Maryland governor to sign same-sex marriage into law on Thursday

In dire need of a statesman with courage. Not one who sways with every political wave...!

Claiming that someone else's marriage is against your religion is like being angry at someone for eating a donut because you're on a diet.

This is good. Gays can now experience the joys of divorce....

May there be dancing in the streets of Maryland on Thursday!

For the haters, you can just carry on with your wailing and gnashing of teeth.

It's so ironic how the heterosexuals claim they don't want the gays to PUSH gay marriage on them, but they have NO trouble pushing heterosexual marriage on the gays?
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you can push your heterosexual marriage on me then I should be able to push my same sex marriage on you. Equal is equal.
Imagine your children having to marry someone they are NOT attracted to, do you really want them following in your footsteps, cause if you are pushing that for me, it must be what has happened to you already.
Why do heterosexuals marry people they aren't attracted to? Simply to get acceptance and approval of others? Those same people you seek acceptance and approval from, they pay your bills? They clean your house? They fix your car? What is is about their acceptance that FORCES you to marry people you are NOT attracted to?

An interresting fact. My state of North Carolina has a refrendum coming up in May. It is being trumpetted as a Constitutional Amendment to protect marraige.
Of course, North Carolina alreadsy has a law on the books that defines marraige as one man and one woman.
Here's the sticky part. The proposed amendment as written could easily apply to heterosexuals who are not married. Denying them of basic protections, rights and privileges. Is THIS the country you wish to live in?

The King is Dead, Long Live the King. Royal blood line, Right to Succession, a practice still in play within the politics of todays world. Read "The Prince" for a bit of its application.
Over the dawn of time the "Blood Right" to power has been used to control the masses. To ensure the unbroken blood line claim to power, incestuous relationships was but one method to keep this Blood Right pure.

(offspring as an issue was a concern yesterday, today it is not, becomes a moot point)

We have decided to no longer govern ourselves under Royal Rule. We have tried to hide this consolidation of power by blood thru layer upon layer of marriage restrictions. So many so, that most have forgotten what was at the core. Those that argue against the stripping away of the layers are labeled Bigots, Haters, Homophobic. Those words means nothing, water off a ducks back. The layers were to make all but impossible the core to resurface.

So you strip bare what has so long been hidden, what was to be avoided. That which the people throughout history allowed and suffered. The power over the people by the Right of Royal Blood.

a marriage registered with the STATE carries legal weight
a marriage registered only with a church and NOT with the state has no legal binding or merit

Therefore STATES should conduct marriages
and if religious groups want to do something different, they should not be ALLOWED to diminsh the validity of marriage.

Churches can call it something else, like a 'spiritual union'

Good for Maryland!

Face the fact`s God would be a fool to step one foot on earth, you good old Christians would have him so tied up in court suing him so fast his head would be spinning, for God`s deadly storms and destruction's of you`re home land and loss of life, you`ll want to make him pay,
one line in the bible does not seem to be one of God`s top priority of sins,
Fact, it takes two heterosexuals to make one homosexuals, could homosexuals comes from the sins of there father,? God`s way of people populations control, after seeing heterosexuals could not or does not control themselves, babies having babies out of wed lock, etc!!!
Do you really think homosexuals are on the top of God`s list of sins, or do you think abortions, parents killing there own children in the most horrific manners, adulterers, 50% divorces, children killing children out of hate they learn from there heterosexuals parents,
I think homosexuals well have far less to answer for then most heterosexuals,

“In the wake of DOMA, it is only sexual orientation that differentiates a married couple entitled to federal marriage-based benefits from one not so entitled. And this court can conceive of no way in which such a difference might be relevant to the provision of the benefits at issue. By premising eligibility for these benefits on marital status in the first instance, the federal government signals to this court that the relevant distinction to be drawn is between married individuals and unmarried individuals. To further divide the class of married individuals into those with spouses of the same sex and those with spouses of the opposite sex is to create a distinction without meaning. And where, as here, “there is no reason to believe that the disadvantaged class is different, in relevant respects” from a similarly situated class, this court may conclude that it is only irrational prejudice that motivates the challenged classification. As irrational prejudice plainly never constitutes a legitimate government interest, this court must hold that Section 3 of DOMA as applied to Plaintiffs violates the equal protection principles embodied in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

--Judge Joseph Tauro, Gil v. Office of Personnel Management (2010)

Our Constitution, and over 200 years of judicial interpretation, have consistently said that the government cannot infringe on any individual's right to believe what they want. But on the other hand, people are not permitted to use their personal beliefs as a justification for withholding civil rights from someone else.

