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Dec 6th, 2017
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Joined: Jun 2004
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Administrator Bionic Scribe
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Latpoll
In the state’s continuing political battles over gay marriage, both sides are targeting Latino voters, and a new Los Angeles Times poll illustrates why. Overall, the poll showed, a substantial majority of voters in Los Angeles support the right of same-sex couples to legally marry, with 56% in favor and 37% opposed.
That finding closely tracked the results of November’s election in which Proposition 8, which limited marriage to unions of a man and a woman, won statewide but lost in Los Angeles. But the poll also showed that within the city, views on the issue differed widely among racial and ethnic groups.
White voters were most emphatic in their support for same-sex marriage, with 68% supporting it and 27% opposing. African American voters were strongly against it, with 54% opposing same-sex marriage and 37% supporting it.
Opposition to gay marriage by African Americans was widely seen as a major factor contributing to the passage of Proposition 8. Latinos in the current poll were split, with 45% supporting same-sex marriage and 46% opposing.
Life is a banquet -- and most poor suckers are starving to death -- Auntie Mame
You are born naked and everything else is drag - RuPaul
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Talk about a stimulus package!!! The $9.5 Billion Gay Marriage Windfall To estimate the financial impact of gay weddings were they legalized nationally, we multiplied the number of same-sex weddings by 34% of the amount straight couples would spend on such items as engagement rings, banquet halls, wedding dresses and honeymoons. Add it all up, and it comes to $9.5 billion.
The biggest category--at $3.4 billion--is gifts. According to the Association of Bridal Consultants, the average amount spent per wedding gift is $113, and the average couple receives 75 gifts. The haul per couple: $8,475. To find the aggregate figure, multiply by 406,000 (a little over half the number of same-sex couples that live together). (We assumed gift givers are as generous to same-sex couples as they are to straight ones.)
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I think that voter attitudes may not be a critical factor soon.
Since the churches offering the sacrament of marriage to same-sex couples are not by any means cults or non-religious groups posing as churches to obtain legal or tax benefits, but real honest-to-God churches with a long history, this throws same-sex marriage into the category of a religious sacrament practiced by some churches and not practiced by others. For government to favor the churches that prohibit it over the ones that offer it, is clearly a violation of the anti-establishment clause of the First Amendment.
The simplest resolution is for the Supreme Court to decide that state-sanction of some church's religious rites fails the third "Lemon Test": It is excessive entanglement of church and state. If they seperate existing marriage into its civil and religious aspects, that cures all problems by untangling this Gordian Knot with one clean stroke of the ax.
States could regulate and record their civil unions, and give full faith and credit to other state's civil unions. Churches could perform or refuse to perform their religious rites as they see fit, with no interference from the government. (But of course, if you want the states or federal government to recognize your relationship, you do need to fill in the paperwork for a civil union just like our current use of "marriage licenses".)
The implementation is simple: Every existing legal marriage is already recorded in government records. The title of those records just changes to "Civil Unions". The religious validity of existing marriages could be affirmed automatically by some churches, while others might require actual membership, study, counseling, additional religious oaths or ceremonies, or whatever they like. (We call that "Freedom of Religion!) By the way, plenty of churches (eg. the Roman Catholic Church) already do this.
Future couples seeking civil union or civil union plus religious marriage would just follow a slightly different procedure in the very same government office where they now obtain a marriage license, in order to register their civil union.
Everybody gets what they want: People who want a civil union, get one. People who belong to a church that offers them and their partner a Marriage Ceremony, can get that if they satisfy their church's requirements. People who want to belong to a church that does not offer same-sex Marriage Ceremonies, can do that. Churches are free to determine their own religious tenants and rites, without government interference.
The only people who would be unhappy, would be those who desire to control the religious rites of churches other than their own. And they can bite me, to put it politely.
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Census will count married gay couples SAN FRANCISCO | U.S. Census Bureau officials said Friday that married same-sex couples will be counted as such in the 2010 national tally, reversing an earlier decision made under the George W. Bush administration.
Steve Jost, a spokesman for the Census Bureau, said officials already were identifying the technical changes needed to ensure the reliability of the information, but remained committed to providing an accurate tally of gay spouses.
"They will be counted, and they ought to report the way they see themselves," Mr. Jost said. "In the normal process of reports coming out after the census of 2010, I think the country will have a good data set on which to discuss this phenomenon that is evolving in this country."
