My ex husband & I had legal documents put in place for our home in Queens, our life insurance, and health insurance I was a limo driver n he is still in real estate. So long b4 it was in Congress there was ways to cover n care for your same sex partner. I dnt think Gays shd b kept from marriage, but in a society where more then 60% end in divorce BFD (big fuckin deal). As for the aforementioned Republicans, most of them r just using it as a ploy to cover their right wing agenda n thoughts. Besides how many Republicans have fallen outta the closet in the last 10 yrs? Showing their hypocritical true colors. Ask yourself this, if they’re changing their minds abt SSM what are they secretly condemning?? In politics there’s most always a hidden agenda.
True conservatism is about limited government involvement in our lives. Letting people live their lives as they wish and be free to pursue their dreams. Unfortunately the evangelical right has taken over the Republican Party. The last election showed that Extreme right policies aren’t going to stand. Republicans are going to be moving to the center, and hopefully refocusing on real conservatism.
Jason,
It’s cool to see that not every gay man has such a narrow view of republicans. I have lost friends(or people i thought were friends) because I am a Christian and because I am one of those Gay Republicans.
It pleases me to see that more people in the party are starting to wake up and realize that gays are people that want the same rights as everyone else.
I saw this report earlier as well, and i am so glad you are posting it here so that more gay guys realize that not all republicans are the evil hate mongers that they are reported as being.
Thanks again.
Chris
Don’t trust people that change or support publicly when its convenient. Or when they get thier ass kicked in the last election. Hope you all are smarter than that.
Do we even deserve the right to gay marry? with all of this polygamy
Marriage maybe be a religious rite randy. But it’s also a legal and financial status( different from a domestic partnership) effecting how your taxes, insurance, and various other things will pan out. I believe most people who support gay marriage honestly support it in the legal term and not the religious term because honestly we have no right to tell a religion their wrong but also telling same sex couples that they don’t deserve the same legal rights as a straight couple because religion says so, is also wrong
Yeah, I don’t trust any of them as far as I can throw them….next thing you know, they will be supporting immigrant rights!!
No one supporting same sex marriage ever brought the religious aspect of marriage into the issue. It’s a equal/civil rights issue. Many many years ago the Catholic church performed and endorsed same sex marriages. There is no reason not to allow same sex marriages in the civil arena. The church is very hypocritical. many priests are gay and have boyfriends………..Randy…..you are such an idiot
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The fight over “SSM is about “benefits” and nothing more. “Benefits” being a financial thing only. If two people love each other, they shouldn’t need “recognition” or anything else to prove as much. I agree that “marriage” is a religious thing and the Federal Government shouldn’t be allowed to dictate such things. While I am personally against “SSM”, it is not my place to ban, or otherwise deny other people their wish to do so. I also could give a rats ass who supports it and who doesn’t, because the only people who have anything to do with getting it legally recognized (Congress), are too busy kicking each other in the ass about everything else. I think that if two people love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together, do so and stop pissing and moaning about “rights”. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but we live in a country that doesn’t execute you for being homosexual.
Randy do you not believe that gay men and women shouldn’t be allowed to marry or that you just don’t give a fuck and believe we are all vain and care only about showing up straight people by saying that we will soon have the legal right to marry who we want if that’s the case than you should be ashamed to call your self gay or bi or whatever the hell you are, I for one am glad that ssm will be legal all over the usa soon (not only by reading this post but because i have visions and know that ssm will be legal all over the usa)
Randy: Please don’t make snap judgments about entire swaths of people that you do not count yourself amongst, stereotypes are the bane of equality. If you do not support same sex marriage, I advise you not to seek the institution out.
While you are correct that RELIGIOUS marriage is a ‘rite’, it is also correct that CIVIL marriage is a “right.” Marriages can be recognized by the church without being recognized by the state, and vice versa (As has been the case for some time now with many same-sex ‘weddings’ performed by legally recognized churches, but without the recognition of law.) The fact that many people choose to celebrate entering into CIVIL marriage by including the RELIGIOUS rite is nothing more than fanfare for the friends and family; social acceptance.
