[Kaleban]

The sphere of influence issue is a great thing to bring up. Its so open for argument too hehe. Exactly at what point would, say a gay couple's "sphere" influence those around them?

Certainly, walking around a mall, holding hands, with maybe a quick kiss or two, would gross out the homophobes who see, but does not their disgust also influence the freedom with which these two gay people express themselves, just like any other human being?

To me, the question of gay marriage is not about right or wrong, its about semantics. Marriage is for religion, civil unions are for the state. What makes a marriage legal is the civil union the state provides by may of a "marriage license" something the church does not require.

You fully and permanently separate the two entities and temrs from each other. Civil unions, which grant the legal rights of "unioned" couples as marriage does now, are allowed for anyone of any preference. Marriage is the sole province of the religion providing the ceremony. Not being "married" would not exclude a couple from enjoying the legal rights provided by the state. In essence, an atheist hetero couple would be the same as a homosexual couple in terms of legal benefits, as would anyone married through the church who also ratified and legalized the proceeding with a civil union license.

Back to the point, spheres of influence are ever overlapping, and can extend as short as the 3 ft personal bubble, to anyone within sight, to even anyone you can contact electronically. While I will most likely never change anyone's stance on religion or gay marriage by posting here, it still allows others to get to know me somewhat through my written words, and thus I affect them and their response in turn influences me.

I do wish that people would realize however that gay people are still people, protected by the laws of the country. The attitude some of the people in power have is exactly that of white supremacists, slave owners back in the day, and what have you, its an attitude of superiority, of believing that segregation and prejudice are the status to what we should adhere.

As I said before, truly, truly sad.