<div>Joe, </div> <div>So then, are you saying that there needs to be a Constitutional Amendment that is in favor of gay marriage? I am fairly new to this topic, but it seems reasonable to me that some of the issues you suggest, ie hospital visits, etc., could be argued using the 14th Amendment. That is not to say that they haven't already, because I just am not very informed on this topic. -Tom<BR><BR><B><I>Joe Campbell <joekc@adelphia.net></I></B> wrote:</div> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">In a perfect world, your view would be fine. But the world is not perfect. Currently straights have rights that gays and lesbians do not have, e.g., the right to marry the adult person of his or her choice. With this right comes others, from hospital visitation to adoption of children to insurance claims. The question then is, What is the best and easiest way to correct the
disparity?<BR><BR>--<BR>Joe Campbell<BR><BR>---- Tom Ivie <THE_IVIES3@YAHOO.COM>wrote: <BR><BR>=============<BR>I'm just curious enough to ask how the members of v2020 stand on this particular issue and "why". Not because of George or any particular political party. Then it would be interesting to see how the opinions stack up between us by party. Although some of us are not beholden to any particular party, we might lean one way or the other politically (or not). <BR><BR>For myself, I don't think there needs to be a Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage. On the other side of the coin, however, I don't think there needs to be a Constitutional Amendment to say that it is legal. Marriage is not a "legal" thing. Marriage is a religious thing. You can have a legal "union" without a "marriage". So are we mixing religion and politics by doing an Amendment? In my opinion, yes. I don't think that religion should be forced upon people. It should be by choice. I find it
extremely hypocritical that every state will enforce a divorce decree unilaterally but will not recognize legal "unions" unilaterally. <BR><BR>How does that Van Halen song go (Sammy Hagar era)? "I want the best of both worlds"<BR><BR>For the record, I consider myself a left leaning conservative / right leaning liberal (call me what you want).<BR><BR><BR><BR>__________________________________________________<BR>Do You Yahoo!?<BR>Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around <BR>http://mail.yahoo.com <BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p> __________________________________________________<br>Do You Yahoo!?<br>Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around <br>http://mail.yahoo.com