Congratulations, New Jerseyians!

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Originally Posted by SarahMB

Discrimination is wrong in ANY form, but I have given up on the world agreeing with me on that.

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Bingo! :)

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Originally Posted by Blu Mongoose

Hate requires the waste of too much time and energy. :) :sunny:

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This is a principle that the Jewish faith has embraced since the begining of time. But, people have a real difficult time coming to grips with the philosophy. I am seriously guilty of hate mongering, one of my chief sins.

Blu, you go girl, don't give up on your dream of a world that is hate free.

This thread fills me with so much happy... :happycry: For the most part, I can feel the love! :love:

Such awesome news! Now if the rest of the country would just catch on! Karen and I are celebrating our 5th anniversary at the end of this month, and really look forward to someday having the right to get married and be able to live wherever we wish while still having that marriage recognized.

The religious arguement makes me insane, people of ALL religions get married all the time. If marriage is a religious institution only, why can athiests get married? And why do legal rights go along with marriage? People who really believe that marriage is a religious issue only should put their money where their mouth is and give up all the legal rights they're denying us.

Just a few of which being...

• The right to make decisions on a spouse's behalf in a medical emergency. Specifically, the states generally provide that spouses automatically assume this right in an emergency. If an individual is unmarried, the legal "next of kin" automatically assumes this right. This means, for example, that a gay man with a life partner of many years may be forced to accept the financial and medical decisions of a sibling or parent with whom he may have a distant or even hostile relationship.

• The right to take up to 12 weeks of leave from work to care for a seriously ill partner or parent of a partner. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 permits individuals to take such leave to care for ill spouses, children and parents but not a partner or a partner's parents.

• The right to petition for same-sex partners to immigrate.

• The right to assume parenting rights and responsibilities when children are brought into a family through birth, adoption, surrogacy or other means. For example, in most states, there is no law providing a noncustodial, nonbiological or nonadoptive parent's right to visit a child - or responsibility to provide financial support for that child - in the event of a breakup.

• The right to share equitably all jointly held property and debt in the event of a breakup, since there are no laws that cover the dissolution of domestic partnerships.

• Family-related Social security benefits, income and estate tax benefits, disability benefits, family-related military and veterans benefits and other important benefits.

• The right to inherit property from a partner in the absence of a will.

• The right to purchase continued health coverage for a domestic partner after the loss of a job.
  

This is why it's a civil rights issue, not a religious issue. It's wrong to deny anyone the right to enter into a contract (and marriage IS a sort of contract) based on gender. If the anti-gay marriage folks gave all those up, it'd be one thing. But until they do, all I see is excuses. Banning gay marriage within a specific Church or religion is fine with me. A person can choose to be associated with a Church or not and to obey that specific Church's laws. But the government is a whole nother can of beans.

Anyway, know I came into this thread late and all I just wanted to pipe up as it's an issue near and dear to my heart... Someday! :happycry:

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Originally Posted by MedusasOwl

This is why it's a civil rights issue, not a religious issue. It's wrong to deny anyone the right to enter into a contract (and marriage IS a sort of contract) based on gender. If the anti-gay marriage folks gave all those up, it'd be one thing. But until they do, all I see is excuses. Banning gay marriage within a specific Church or religion is fine with me. A person can choose to be associated with a Church or not and to obey that specific Church's laws. But the government is a whole nother can of beans.

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:salute:

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Originally Posted by Mendel's Balls

:salute:

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:salute: X 2!

Till today, I never thought a simple smiley could make me cry. :salute: :happycry: You guys rock. Thank you. :happycry:

:)

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Originally Posted by MedusasOwl

Till today, I never thought a simple smiley could make me cry. :salute: :happycry: You guys rock. Thank you. :happycry:

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Congrats on your 5th Anniversary. :)

The wife and I celebrated our 15th this past April! :D

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Originally Posted by MedusasOwl

This thread fills me with so much happy... :happycry: For the most part, I can feel the love! :love:

Such awesome news! Now if the rest of the country would just catch on! Karen and I are celebrating our 5th anniversary at the end of this month, and really look forward to someday having the right to get married and be able to live wherever we wish while still having that marriage recognized.

it's an issue near and dear to my heart... Someday! :happycry:

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I feel it's coming. Kelly & I have been waiting over 8 yrs. I feel the time is just about right. :sunny:

P.S. Make sure you hit the voting polls!! :D :D
Oh, our anniversary is Oct. 31st. :D

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Originally Posted by MedusasOwl

Till today, I never thought a simple smiley could make me cry. :salute: :happycry: You guys rock. Thank you. :happycry:

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Happy anniversary, and I'm hoping this helps expediate the chance you can get married at home or wherever you'd like to :)

Shakes head ....