The countless couples that ARE seeking legal recognition are not doing so to try and bend the will of the church. They are doing so in order to gain the legal protections and numerous benefits offered to married couples, in areas such as estate law, medical care and benefits and child custody, just to name a few.
So again, while you may not appreciate the gravity of what others are asking for, try not to piss in the pool and spoil the party for the rest of us.
Since when Randy, did “Marriage” become a “religious rite” Did you ever hear of civil rights?????
To Randy,
Marriage is now nor has it ever been about religion. The only thing religious about it is the church that you have it in. What it IS about is the joining of two lives as one. This is a fundamental right of EVERY human being. It is about love and the passion to have that love validated in the same way that opposite sec love is validated. It is about family. I in fact just submitted a paper on marriage equality for my college english class so I have done the research. As for gays that want marriage being hypocrites, sir I believe you should take a look in the mirror and judge your own flaws before you begin attacking me or anyone else reading this post. It is you kind of self-deprecating attitude that has set the gay community in general back for years; you portray a hatred of yourself and others will hate you as well. We as a gay community need to stop seeing the negative in us and project the positive. The sooner we do that the sooner we will get our equality we so desparately rally for.
I don’t think Republicans , Democrats or Obama gives a Fly’n XXX about Gay anything ! It’s all about getting voters! And the proof is watching how they shift positions around election time! State to State!
Marriage is not just a religious rite. Marriage is a legal binding contract recognized by the government. In order one to legally marry you must have a marriage certificate issued by the government. You can choose to be married in the church, synagogue, temple, etcetera, but if your marriage is not working you can’t go to a religious institution to have your marriage dissolved. That must be done in government courts.
I have to say, though, that the biggest obstacle is still the Defense Of Marriage Act, signed by Clinton….and Obama refuses to overturn it. Sorry, fellas, its not the Repubs that made it a federal crime, but the Dems. And the current Democratic president could at any moment challenge the law, but said he wouldn’t. Oh, and don’t forget, it was the Republicans that pushed into law the Civil Rights Act, not the democrats….they blocked it. Funny how little people remember history.
A lot of Republicans support gay marriage. A lot of Democrats don’t. Look at Prop 8 in the heavily Democratic state of California. A lot of Dems didn’t support gay marriage. A healthy amount of Republicans are libertarian leaning and support gay marriage.
I’m still amazed at the ignorance (willful or otherwise) about the real purpose of the push for equal marriage rights.
It has nothing at all to do with religion (call it civil union if you will, that’s the government’s part of it). It’s not about being a ‘loving couple’. If you’re against SSM for religious reasons, consider the civil aspects.
It’s about all of the rights and benefits that marriage gives a couple, IMMEDIATELY, no lawyer or will needed. There are over 1000 of them, if you look it up: http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/an-overview-of-federal-rights-and-protections-granted-to-married-couples
Basic items include:
Social Security
Taxes and inheritance
Visitation rights
Family and Medical Leave
Immigration
Employee Benefits for spouses (insurance, etc).
SOME of these can be given in SOME states, but it’s needed at the FEDERAL level.
THIS is what it’s all about.
If you don’t support or believe in it for yourself, support or believe in it for your friends and family.
MARRIAGE is not a religous rite. That is a temporal phenomena. It boggles the mind how gays and heterosexuals have allowed the church to appropriate the institution in order to disenfranchise a group of people. “Christian gays” In my opinion are a dramatic irony. These are a group of subjegated people that not only support but give time and energy to another group of people who are out to destroy them.
Apparently, you’re not too caught up on the news as you claim. Otherwise you might have realized that same sex marriage is in fact legal in your country in your lifetime…just not in your state yet. However, you can marry in Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington. Rhode Island recognizes same sex marriages from other states as does California but on a conditional basis.
Don’t you recall a certain Democrat by the name of Barney Frank getting married to his partner before his last term ended?
lol…DOMA made gay marriage a federal crime..??? Come on guys…educate yourselves…Just because something isn’t legal…doesn’t make it a crime.
