Archive for the 'Gay marriage' Category

Civil and religious marriage *UPDATED*

This is the second in my series of marriage posts.  My first draft, which was a failure, tried to trace the history of marriage, something that’s much better done by better informed people.  What I realized from that valiant, although pointless and time-wasting effort, is that what I’m really interested in is a religion’s interest [...]

For once, it really is about the children

(This is the first in what I hope will be a series of very civil essays examining marriage.  Suek got me started with this idea based on a comment she wrote saying that, well, we need to figure out what marriage is all about.  Planned future essays will involve separating the religious aspect of marriage [...]

The fall out from legalizing gay marriage *UPDATED*

Gay marriage has a warm, fuzzy feeling. Those who support it ask, who can be hurt by granting to gay couples the same rights we give to straight couples? As you know, while I have no trouble with same sex relationships between consenting adults, and favor granting civil benefits to gay couples, I [...]

Marriage is not an individual right

Marriage is not, and never has been, a personal right.  In Western society, it operates at two levels.  First, it functions at a religious level.  This is a deeply personal level, because in every religion, marriage is, or is equivalent to, a sacrament.  In America, you have the Constitutional right to be married in the [...]

A weird little potential backlash from the Calif. Sup. Ct. ruling

Dennis Prager has a good column discussing what will be, in his view, the ramifications of the California Supreme Court decision creating a new right out of thin air.  One of the points he makes is that, in the future, to avoid charges of discrimination, homosexual relationships will have to be promoted equally with [...]

Links to good discussions of the Calif Supreme Court decision

Cliff Thier talks about the far-reaching implications of the Court’s (and the government’s) “fundamental rights” language.
The WSJ’s editors take on the election ramifications of the decision — a bit of unexpected, and undeserved, good luck for Republicans in a terribly managed campaign season.
As was to be expected, National Review quickly put together a whole catalog [...]

Gay marriage is legal in California *UPDATED*

California joins Massachusetts.
I’ll be interested to read the decision when I get the chance.
As for me, let me reiterate my usual point. I am not categorically opposed to gay marriage. However, I think we’re rushing too fast to change human relationships that have been fixed across all human cultures for thousands of years: [...]

Putting things in context

I found the juxtaposition of this story and this story, both from today’s Chronicle, amusing.

One plus one equals 32

There’s fact, and there’s speculation. From the fact that he found some documents indicating that medieval men would enter into a formal contract to share bed, board and income, a “scholar” has extrapolated this into supporting the conclusion that the medieval world supported gay relationships:
For example, he found legal contracts from late medieval France [...]

Fissures in the Leftist ranks?

There’s been a lot of news lately about how the Left embraces radical Islam, on the principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend (or, at least, my useful tool). You can see this sordid embrace at work in Daniel Pipe’s debate with London Mayor Ken Livingston, and you can see it [...]

On marriage

I think traditional marriage, which often includes children, is the glue that holds a stable society together. Married couples, especially those with or planning to have children, have an enormous incentive to hold jobs, save money, create safe communities, look to the future politically, and to crave non-revolutionary continuity when it comes to social [...]

Everything I wanted to say about Dems, Foley & Studds

Here’s today’s Opinion Journal on Gerry Studds’ death, and it says everything I want about Democrats, Foley, Studds, PC reporting — you name it:
Links and Studds
“Former U.S. Rep. Gerry Studds, the first openly gay person elected to Congress, died early Saturday at Boston Medical Center, several days after he collapsed while walking his dog, his [...]

Honest debate about marriage and gay marriage

Whenever I do a gay marriage post, I feel like prefacing it by saying “some of my best friends are gay.”  In fact, that statement is no longer true.  I didn’t turn on my friends, but I did settle down to marriage with children in the suburbs.  In this community there are no gays, not [...]

And the dominoes just keep falling

The latest news from the South on gay marriage:
The state Supreme Court reinstated Georgia’s constitutional ban on gay marriage Thursday, just hours after New York’s highest court upheld that state’s gay-marriage ban.
The Georgia Supreme Court, reversing a lower court judge’s ruling, decided unanimously that the ban did not violate the state’s single- subject rule for [...]

A restrained judge ejects gay marriage from the courts

I was very surprised this morning to read about a judge who held (correctly) I think, that gay marriage is not a matter for judges, but for the people’s representatives (who, unlike judges and European politicians, are actually beholden to their constituents):
New York’s highest court ruled Thursday that gay marriage is not allowed under state [...]