I was victimized to the point that I was not able to come out of the closet until I was 30 years old. I never did tell my parents. I am no longer sexually active so most of this doesn't pertain to me. My only goal now is to help my gay brothers and sisters lead better lives without discrimination.

QUOTE=Thinthickbigred;820041]My question is this ... The seperation of church and state ... Why doesnt this apply to this topic???? The reason is simple Its taxes and Insurance companies that dont want gay marriage ..They dont want partners being allowed insurance benifits .. A break on death taxes etc ... Sure the far right wing Nazi's "FOX" is going to oppose gay marriage because they play the morality police .. Just my opinion ... I say if two men want to marry or woman fine if they want to go to mayors court and marry fine .. If they find a church that accepts gay marriage I ask how can the state intervene? Its not constitutional....Freedom of religion is a basic American right ..This whole issue is a matter of taxes and insurance matters.. Think about it ... The death taxes are outragious .. They take soo much from the deceast .as it is ..If you are a spouse the government cannot rape you nearly as bad ..Companies dont want people to be able to put partners on the insurance ..Its all about money .. I dont want gays to be able to change church doctrin in any church ... If you are gay and you have a tolerant or sympothetic church more power to you ..if they will marry you fine ..This is still America they say ..[/QUOTE]

There is so much misinformation mixed in there I don't even know where to begin. However, I will give it a try.

1. Separation of Church and State have nothing to do with insurance companies. Separation of Church and State has to with the US Government establishing a religion. Most insurers are privately owned entities.
2. If you think most people's objection to gay marriage is grounded in gay partner's providing one another insurance benefits then you are naive.
3. If you add additonal parties to your insurance policy then the insurer can charge more premium. This means they make more money. Insurers are all for that! Private insurance companies were tickled pink about Obamacare because it allowed for them to charge more premium for additional coverage.
4. The Democrats are the ones who are in favor of the death taxes, not the Republican Party or those people who watch Fox News. Liberals believe those who have money obviously cheated their way to earn it so it should be confiscated by the government. In addition, there is no law out there prohibiting someone from giving money to anyone they darn well please. If I have a sum of money and I want to leave it to you then the government cannot prohibit me from doing so.

Thinthickbigred;820050 wrote:Listening to you guys I can tell some of you are not too receptive Fairwoods point of view ...Only he really knows what it feels like to be discriminated against from his standing .... We have all been prejudiced against ... 50 years ago could they have imagined Obama as president?
Ive never seen a gay throw his views or stuff in my face ... Alot of gays are in the closet because of general society and the way we all act ...I think we should be sympothetic to Fairwood . At the same time Im not a politically correct person .. Look if a guy comes from the ghetto and or the streets alot of homophobic phrases are in alot of guys vocabularies ..Its like Eminem and stuff he sings about and some of the not so gay friendly words he uses ...From what he says he has gay friends and he doesnt hate gays .. I believe him ... The NBA players that got caught and fined for using gay slurs Kobe at a ref and Noah from Chicago calling a fan a F#g ..The one thing I dont want to see people do is appologise for something they just happen to get caught saying ..Just own it accept it and move on ..Dont be a phony ..I think walls be be broke down if we are open and honest about our views ..no matter how harsh they may seem to others ...No human is perfect ..Atleast that is what I have become to believe .

So what you are saying if you are from the hood then it is ok to use anti-gay slurs, but if you are a white guy from the suburbs and you use the language then you a bigot? Also, Kobe Bryant did not grow up in the hood and neither did Noah. Both had father's who were professional athletes who made a lot money in their careers. In both cases they are highly educated, they even speak several languages due the fact the lived overseas where their fathers played sports. Noah's mother is Swedish if I recall. Neither lived in the ghetto or I doubt have spent any significant time in the ghetto.

Little Danny;820062 wrote:So what you are saying if you are from the hood then it is ok to use anti-gay slurs, but if you are a white guy from the suburbs and you use the language then you a bigot? Also, Kobe Bryant did not grow up in the hood and neither did Noah. Both had father's who were professional athletes who made a lot money in their careers. In both cases they are highly educated, they even speak several languages due the fact the lived overseas where their fathers played sports. Noah's mother is Swedish if I recall. Neither lived in the ghetto or I doubt have spent any significant time in the ghetto.

