Index of SPPS Budget Discussion http://www.e-democracy.org/stpaul/spps-posts.html _________________________________________ Chuck Repke writes:
Here lies the problem in the debate on Gay Marriage, when people think of marriage they think of sex. The government's relationship with marriage has nothing to do with sex. [TS] Au Contraire. It has everything to do with sex, or more precisely the consequences of sex (heterosexual): the protection and raising of children. Please spare me the lecture regarding the fact that homosexuals can adopt or make use of the latest trends in genetic science; I realize they have access to children. The question is what type of environment do we want to encourage for our children: two Bobs or two Alice�s or one Bob and one Alice. [CR] All gay couples are asking for is the same contractual relationships that hetro couples are able to enjoy given to them by the state. [TS] Every adult man and woman in the state of Minnesota enjoys the exact same rights to the exact same contractual relationships and lives with the exact same prohibitions. Homosexuals are demanding we draw completely new contracts with new rights to accommodate their *behavioral choices*. Yes, choices. No matter how you feel about the root cause of homosexuality, you cannot deny the fact that whom we choose to have relationships, sexual or otherwise are based on decisions we have control over. And let�s do take sex out of the equation. Once we redefine the marriage contract to include all of these chaste homosexuals just what argument are you going to use to deny this new contract to polygamists, family members or any other combination of beings the human mind can conjure? You cannot use the moral standards you have so carefully just deconstructed; they don�t exist any longer. You cannot use the longstanding standard of community standards of decency, they were based on those bigoted moral precepts you�ve destroyed. You cannot use medical reasoning for the occasional rogue sex act that may occur because just as homosexuals have gone to the petrie dish to solve their biological shortcomings so too can family members do so to rule out genetic defects. But we have ruled sex out of consideration anyway. So what is to stop me from demanding the right to marry my mother or father? I love them deeply, share the same name, have shared their finances and home, do not wish to engage in sex with either of them; yet when they pass away, I may well be forced to undergo the expense and hassle of probate and their modest estate will be subject to taxation. But if they could marry me we could forgo all of that and enjoy the same rights that all other married couples enjoy to pass our assets along directly and easily! Wait! You can no longer use the argument that I am entering into marriage solely for financial or legal convenience: you have legitimized those as valid reasons: �And, at that point I would guess most people would have little or no problem with two people creating a private partnership on all legal transactions, which is what a legal marriage is.� Guy Western says: It took the courage and dedication to duty of 300 *federal* marshals, 160 of whom were injured holding the campus of the University of Mississippi on the night of Sept. 30, 1962, against a diverse mob of segregationists who assaulted those federal marshals again and again that night and into the wee hours of the morning under the battle flag of the Confederate States of America. [TS] From today�s Star Tribune: �Said Blois Olson, co-publisher of the Web site MNPolitics.com: "My gut is telling me that if you talk about jobs, education, and health care, you're doing pretty well. But if you get into a battle over this issue, then you might have a little trouble. Then you are fighting on grounds that are very polarizing." �Olson said one way of deflecting potential attacks may be to couch the debate as one involving civil rights.� Couch away Guy. As I said yesterday, black Minnesotan�s were well represented yesterday at the Capital rally and several made a point of expressing their extreme anger at the gay lobby�s use of their struggle. BTW, while not pertinent my argument per se, I�d like to point out that while I�m fully aware that some prominent black leaders have come out in support of homosexual unions; consider what dividing the black vote further will do to the make-up of our legislature to say nothing of Savannah, GA. Eva Young chimes in: >From what I hear - and I didn't go to watch the circus - but both sides were down at the capitol. [TS] Yes Eva I did see approximately six counter demonstrators (an honest accounting). They were treated cooly, mostly ignored, but were patiently tolerated by people they chose to confront. In fact, I happened to be standing next to a black man (he was briefly profiled last night on channel 5) who was confronted by a very loud, angry, "radical looking" lesbian grrl of approximately 18 or 19. The grrl was castigating this man for not supporting her fight to legitimize her realtionship: he was black after all..how dare he. The man listened for awhile, then said (paraphrasing as closely as memory will allow): "You are a very young woman, how could you think that you know what my life is and has been like....If after all of the struggles my family and people have been through, our freedom rested upon or resulted in the debauchery and sin that you are lecturing me about I believe that I would be better served taking back my chains." He then told her he loved her and said that he would pray for the day she freed herself from her own self-imposed chains. Be interesting to see how �your� crowd treats counter demonstrators (as a matter of fact, I think I�ll check that out personally). [EY] I'm just curious though - which other Republicans - besides Bachmann - spoke at the rally? [TS] The entire Senate caucus Republican came to the podium, one at a time, to introduce themselves as supporters not only of the amendment, but of traditional families. We�ll see how the DFL handles it�s time in the spotlight (couches anyone?). TSwift Cherokee Park __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. 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