Tag: same-sex marriage

Catholic Church threatens to stop helping the poor if gay people are allowed to marry

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is threatening to pull out of contracts it has with the District to provide various social service programs for the city’s needy if a proposed gay marriage law goes into effect next month. Churches would not be forced to conduct gay marriages. They, along with every other business or organization in the District, simply would not be allowed to discriminate against gay or lesbian people because they were gay or lesbian people.

I hate to point out the obvious, but Jesus wouldn’t discriminate anyone. Though he never spoke about gay people, Jesus was all about extending love and kindness to the people everyone else looked down upon. Is there a group of people more looked down upon today than gays and lesbians?

Jesus ministered to everyone, but he made a point of especially ministering to those that everyone else despised and rejected. If the Catholic Church is correct and gays and lesbians are sinners for being gay or lesbian, then these are just the people they should be ministering to. Jesus would not discriminate against gay or lesbian people.

Jesus wouldn’t withhold love or kindness from someone because the local government enacted a policy he didn’t agree with. Jesus cured lepers and healed the sick even though I’m sure he didn’t agree with everything the Roman Empire did. To think otherwise is just silly.

When Jesus said to go out and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and to comfort those in distress, he didn’t preface it first by saying to only do these things if the local government passed laws you agree with.

Catholic Church gives D.C. ultimatum [Washington Post]

New Hampshire legalizes gay marriage

New Hampshire becomes the sixth state to allow gay couples to marry. Governor John Lynch signed the same-sex marriage bill into law yesterday.

Good for New Hampshire. I guess they really mean it when they say New Hampshire is the “Live Free or Die” State. I read it on a license plate so it must be true.

Instead of passing special laws allowing gay couples to marry, how about just enacting a law that prohibits the state from asking a citizen if they are a man or a woman? I’ve often wondered why it’s any of the government’s business as to what sex organs I have. It’s really none of their business.

We are all created equal.

What do you know, all men are not created equal

The California Supreme Court upheld the state’s gay-marriage ban today. The 6-1 decision upholds Proposition 8, the recent ballot initiative that asked California voters if the state’s constitution should be amended to ban same sex marriage.

A “yes” vote to Proposition 8 was saying “no” to same-sex marriage. A “no” vote to Proposition 8 was saying “yes” to same-sex marriage. Confusing? Sure, but that was the intention.

This court ruling makes me thankful that God made me straight and not gay. I didn’t choose my sexual orientation any more than I picked my height, my shoe size, or my skin color.

I’m straight because that’s the way I was born. It’s the way God made me.

I’m lucky. Very lucky. I get to be married to the person I love. Sheri and I are afforded all the rights and privileges bestowed to those who are married. When I came down with pneumonia last year and had to go to the emergency room, Sheri was able to be there with me right at my side. She was able to do this not because she was my official guest or some other hokey designation, but because she was my legal spouse. It was very comforting to have her with me that day.

Being married has it’s privileges.

While I feel thankful that I’m allowed to marry the person I love, I feel bad for people that are not. Life’s hard enough without the government throwing up obstacles making it needlessly harder. The fact that democracy was used to take something away from so many California couples seems especially perverse.

Barack Obama asks Rick Warren to pray at inauguration

Rick Warren, evangelical Baptist minister of the southern California megachurch Saddleback Church has been invited by Barack Obama to pray at his inauguration. Evidently this fact has raised the ire of some of my fellow liberals. They are ticked off that Obama would ask Warren to participate in his inauguration considering the fact that he supported the recent California Proposition 8 ballot measure banning same-sex marriage. Reverend Warren, like most evangelical Christians, is also against a woman’s right to choose.

So?  Big deal.  What part of Change did people not understand?

Like it or not, Barack Obama will not just be the president of the liberal wing of the Democratic party, he will be president of the entire country.  Not just the Blue States, but the Red States too.  Whoever is pretending to be upset by this needs to go and watch Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

Instead on focusing on the things that devide us, it’s time to start concentrating on the things that unite us.