Im saying be yourself ..that is all .Who said it was ok .. I just rather not hear a fake apology.. You cant force people to change ,you can only listen and set a positive example. I realise that Kobe and Noah are well educated ,I am not reffering them as being from the ghetto ,I am however saying that using gay slurs in the everyday world of middle and low class society is common practice ..pls dont lawyer me ..I think you understand what I meant

I know the liberals are the cause of outragious death taxes ..I know the far right wing nut jobs are in the business of fear mongering and morality policing ..I am not an advocate of either party although I am a social liberal ..I think the state adminstrations are the cause of holding back these gay marriages and alot of it is because of tax and insurance issues ....When Im talking about seperation of church and state ,what I mean is ,if two men marry in a church by that church's doctrin how can the state say they are not legally married... It should be that simple ..I am not the best at articulating things on paper sometimes ,I am not a lawyer .I am just a regular Joe who doesnt give a rats ass if two same sex partners want to marry

I've been a gay activist for 30 years, and I have never before heard anyone blame tax men and insurance companies for lack of gay rights. Our opponents are churches, particularly the older members of churches. Fortunately, most of today's young people have not been brainwashed by their faith. They are willing to think for themselves on social issues. I think within 20 years, most anti-gay discrimination will be gone. I just hope I'm still around to see it.

Sage;819937 wrote:if ur against ***** marriage dont get married to one.

/thread

finally someone speaks the truth.

just for fun, here are some statistics for those opposed to gay marriage.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-big-questions/201106/homophobic-men-most-aroused-gay-male-porn

When viewing lesbian sex and straight sex, both the homophobic and the non-homophobic men showed increased penis circumference. For gay male sex, however, only the homophobic men showed heightened penis arousal.

Heterosexual men with the most anti-gay attitudes, when asked, reported not being sexually aroused by gay male sex videos. But, their penises reported otherwise.

Homophobic men were the most sexually aroused by gay male sex acts.

FairwoodKing;820310 wrote:I've been a gay activist for 30 years, and I have never before heard anyone blame tax men and insurance companies for lack of gay rights. Our opponents are churches, particularly the older members of churches. Fortunately, most of today's young people have not been brainwashed by their faith. They are willing to think for themselves on social issues. I think within 20 years, most anti-gay discrimination will be gone. I just hope I'm still around to see it.

I am thinking in terms of the states legislatures.. I have heard of gay partners fighting to be on the others medical insurance ,as a spouse would be ..I am thinking of behind the scenes roadblocks is all .. Its just what I thought ..It was just another thought I put out there ... I am definitly against the far right wing FOX news type bullchit .There are so many closet gays in the catholic priesthood its crazy .. I dont know how any man of the cloth can rape a young kid its like double the crime .. I dont see gays being openly accepted into that church or many others .. Its written in the holly book .. Same sex is not accepted ..I respect those people who share that belief , I also repect your right to be as open as you want to be .. I dont want certain things taught to school children out of political correctness ..Leave the politics at home

tcarrier32;820328 wrote:finally someone speaks the truth.

just for fun, here are some statistics for those opposed to gay marriage.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-big-questions/201106/homophobic-men-most-aroused-gay-male-porn

American Beauty was right with its portrayal of the military dad's character!

Heretic;820723 wrote:American Beauty was right with its portrayal of the military dad's character!

That makes sense . Ill bet there is some truth to that.. You actually hear about a coservitive right winger who gets caught picking up on gay men or being in the closet . Ive seen it on tv ..Its funny chit .. I know some major hypocrits..

Thinthickbigred;820734 wrote:That makes sense . Ill bet there is some truth to that.. You actually hear about a coservitive right winger who gets caught picking up on gay men or being in the closet . Ive seen it on tv ..Its funny chit .. I know some major hypocrits..

its not just "some" proof. its a documented and studied phenomena

We gays and lesbians have known for a long time that the people who harass us the most are usually the people with something to hide. This study doesn't come as any surprise to me at all.