I’ve seen klan rallies and the horrors of verbal and physical homophobia. It’s real, and for people to sit on their high horse and say their isn’t a difference between the parties is a joke to me. The top republican in the country spends millions each and every year defending the defence of marriage act while the top democrats openly support full equality. One party time and time again stands in the way of minority and lgbt rights, the party of old white men. Leadership matters and their ignorance on the issue allows their follows to excuse themselves of they violent and deplorable ways.
Marriage as defined by the state is a contract. It involves property and dependent children. For SSM to pass muster with the court it will have to pass the “rational basis test”. That is, is it rational for the state to define marriage as between a man and a woman. There is really no rational basis for that differentiation. The problem will be, and you have already started to see it, is when polyamorous folks want there arrangements regularized by the state. Then you get into issues of child welfare, child support, property distribution on dissolution of the arrangement, social security benefits, etc., etc. This is not as easy an issue as it appears on the face of it, because there is MONEY and PROPERTY involved.
In response to the gay republicans …..I don’t have enough money to be a republican. “For a working man to vote republican is like the chickens voting for colonal sanders” Roseanne Barr. (That may not be excact word for word ) but you get the idea
Of course the Republicans are talking their support for gay marriage. They need our votes. Just like they figured out that women didn’t like them, and they needed to do something to show they gave a crap about modern women (rather than wanting to take them back to June Cleaver and 1952!). So they hurriedly passed the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act. The Republicans think they’re going to fool both the LGBP community and American women. But we’re not as stupid as they hope, and we’ll know better.
Responding to G90814…
Basic items include:
Social Security (MONEY)
Taxes and inheritance (MONEY)
Visitation rights (MONEY, show ’em that you love them when they’re in the hospital so you can inherit from them)
Family and Medical Leave (MONEY from the job)
Immigration (MONEY, so their spouse can work and bring home some more MONEY!!)
Employee Benefits for spouses (insurance, etc). (MONEY)
Again… It’s about MONEY!!
I 100% agree with Geno. Plus if gays can’t keep a relationship (and stay faithful) for more than 3 months, how does the prospect of marriage look? Think about it.
The margin of all straight people divided evenly in the last election. While some more women voted democrat, more men voted Republican, while more blacks and Hispanics and other racial minorities voted democrat in general more whites voted republican, These groups remain hardly divided… Young gays are more easily swayed to vote the way their parents voted while still in the formulation of their youth.. Gays voted 70% for Obama, and some say were the swinging vote on the harshly divided lines… Marriage if it is a specific, and only specific Christian meaning… Then we need to enforce our separation of church and state and have the word marriage stricken from all laws and replaced with a secular meaning.. I had always presumed marriage was a non secular or non religious word. Some stated that they were able to cover all their bases thru legal contracts that was not marriage… Not true.. if you receive a house, car, bank account, etc from some one not your spouse.. Then you pay inheritance tax on that no matter what the amount, you do not qualify for insurance, tax reliefs, homestead qualifications, etc… I need not a marriage but I should be entitled to a Civil Union. As far as the Republican party goes… If they are so gay friendly.. Why have they had over one hundred high profile politicians outed and voted out as a result in the past decade… Why is it they feel the need to put us in a “Log Cabin” a specifically segregated group away from the majority, can anyone say bigots… that is how a bigot behaves… they prefer different people to be separated by law and by social status… As for me I will continue to be a democrat until the republicans stop their anti woman, anti immigrant, anti poor, anti gay, only Christian agenda. The last great republican president was very much like a democrat would be today… Abraham Lincoln… After the Civil Right movement took hold,ended the Jim Crow laws, the bigots were expelled from the Democrat party and took hostage the Republican party, where that mentality still exists today… and as far as economy goes… Reagan tripled the debt, Bush Double the debt at the same time he left we was losing 850,000 jobs a month… right now… we have just finally after 4 years of jobs bills filibusters,and republican blockades returned to the already devastated level of jobs Bush had us in…. It is not uncommon however to find 30 to 40 percent young gays that will vote republican… After all many of them self loath as they were raised to believe in all that crap…
Just remember that DOMA was a late season electoral ploy of Bill Clinton in 1996. This is part of his (in)famous efforts at “triangulation”. The civil rights of gays were offered up on the altar of bigotry for the electoral chances of Democrats in various swing states. Recall further that Barack Obama – when the Democrats controlled all of Congress and the White House in 2009-2011 – did virtually nothing to overturn DOMA until late 2012. Again, gay civil rights put to the service of electoral purposes by Democrats. That a large portion of libertarian Republicans and Libertarians have long supported gay marriage is no secret aside to the liberal media. In the late 1990s, when Hawaii first held ts referendum on gay marriage (a solidly Democratic state) it managed to enumerate more than 1,850 separate State and Federal codes and regulations that would be impacted by the change. Think of that! Marriage – breeder-oriented or otherwise – is all about the application of governmental authority into the most private and intimate corners of our lives. It seeks to, by definition, ‘legitimize’ our feelings, sentiments, and loves. if you listen closely to most gay marriage advocates, it is mostly a path for ‘benefits’ and ‘social goods’: a long litany of privileges and putative “rights” that are a reminder of how far the modern social state has distorted and rearranged all of our lives regardless of sexual tastes or preference.