Murder is not illegal in the U.S. because it violates a Biblical commandment; it's illegal because it denies the victim of his or her rights. Same thing with assault, robbery, pedophilia, etc. - they are crimes because they harm and deny someone their rights.

By the same token, pornography - while it offends many people's morals and religious beliefs - is NOT illegal, because moral disapproval is not sufficient reason to take away anyone's First Amendment free speech rights. See People v. Larry Flynt. Also, see Loving v. Virginia, Roe v. Wade, and Lawrence v. Texas. The Supreme Court has held on numerous occasions that religious disapproval by itself is not an acceptable reason to deny someone else's civil rights. And in Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court in a unanimous decision held that the right to marry the partner of your choice is a fundamental civil right.

The "violation of rights" clause is invoked for incest and polygamy. Children born of incestuous relationships have a much greater statistical chance of birth defects. This creates a hardship for the child, for the parents, and leads to higher medical costs - which are borne by all taxpayers. This is why incest is illegal. (You might be interested to know that in New York, first cousins can marry - in some other states, that would be considered incest.)

Polygamy is illegal because it creates a family situation where multiple spouses have unequal legal rights. Also many junior spouses in polygamous relationships are underage or nearly so. And it has been demonstrated by multiple studies that children in polygamous households are much more likely to suffer from insufficient financial support and lack of adequate parenting, because family resources are spread more thinly. So the state has a vested interest in protecting the civil rights of underage spouses and children who are likely to be disadvantaged.

If you can show any way in which allowing gay people to marry each other will violate anyone else's rights/civil rights, then you can justify prohibiting the right of gays to marry each other. Keep in mind that your own personal distaste or disapproval of gay marriage isn't enough.

In states and in other countries where gay marriage is legal, the divorce rate among same-sex couples is generally lower than that of opposite-sex couples. Also, multiple studies have shown that children raised in same-sex parent households are statistically likely to be as well-adjusted or MORE well-adjusted, perform better in school, and benefit from a higher average family income.

A good state gets even better for all people. It will be more prosperous, more free and more moral. Please be patient with Colorado. There's a civil unions bill working its way through the legislature that, while not perfect, will be a good first step towards the inevitable repeal of the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. And if you Bible thumpers accuse me of homosexuality, you'll really surprise various girlfriends I've had over the years and be laughed at by all.

Conservatives fight for the rights off all Americans...unless you're gay, poor, a minority, non-christian religious sect, think the constitution is more important then the patriot act, etc.

Ok, Now that that is over and done with, we can move on to more important things. Our economy may seem to be growing but it is still fragile and congress is heading toward another round of juvenile actions that could make matter worse. It's bad enough we have a political campaign full of people trying to divert our attention away from these important issues and on to their egos.

Imagine a man ramming his buddy, their nuts@cks slamming against each other. SICK. Do you really want the government to recognize this type of union?

I'm not against gays, but explain to me one thing: If you say other people's relationships and sex lives are none of society's business, then why don't we legalize incestuous marriages, too? If a brother-sister, or father-daughter wanted to get married, why shouldn't they? Just because YOU think it's disgusting?

“It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
― Thomas Jefferson
And how does gay marriage pick a pocket or break a leg? Mind your own affairs before you try to dictate to others.

Another blow to this country's Christian Taliban.
Another strike to the heart of our own version of Sharia Law.
Another GREAT day for the Rule of Law, and the true principles of both the foundation OF this country, Liberalism, and TRUE Conservatism !

Sorry, Haters. Sux to be you :-)

All of you religious people need to find a a real reason to be against this issue. The same old rhetoric is not an valid argument. Anyone can interpret the bible to fit whatever crazy agenda they believe in. How do you take scripture literally anyways? It's been 2000 plus years man.....The bible is fantasy just as Lord of the Rings is, but America is great because you all the right to your opinion, and believe it or not, I do respect that. It all comes down to hate and lack of intelligence on your part.....