Gay marriage thread

[Nick Armstrong]

Don't poo-stir Cali!!!

[ahinton]

Reassuring to see that the warm weather has brought on the Beefy-ahinton courtship rituals, seemingly wherever one looks this evening!

The weather's not been as warm here in Herefordistan as it has elsewhere, but that's hardly the point; since you write of reassurance, let me without further ado assure you and anyone else (if there is anyone else) who might need assuring that I have no intention of taking anyone here to court, ritualistically or otherwise! I'm far more interested in reading intelligent posts on the subject of the thread, assuming that members still have useful things to discuss about it.

[ahinton]

poo-stir

?
Peester? They sound similar. But they can't be, surely? And, more importantly, neither seems to be contributing to discussion of the subject at hand. Could we please return to that?

[Beef Oven]

?
Peester? They sound similar. But they can't be, surely? And, more importantly, neither seems to be contributing to discussion of the subject at hand. Could we please return to that?

Your post is another distraction - can we please get back on-topic.

[ahinton]

Your post is another distraction - can we please get back on-topic.

Only for those distracted by it but, since I have myself twice recommended a return to the topic, yes, please let's do just that, without further ado!

[Beef Oven]

Only for those distracted by it but, since I have myself twice recommended a return to the topic, yes, please let's do just that, without further ado!

I don't agree with it.

[ahinton]

I don't agree with it.

I imagine that many of us here believe that you had already made that much abundantly clear - but perhaps others might have something more and/or something fresh to contribute to the discussion.

[Beef Oven]

I imagine that many of us here believe that you had already made that much abundantly clear - but perhaps others might have something more and/or something fresh to contribute to the discussion.

There's nothing fresh to say on this tired subject

[ahinton]

There's nothing fresh to say on this tired subject

Not for you, perhaps - and maybe it has indeed been exhausted; that's not for me to say, however. But why commend a return to the topic if you think that the topic has run its course?

[Mary Chambers]

I imagine that many of us here believe that you had already made that much abundantly clear - but perhaps others might have something more and/or something fresh to contribute to the discussion.

I have contributed little, because I am unable to understand the arguments of the people, here or elsewhere, who are against equal marriage. Like others, I have been married. I would still be married if I hadn't been widowed. I have children and grandchildren, and see myself as an ordinary sort of person in my seventies. I don't understand why people think equal marriage would undermine my marriage or anyone else's. I don't see why marriage would have to be redefined, except perhaps in certain small details. I don't see why children would be confused. If you tell a child that you marry the person you love and want to spend your life with, the child would surely accept that easily.

Above all, I don't accept the view that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Until now, perhaps, but IT CAN CHANGE. Thank goodness we don't do everything because 'it has always been that way'.

[amateur51]

Ah, one tries, one tries; sometimes it's a real uphill struggle, but one tries nevertheless. Anyway, Quakers should in future only ever marry Quakers, and Baptists only Baptists, since the law, once finally ratified, will commend to the electorate the virtues of and statutory requirement for Same Sects Marriage.

Ahem...

that's awful ahinton - well done!

[Nick Armstrong]

...since you write of reassurance, let me without further ado assure you and anyone else (if there is anyone else) who might need assuring that I have no intention of taking anyone here to court, ritualistically or otherwise! ...

Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth:

I have contributed little, because I am unable to understand the arguments of the people, here or elsewhere, who are against equal marriage. Like others, I have been married. I would still be married if I hadn't been widowed. I have children and grandchildren, and see myself as an ordinary sort of person in my seventies. I don't understand why people think equal marriage would undermine my marriage or anyone else's. I don't see why marriage would have to be redefined, except perhaps in certain small details. I don't see why children would be confused. If you tell a child that you marry the person you love and want to spend your life with, the child would surely accept that easily.

Above all, I don't accept the view that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Until now, perhaps, but IT CAN CHANGE. Thank goodness we don't do everything because 'it has always been that way'.

Great post, Mary!!

[amateur51]

I have contributed little, because I am unable to understand the arguments of the people, here or elsewhere, who are against equal marriage. Like others, I have been married. I would still be married if I hadn't been widowed. I have children and grandchildren, and see myself as an ordinary sort of person in my seventies. I don't understand why people think equal marriage would undermine my marriage or anyone else's. I don't see why marriage would have to be redefined, except perhaps in certain small details. I don't see why children would be confused. If you tell a child that you marry the person you love and want to spend your life with, the child would surely accept that easily.

Above all, I don't accept the view that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Until now, perhaps, but IT CAN CHANGE. Thank goodness we don't do everything because 'it has always been that way'.

Thanks Mary - a voice of reason and good sense

[french frank]

I have contributed little, because I am unable to understand the arguments of the people, here or elsewhere, who are against equal marriage. Like others, I have been married. I would still be married if I hadn't been widowed. I have children and grandchildren, and see myself as an ordinary sort of person in my seventies. I don't understand why people think equal marriage would undermine my marriage or anyone else's. I don't see why marriage would have to be redefined, except perhaps in certain small details. I don't see why children would be confused. If you tell a child that you marry the person you love and want to spend your life with, the child would surely accept that easily.

Above all, I don't accept the view that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Until now, perhaps, but IT CAN CHANGE. Thank goodness we don't do everything because 'it has always been that way'.

I really can't see the point of people simply repeating that they do, or don't, agree with single sex marriage - that isn't discussion. It is, almost certainly, passing into law, and the younger generations will come to accept it without question.

I find the concept of 'equal marriage', as a description, more debatable. For many people, especially women, marriage is not 'equal' - particularly noticeable in my former profession where promotion could frequently mean moving from one end of the country to the other: e.g. easier for men to be away during the week than for the woman, if they have young children, or women giving up their careers to follow their husbands. Not to mention necessary disruption of careers to have children and bring them up when very young.

There may well be a transitional period of difficulty when it becomes more common for men to adopt childen. A while back the stories were of women in their sixties having children: which means some children of 10 having a mother in her seventies, while 'all the other children' had mothers in their twenties or thirties. And late teenagers might well have responsibility for looking after an aged parent (or being orphaned), whereas that would more commonly arise for settled 'children' in their fifties or sixies. That seems to me to pose more problems than single sex marriage.

[Beef Oven]

Not for you, perhaps - and maybe it has indeed been exhausted; that's not for me to say, however. But why commend a return to the topic if you think that the topic has run its course?

I thought you wanted to get back on topic, so I posted a helper in that direction.