A freedom-seeking adult – and most gay men are surely that – ought to be more interested in rolling back the State’s penetration into our lives rather than just erecting another timber in the structure that stifles and enslaves us all, heterosexual or gay.
To JoeBlow69, you stated that over half of marriages fail. In Massachusetts, where SSM has been allowed since 2004, the divorce has fallen and is now below the national average. To me, that speaks volumes.
The real truth of gay marriage has revealed itself in the posts following my original post. This issue is not about who you can love or live with. We have that freedom, it’s really just about getting stuff from others. The “taker class” screaming for others to give them something.
There are MANY gay Republicans. I personally am a registered Libertarian (that’s not a liberal by the way). And as such I agree with the right way more than the left. In fact I’m surprised most gay Americans aren’t Libertarian as well, especially when the principle tenet o Libertarianism is personal freedoms and limited government. Government shouldn’t be able to tell you who you can or can marry, if that’s your desire, period. I’m just glad that folks on the right are finally supporting liberty, as it should be.
And for those that think the Republicans are doing this just for votes, did they think the same thing when that douche in the White House suddenly decided to support gay marriage a month before the election after 4 years of being against it? I’ll bet they didn’t. He also ran around the country giving away Obama-phones like he was Santa Clause. I suppose that wasn’t for votes either. And how about Obama granting “amnesty” via executive order to illegal immigrants just before the election (Republicans aren’t against immigrants, just ILLEGAL ones, get it right morons). I suppose that wasn’t to win votes either. And they call Republicans hypocrites. What a joke, but nobody is laughing, especially the millions unemployed!
Censorship ? Is your argument so weak as to be threatened by an opposing view?
Rob, When we make laws that make it extremely difficult for people to immigrate, and create a long term red tape, that is difficult for even me to follow, because despite what people say about how easy it is, it is not, I have helped a few people thru the long time process and helped them to remain legal when they were about to give up and just go on home. And stating that Obama was suddenly for gay marriage is an absolute misconception, Obama, was for civil unions all along, then his belief evolved into using the word marriage, his home state has civil unions fully recognized by the law. Which he was for. And as far as the Millions Unemployed… Phew, how concerned was George Bush as we was loosing 850,000 jobs a month on his way out… OMG no one can seem to realize that he left us in such a gigantic mess that it would take 8-12 years to fix… But that is the trouble… The spend and do not tax methods of the Republican party are not working, we must tax, in order to have military, roads bridges, social services, and an effective government, and there is no reason for any baby in the United States of America to go untreated, yet in Republican states, the infant mortality rate can be as high as 5 and even 8 percent more then the Democrat state… The only reason for this is shear greed…. Nothing more… We are the wealthiest nation on the planet and they will let their babies die due to lack of care, and yet demand that women have them, While I do not believe in everything the Democrat party does, I do not believe in nearly anything the Republican party does… Easy choice for this old man… Every single time we have had a Republican president in my life time we are at war… often on two three and four fronts… exactly what our enemy wants… to whittle us down… and those Republicans fall for it every time… They go so far as to lie to get us into war no matter what the cost… George Bush fought heavy war on two fronts… While reducing the taxes on the rich over and over.. MMM Who is gonna pay for that war… China… And Randy, it is not about getting stuff from others, take those benefits from all couples, and see what they say, it is about keeping what is yours, one of the biggest hits on gay couples not allowed to marry with any real property value, a house worth a the average value of 250,000 and a car and additional normal combined assets often and generally total 500,000. if your partner dies, and you are not married, even if you have a Will, you have to pay inheritance taxes, which are very costly, in some states up to 50%, a married couple, when their partner dies pays nothing… This often drive a gay person from their home immediately after losing their partner… How cruel… How very cruel… That is not an inheritance, it is a shared family home… often a home that takes in children, parents, friends full intact families and much more… and it is treated as just an inheritance… The takers are the republicans that feel like they should be able to take half of the gays stuff after their partner is dead and want to offer none of the 1500 protections allowed by law thru civil unions or marriage…
