Supreme Court affirms right to gay marriage

Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority, recognizes the right of individuals to support homosexual marriage or oppose homosexual marriage, explicitly on religious grounds or secular belief:

"Finally, it must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned. The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations to continue the family structure they have long revered. The same is true of those who oppose same-sex marriage for other reasons. In turn, those who believe allowing same-sex marriage is proper or indeed essential, whether as a matter of religious conviction or secular belief, may engage those who disagree with their view in an open and searching debate. The Constitution, however, does not permit the State to bar same-sex couples from marriage on the same terms as accorded to couples of the opposite sex."

At least citizens may still think what they please, . . . and even express their thoughts.

Okay, I'm sorry, I honestly thought you were playing dumb.

To answer your rephrased question: YES!

If anyone is trying to distort yesterday's victory into a right to force a given clergy into performing a marriage, they're on the far fringe of the marriage equality movement. I'm not even aware of such a person.



No, we're talking only about government action and inaction here. No one is claiming that the right to marry includes a right to compel any person not cloaked in governmental authority to perform the ceremony.

I'm starving. Craving a big plate of Red Herring.

Belly up, they're biting.

Here is one of the beliefs "not in accordance with" my own that DonDiego thinks I should be tolerant of GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS acting upon:

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."

On the other hand, I think people should keep their vile religious beliefs out of government. So we disagree, DonDiego.

Pork ribs are tasty. Sometimes the bones of these ribs wind up in the trash.

Some municipal garbage workers follow a religion that says one must not touch the carcases of pigs. Some of these people are called "Christians".

And the pig, because it has a cloven hoof that is completely split, but will not regurgitate its cud; it is unclean for you. You shall not eat of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
—Leviticus 11:7-8

And the pig, because it has a split hoof, but does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You shall neither eat of their flesh nor touch their carcass.
—Deuteronomy 14:8

Imagine a municipal garbage worker who insists on the right not to have to collect the trash from homes that consume pork. That person should be reassigned or FIRED.

"But if this charge is true, that the girl was not found a virgin, then they shall bring out the girl to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death because she has committed an act of folly in Israel, by playing the harlot in her father’s house; thus you shall purge the evil from among you." - Deuteronomy 22:13-21)

Does this mean they won't perform a marriage for Bristol Palin?

Never understood the big deal about marriage, myself. Only leads to unpleasantness. Like divorce lawyers. And children.

But if it's available to some, it should be available to all. I'm actually surprised it took this long. I'll just be over here at the bar, drinking contently.

In 2025 it will be redefined as a blue herring and then you'll whistling a different tune.

She died not real long after making that post. I miss her. I really do. While our political ideologies were pretty much 180 degrees opposite of each other, we showed each other respect, both publicly within this forum and through private messages. She had strong opinions, but she wasn't a mean person. She didn't feel a need to personally attack other people in a sig line attached to every post she made...

I wondered for a while how or why she chose her screen name. Croke Drive was the name of the street she lived on. God bless you Karen.