Prop 8, are you for or against and why? NO RELIGION PLEASE?

Education of children is the concern.

As it is now, most people view gay sex as an issue making them uncomfortable. Gay marriage means gay sex and yes, I know that will be the result regardless of the validity of a marriage license. But, with the passing of proposition 8, it will sanction it, forcing all ages and generations with an in-your-face kind of acceptance.

You must agree that the concept of sex between same partners does n-o-t conjure up a pleasant picture in one's imagination, especially dealing with male-to-male. I have a friend who teaches health in school. She truly does not wish to incorporate such information to impressionable pre-teens as being socially acceptable by acting like this "alternative lifestyle" is totally normal.

Dear Dom, I believe you are mistaken about the pledge of allegiance, there is no In God We Trust. That is on currency.

Within the pledge are the words: One Nation under God...

Immigrants who love the USA enough to become citizens must learn this :)

I am religious, but not biased. I do not look at this as right and wrong and who should do what, I approach this problem as one that needs a solution, a compromise really. I have gay friends and they're usually really cool people, so I could go either way with this answer, being the "religious nut" or an open-minded individual. I prefer to be open-minded however this problem, while not truly an issue, seems to bother a lot of people, so I propose a compromise: Let it happen but dont call it marriage, pick a different name perhaps. I'm not saying that I would fight for this policy, just that it is truly a compromise giving and taking from both sides. After all, while it is two people in love, it's not EXACTLY the same because, as small as the difference may be, two men together is different from a man and a women. If we really want to get technical we can have a different name for all gay men, straight couples, and lesbian women. Then the religious nuts have no ground to say "well that's not what marriage means" because technically, it wouldn't be marriage. I have two televisions, one Sony and one Toshiba, they are still both TV's but I can't really call the Sony a Toshiba. Same concept. It's a compromise that I offer just to quell the fighting.

How can you put "NO RELIGION PLEASE" in the subject when all you write about has religious implications?

You can't answer this question without some kind of religious explaination. Atheism is a religion. Agnosticism is a religion. Christianity is a religion. Islam is a religion. Whether you want to say our religion shapes our beliefs, or our beliefs determine our religion, one way or another you can't talk about this kind of topic without religion.

Marriage is a religious institution. So, if you really take all "religion" out of the conversation... there is no coversation. It is a moot point. It doesn't matter.

Your view is religiously based. You believe God "loves" all people and doesn't really care about how they act because he "loves" them (at least that's what I gather from your statement). So, since God "loves" his creation, he would be just fine with homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

You asked "Why can’t we just let people be?" Because people do terrible things like slavery, genocide. I have a hard time believing that God was okay with this just because he "loves" his creation. I'm sure you would agree with that. Not that these things are at all comparable to homosexuality and marriage, but you compared them, so I thought I would speak on the topic.

Proposition 8 is discrimination.

I am against discrimination and I am against Proposition 8.

Those who say that it is not discrimination are using the same argument that was used before the Supreme Court ruled that banning inter-racial marriage was unconstitutional. Then, they would say that a person of one race was not being discriminated against because they could marry anyone they wanted to, as long as it was someone of the same race... now they say that this is not discrimination against gay people because they can marry someone of the opposite sex.

When a same sex couple is denied a marriage license while an opposite sex couple is given one, that state is not following the Constitution of the United States which says "no state shall… deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

In regards to religion, some Churches do perform marriages for same-sex couples including the United Church of Christ, The Metropolitan Community Church, and The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, although these marriages are not legally recognized by most states of the federal government. In my city, the pastor of one church has said that he will no longer perform any marriage ceremony until same-sex couples can get marriage licenses and have their marriage legally recognized.

I still maintain that the government should get out of the marriage business COMPLETELY. Wills, power of attorney, inheiritance, child custody can all be taken care of as legal documents outside of a marriage right now. I could pass everything along to my girlfriend through a will, without being married, if I wanted to. I don't need a marriage for that. If a church wants to 'marry' it's members, fine, but they would still have to get all those legal documents seperately. A marriage license provides these things automatically. Leave the religion in marriage. Take the LAW out of marriage. In the eyes of the LAW we would all be single individuals. If marriage is sacred, then don't take the religion out of it, leave it as ONLY a religious institution.

I am voting no on prop 8 for a couple reasons:

1. The government has enough on its plate, and always will. Until there is no poverty, unemployment and under-educated people, government has no absolutely NO right to waste my or any other taxpayers' money in order to determine/regulate/enforce if a marriage has exactly 1 penis and 1 vagina.

2. Our legal system should not promote bigotry in any way shape or form

I agree with your inferred proposal mandating tolerance training and teaching to your people to allow for a more harmonious, conducive, and productive society in the future.

By the way, isn't "marriage" a legal status as opposed to some divine duty to appease a deity? So please stop pushing your "church" into all of our "state"

I'm against prop 8. It's plain discrimination no matter what your beliefs are.

Marriage is just a word. The so called sanctity of marriage is drivel.

It doesn't change anything on how couples feel about or treat each other

Non-religious reasons I am voting YES on 8:

Prop 8 is not intended to discriminate against homosexuals. It is intended to preserve traditional marriage. Gays are entitled to the same rights as married couples through domestic partnerships. They receive tax breaks, health benefits, etc, just like married couples.

Legalized gay marriage means pastors and clergy who refuse to marry same sex couples can and will be sued under the law. This has already occurred many times in Massachusetts and Connecticut where gay marriage is legal.

Also, schools and teachers will be forced to teach same sex marriage as moral and legal. This is occurring right now in Massachusetts where elementary school children are given books like “King & King”, a fairy tale about 2 princes falling in love and “Who’s in a Family”, a book that shows same sex parents along with other types of families.

Just like our children should not be taught to accept Jesus in school, they should not be taught gay marriage as moral at school. These discussions should only happen within the home between parent and child, or between student and student, NOT teacher to student.

There you have it. NON-RELIGIOUS reasons to support prop 8!!!

I hate to tell you but you can't discuss why people find homosexuality morally abhorent and keep religion out of it too, since western civilization was always influenced in this topic by Judeo-Christian beliefs in the Bible. You simply can't write out of our laws the influence that Judeo-Christianity has had. Just because you want these religions to have no influence NOW does not mean you will succeed in ignoring the historical impact those religions have had. You can't ignore the historical fact that, as of 50 years ago, *every* *single* *state* *in* *this* *country* had a law banning "sodomy. You can't ignore the fact that "sodomy" (between gay people) is still banned by the federal government in the military. You can't pretend that these laws never did have anything to do with moral values that people have learned from their religion.

I used to live in CA, but not anymore. I am against Prop 8 passing because I believe in gay equality. I am in favor of progress. I am just not in favor of ignoring history.

I'm against prop 8.

If you remove religious reasons, there is no reason to vote for prop 8, except if you're a bigot.

Come to think of it, bigotry is probably the real reason people are voting for prop 8, hiding behind a cloak of religion.