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Dodd: I Now Support Gay Marriage While I've long been for extending every benefit of marriage to same-sex couples, I have in the past drawn a distinction between a marriage-like status ("civil unions") and full marriage rights.
The reason was simple: I was raised to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And as many other Americans have realized as they've struggled to reconcile the principle of fairness with the lessons they learned early in life, that's not an easy thing to overcome.
But the fact that I was raised a certain way just isn't a good enough reason to stand in the way of fairness anymore.
The Connecticut Supreme Court, of course, has ruled that such a distinction holds no merit under the law. And the Court is right.
I believe that effective leaders must be able and willing to grow and change over their service. I certainly have during mine -- and so has the world. Thirty-five years ago, who could have imagined that we'd have an African-American President of the United States?
My young daughters are growing up in a different reality than I did. Our family knows many same-sex couples -- our neighbors in Connecticut, members of my staff, parents of their schoolmates. Some are now married because the Connecticut Supreme Court and our state legislature have made same-sex marriage legal in our state.
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Administrator Bionic Scribe
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Administrator Bionic Scribe
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The video shows the 16-year-old boy lying on the floor, his body convulsing, as elders of a small Connecticut church cast a "homosexual demon" from his body.
"Rip it from his throat!" a woman yells. "Come on, you homosexual demon! You homosexual spirit, we call you out right now! Loose your grip, Lucifer!"
The 20-minute video posted on YouTube by Manifested Glory Ministries is being called abuse by gay and youth advocates, who are demanding an investigation. But a church official this week denied that the teenager was injured or that the church is prejudiced.
Life is a banquet -- and most poor suckers are starving to death -- Auntie Mame
You are born naked and everything else is drag - RuPaul
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...and the Salem witch hunts continue in 2009.
Glory! Praise the Lord!
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A link to Phil's post above.
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journeyman
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journeyman
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"We believe a man should be with a woman and a woman should be with a man," the Rev. Patricia McKinney told The Associated Press. "We have nothing against homosexuals. I just don't agree with their lifestyle." Wow, that's new, huh? I don't care what she says I'm going to continue working, paying my bills and watching TV! McKinney denied the ritual was an exorcism, describing it instead as a casting out of spirits. Hmm... oh I see the distinction: Exorcism
Ex"or*cism\ (-s[i^]z'm), n. [L. exorcismus, Gr. 'exorkizmo`s; cf. F. exorcisme.]
1. The act of exorcising; the driving out of evil spirits from persons or places by conjuration; also, the form of conjuration used.
2. Conjuration for raising spirits. [R.] --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. they were CASTING out spirits, an exorcism is about DRIVING out spirits. Completely different. Exodus International, a Christian group that believes gays can become straight through prayer and counseling, does not advocate the church's approach, said Jeff Buchanan, director of church equipping.  Whatever Mr. Buchanan. It's like a hairsplitting convention. "It's been a hard time for me, but I'm looking good and I'm standing strong because when you have a mandate like mine you're not going to say what you want without the adversary coming after you," she said. "If you are a true prophet you're not going to be popular with the people." It's nice to see someone turn their self-perceived persecution into a positive. Narcissism means never having to say you're sorry.
We are constantly invited to be who we are. Henry David Thoreau
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veteran
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veteran
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Civil Partnership Bill published A Bill which will give people in long-term relationships many of the statutory rights of married couples has been published.
The legislation will allow same-sex couples to register their civil partnership for the first time and will also recognise a number of other rights and obligations previously denied to them. Unmarried opposite-sex couples will be allowed to register, as will those in non-sexual relations, such as siblings who live together, or cohabiting companions.
Under the Bill, once a civil partnership is registered, the couple will be dealt with in the same way as a married couple by the Revenue Commissioners.
"The Bill has been carefully framed to balance any potential conflict between these two constitutionally guaranteed rights. This balance is achieved by maintaining material distinctions between civil partnership and marriage, in particular between the rights attaching to both, while at the same time reflecting the equality rights protected by the Constitution,” Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern this afternoon. while not perfect, particularly in light of the Irish imperfect constitution, i do like that it places gay marraige (however you want to phrase it) firmly in the context of other relationships that exist in our "messy" and non nukular family modern societies. Its not particular to them being gay, its particular to them beign in a long term relationship. As is should be - non judgemental.
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."
(Philip K.Dick)
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