I have read through several of the posts over the last few days and after hearing of this unprecedented decision by some Republican Supporters, I had to think of where this was coming from.
After licking their wounds from the last presidential election, the Republican Party had to access their failings and the direction of the party. The “Religious Right” had taken control of the party and its platform for many years and those chickens were “coming home to roost”, so to speak. Those Republicans who would have come out in support of SSM, would be shunned, and would more than likely lose their positions within the party if they refused to not ride the “party line”.
At the end of the day, this is all about power and control. The party has lost a great deal of power due to its one dimensional demographic that is quickly shrinking as the years go by. The white male representation of the party is and will continue to become extinct due to the population shifts in the U.S. If the Republican Party stands any chance of achieving any future success, it has to diversify its membership and by branching out to those groups where Democrats have held a stronghold for many years. I see this legal brief as an attempt at an “olive branch” The Republican Party is attempting to submit to the gay community as a possible partner, in turn reducing the amount of support to the Democrats. Now, the question is, is this a step in the right direction or ultimately pandering? I would be more open to it being an olive branch if those who currently hold seats within the party would take a stand in support of SSM.
It is shameful that we are still having this conversation, when there are allied nations around the world who have taken a very progressive position regarding the rights of gays to be married, serve in the armed services and live a life of equality. The United States of America has always been looked upon to be the leaders in economic and social issues. However, with a myriad of other areas, the country is falling behind. I do hope that, as a nation we will continue to see progress around this very important issue for equal rights for all. This may in turn help to progress other, more important agendas that will help strengthen our great nation.
As a 21 year old gay man, I would very much like to get married eventually. To even have that possibility is a great thing (long overdue, as well), and to see all of you presumably older gays so cynical in your view of what marriage is or can be is seriously sad. It’s not just about getting the “title” of being married, or the civil benefits that result from such a status. It’s also about showing the one that you love that you want to devote yourself to their happiness (and hopefully the reverse is true). And, I wish this had happened sooner, because, maybe, you could have had the option to marry the man that you love(d) and that you might not see marriage as some outmoded thing. All that being said, of course this is a politically motivated change in posture for Obama and Republicans alike. It was bound to happen eventually, especially as people my age and younger grow up and become the majority of the voting force. Politicians are just trying to stay ahead of the cultural curve, in order to appear relevant.
Found this topic late. Good to see some fellow Christians, Republicans, and Libertarians. I personally oppose SSM but believe that it (like almost everything else not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution) should be left to the states. Obama is a destructive, corrupt, inept, Marxist, thug, who, when he actually works, is working for collapse. His Democrat accomplices are about spending, taxing, borrowing, regulating, and printing this nation into collapse. With the whole ship going down, SSM is a little like rearranging deck chairs. It’s a shame that most gays, pursuing their agenda, are cheering the Statist destruction. If you believe that jackass spending, printing, and debt can’t destroy a civil society, ease up on the Statist Kool Aid. Think Greece. For Christians, the Rapture is looking better every day.