Dear President Obama,
Before midday, Wednesday, May 9th, America was a different place. Millions of our people in all states were living in torment. They'd not only spent their young lives hiding who they were, they'd grown up to discover they had to hide who they loved.
How could that have ever fit the promise of "the pursuit of happiness?"
Thank you, President Obama, for being a true descendent of our Founding Fathers, and for living up to the ideals they set forth two-and-a-half centuries ago.
When you announced your support of same sex marriage, you did more than listen to your heart. You listened to the impassioned voices of millions of our citizens -- gay, straight, family members, lovers, your own circle of friends -- and you made the journey to this historic decision.
And I can't help but hope that, by your example, others will look into their hearts and make that same journey.
Yes, this transforming event is about love. But it is also about life and death. We read daily about children and teenagers who are dying on the battlefield of homophobia, mocked for who they are and what they feel. Taunted and bullied for what they hold in their hearts. And driven to end their own lives because of it.
But now the leader of our nation has sent out the message that we, the people, acknowledge their right to be who they are, love who they want to love, and live with dignity and pride.
Thank you, Mr. President, for this remarkable triumph.
Marlo Thomas
Follow Marlo Thomas on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MarloThomas
That’s like saying people should have the right to smoke, or imbibe alcohol, or gamble, or fornicate, without necessarily approving of those vices.
Marriage is a religious ceremony. It's not evidence of a relationship and it certainly doesn't give permission for a relationship. Because it's a religious ceremony, I find the more appalling issue to be that the government has had control of it in the first place. We want separation of church and state? Then why is a religious practice dictated by the government? If the government was left out of it, then gays could find churches that would marry them, and yet churches who disagree with the the homosexual lifestyle would still be free to disagree and not have it be a "hate crime" like racism.
There are extremists on either side who seem to get the microphone and misrepresent both sides, and as much as emotional propaganda has hurt the sides of the religions, I think articles like these are just as misdirected as they make it such an emotional "free the slaves" type of argument that is very unfair and purposely uneducated to the other side.
I might be. Smokers might make the case that people who like to eat broccoli have the right to eat broccoli, so why shouldn’t people who like to smoke have the right to smoke, under the "Equal Rights Under the Law” doctrine. That is, if some people have the right to do what pleases them, then all people should have that same right.
This isn’t much different from the argument gays make concerning gay marriage: If heterosexuals have the right to marry the ones they love, then homosexuals should have the same right to marry the ones they love. Of course, then everyone should have that same right.
It is this sort of bad logic that the entire argument for gay marriage is based.
all talk, no do
Asians do not like certain integrations , and so forth .
Many many persons who choose a partner have anxiety and reluctance to share that news with their families for a number of specific reasons. Why must you degrade men and women to such a victim status? If a person wants to marry put of their faith , same sex, interracial , elitist culture vs non elitist ,then they must make the case to family and live with fall out.
The Presidents highly cynical political ploy will not change that! He has no power over family relations .Not to mention his huge hypocritical cop out of stating he, "supports gay marriage but it is a states rights issue.'
You and all the others in this country who feel compelled to dictate the societal norm, which rides just right of center , should recognize that the country has already made huge and generous offerings for all LGBT to be part of the spectrum . But you push and you push and you do so intellectually dishonest like your first paragraph.
You can believe what is significant to you and yours Ms. Thomas. Free will . But you are doing the LGBT community a huge disservice by falsely characterizing this countries overall attitude towards those citizens . They label themselves. They seek special rights. They have been used by the left for the progressive agenda which is to destroy the family nucleus paradigm . 30 states ,'That girl", have had ballots and voted no. Civil Unions and Domestic partnerships absolutely.. Tax and health benefit absolutely . But the Institution of marriage cannot be judicially activist mandated and if and when that reaches SCOTUS you will know what the Constitution clearly states about the enumerated judicial powers. a court cannot CREATE a right.
EXCUSE ME! Huge and generous offerings?!? You can’t be generous with things that are not yours to give. We are CITIZENS of these United States and as citizens are entitled to full and equal protection under the law. Perhaps you’ve not heard of the Fourteenth Amendment and its Equal Protection Clause with reads in part:
“NO STATE SHALL make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor DENY TO ANY PERSON WITHIN ITS JURISDICTION THE EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAWS.”
There are no rights being “created” – the right to equal treatment under the law is a right that ALL AMERICAN CITIZENS have had since 1868. Marriage is a CIVIL institution as defined under the laws of the United States. I don’t really give a *beep* what thirty states have voted, just as rights are not yours to “generous[ly] offer” neither are they yours to withhold. The Supreme Court will not be creating rights, they will be acknowledging existing rights.
As far as finding a solution to this problem it's really pretty simple isn't it?
Good luck changing the minds of 50% of the US population.
Typical Obama, cash-in on his divisive issues for the purpose of getting re-Elected.
BTW, where was his urgency in the first 3 years of his presidency...exactly. Is politics as ususal.
The federalists will tell you that gay marriage isn't guaranteed: After all, (a) the Constitution doesn't say a thing about it and (b) the longstanding traditions of American society has permitted it to be proscribed. I'm paraphrasing Justice Scalia here. Of course, Scalia was referring to abortion, specifically Roe v Wade.
The judges who aren't federalists will tell you that the Constitution is a living, breathing document. Just because certain rights are unenumerated, doesn't mean they can't be enumerated by legislation and precedent.
Anyone can claim the Constitution is on their side. The real question is, what do Americans want? The Constitution is open to interpretation. The will of the People is not.
There's no guarantee that gay marriage will ever be lawful, nor is there any guarantee that gay marriage will ever be socially acceptable. There is only the guarantee that Americans will pressure their elected officials to pass laws that reflect the values that Americans hold dear. It's entirely possible that Americans, by and large, do not want gay marriage. Fine. That's the will of the People. In fifty years, twenty years, or even five years, that may change.
What will you say when the majority of Americans believe that homosexuals should have the right to marry?
We are almost there.
Good luck trying to change their minds back.
Yes his vision was to plummet the recession into a free fall depression through massive debt ,and deficit spending ,and policies.
Attila the Hun had a vision as well but I would not label him a visionary.
Yes, lets cut our way to prosperity. Show me a model where this notion has worked. Europe is in the process of rejecting it, while American policy has stabilized our economy and even started it back up.
Attila? Really?