[Kaleban]

Unfortunately, the bigger question, apart from gold-digging spouses (and they're both male and female in my experience), and this concern is usually voiced by both hetero and homo groups with established long term relationships, is what benefits do the spouses have?

For example, a gay man cannot technically contest a family's claim of property as next of kin, since he cannot get "married" and therefore has no claim even if his partner willed it to him after thirty or forty years of co-habitation.

And it goes further. There are many benefits conferred upon married couples, from tax benefits, insurance benefits, and others that gay couples cannot enjoy simply because of a law that is being pushed by homophobic old white males. I can't imagine what a closeted gay senator must feel like right about now, especially if he's a democrat!

So the current regime has seen fit to make their views clear: gays will not be tolerated. Its the segregation attitude, and it makes gay people LESS than people, since there are laws specifically targeting their sexual orientation. What's next, making it illegal for gays to drink from public water fountains because homophobic senators believe you can get AIDS from the spigot? Its a crock.

And Gambit, let me give you a scenario that could act as a compromise, but I'll then tell you why it will never be accepted.

Eliminate the institution of marriage as a legally binding agreement. Establish civil unions as the basis for a legally bound co-habitation, and don't limit it. If some dude wants to "union" with his plant, then that's his business. Give all the rights currently under the purview of marriage to the civil union. Eliminate all terminology that causes the civil union to have religious overtones. Marriage, being a religious institution, is the purview of religion, not the state, so this means gays cannot get married, keeping the rabid gap-toothed hicks happy, but allows the gays to have the benefit and recognition they seek. Thus, everyone is happy, and everyone gets what they want.

Now the reason it won't happen. There IS discrimination in this country, not made more clear than by the overwhelming support of the gay marriage ban enacted in many states. That is segregation, discrimination, and a direct violation of civil rights. And now, with some of the most fire and brimstoney right wing nutjobs in office EVER, they will see to it that gays are "purged" if they could, and only public outcry will at least allow the homosexual community a shred of decency.

I am ashamed and appalled to be called an American these days, what with all the religious pomposity in our government, and the fake patriotism that is bred of fear of the system. I've said time and again, that John Carpenter is a visionary, and his vision of a future America where the President is a man who must pray before every decision is here... NOW. I don't mean to be rude to anyone, but this is unacceptable. America is a secular nation, populated by many different groups of cultures and belief systems. To eschew all others in favour of one is both wrong, and hypocritical, given the fact of the existence of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, two documents lauded by politicians, but butchered at every turn to further political agendas.

/rant.