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![]() Vice President Joe Biden went further than President Barack Obama has on supporting gay marriage.
May 7th, 2012
07:28 AM ET
Biden's support for gay marriage matches most Catholics' viewsBy Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor (CNN) - Apparent White House division over gay marriage - with Vice President Joe Biden saying Sunday that he is “absolutely comfortable” with the idea, going further than President Obama has on the issue – mirrors a nation that is evenly divided on the matter. Recent polls show that about half of Americans favor legalized gay marriage, while half oppose it, with support for the idea gaining significant ground over the past 15 years. Pew’s latest polling on the issue, conducted late last year, found that 46% of Americans support favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, while 44% are opposed. Support for gay civil unions is substantially higher, with a clear majority of Americans supporting such arrangements. Feelings about gay marriage correlate to various religious traditions and levels of religiosity, with those nonaffiliated with any religion most supportive of gay marriage. It’s worth noting the dramatic recent shifts on the issue among Roman Catholics, whose ranks include Biden. Despite the Roman Catholic Church’s rigorous opposition to gays getting the right to marry, Pew found that Catholics support gay marriage by a margin of 52% to 37%. That’s a shift from 2010, when just 46% of Catholics favored gay marriage. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories Among white Catholics, support is even higher at 57%, while Hispanic Catholics are evenly divided. The religious group most opposed to gay marriage is white evangelical Protestants, among whom 74% oppose it, according to Pew. Sixty-two percent of black Protestants, a key part of President Obama’s political base, also oppose gay marriage. After Biden voiced support for gay marriage, a senior Obama campaign adviser said there was no difference on the issue between the vice president and the president, who once said he opposed gay marriage but has since said his views on the matter are “evolving.” Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter "What the VP said - that all married couples should have the same legal rights - is (precisely) POTUS' position," said David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Obama's re-election campaign, in a Twitter message. The issue has gotten attention recently as North Carolinians prepare to vote Tuesday on a ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage, reinforcing a state law banning such unions. The Rev. Billy Graham has endorsed the measure, while former President Bill Clinton has taped a robo call opposing it. |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team. |
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Legalize anything that ticks off a Tea bagger...it's fun to watch...especially after what they put the country thru the last couple of years.
Nothing and I mean NOTHING will ever top voting in the first black president! Their reaction has been priceless. The only thing that could approach it will be his re-election.
Priceless!
Markin, not priceless, it cost us 5 trillion and counting! Libtards never learn, if only they could find ye ol' pot o' gold at the end of de'r rainbow! their system would work. Everyone would be rich laying around indulging in every vice known to man and never having to work.
I doubt you could find many people that don't know someone who is gay – be it a relative, co-worker, neighbor, whatever. I think most are sensible to realize that these folks are not the boogey man and that they deserve the same human rights as the rest of us.
Like
Which is why a small majority is for full equal rights and an even larger majority is for at least equivalent rights.
religion and the bible were written by mear men and women – mostly men because at that time man was seen as a superior being – BUT YES there is a GOD and he is neither a man or woman – he is both and more...those who do not believe in equality will suffer the ultimate FADE! – listen to BIDEN – he has it RIGHT – HE IS A WISE MAN on this topic
love
Canada
in Canada they have equal rights – Canadians are going to heaven
As an American, I'm not sure I'd call Biden "wise"; but, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
@CanadaONE: Thank you for proving that the christians of our wonderful country are open-minded. As much as I may disagree about the god factor, I appreciate seeing that our country does have christians who are not shoving the bible down peoples throats. Next to JW, you are probably about the most open-minded christian on this blog.
Interesting that the people who are so against it are totally unaffected by it. Absolutely nothing changes for them. The only people for whom this has any concrete reality is gays and their families and friends. If it passes, the day-to-day lives of those against it will not be affected at all.
Is straight marriage somehow debased by it? Not at all. Are existing marriages changed or affected in any way. No, not at all. Do straights lose anything at all by allowing it? No. Nothing.
Do those opposed somehow lose something religiously from allowing it? No, they are fine that way too. Even if it is a sin, it is not their sin, and the sin is actually unchanged if they marry.
As is already shown it places where it is legal, most people don't even notice anything different. Nobody loses anything concrete.
So if the people who are against it lose absolutely nothing and would not even notice, then why do they even care? Simple: prejudice. Whether from their own personal failings or the indoctrination of their religion (usually both), they are just plain bigots who are fighting against an issue in which they lose nothing.
One would think that a true religion would fight against the oppression of your fellow human, do unto others and all that, but no. Do you actually want them to "do unto you" a banning of straight marriage if they had the majority?
Like Civil Rights, in 20 years, you will look back and wonder why anyone fought it.
Well...I hear your sentiment....but civil rights movement has been around for a lot longer than 20 years and people still fight that. Can you say redneck southerners? The south used to be solidly democratic...blue all the way...what change? Civil rights...now thier red.
Nailed it!
Gay Love Child ?... The fact is it's not their child.
And biology matters a lot...We, as a society, would never allow someone to adopt a child that is not biologically related to them. And since marriage is only for making and raising children we never allow infertile people to get married. Do we, you twit?
So I child I adopt is not my child? Hmmm. I believe the courts would have a different view of that.
Is English a second language for you?
Who cares what Biden or anyone else thinks? They don't thinkfor me. The people supporting this gay nonsense will answer to only one...and that is GOD. Marriage is for a man and a woman.....PERIOD. Anything else is a union...not a marriage. Call it what it is.
God sgay – deal w/ it
That's fine call it a union. As long as the union receives the same legal treatment as a marriage I don't think that their would be any problems.
God is gay – deal with it.
janice: does the concept of "equal rights for all" bother you?
as far as your empty proxy threats, get back on your knees
Janice...if God is the only one to judge...why are you judging...seems pretty hypocritical of you to spew your hatred online
Janice=Another Bigot from the Bubble Squadron
In case you missed it Janice, the buybull is not pertinent outside of your bubble...your information is incorrect.
Answer to God? He made them as well as you, ya puke.
Janice? Did not the apostle Paul command that women sit down and shut up? Did he not command that women were not allowed to teach or lecture men? Especially in matters of faith? So what the hell are you doing here Janice.
Now, do be a good little christian woman and hush up – and go make us men a sammich!
Jordan,
TRUE BELIEVERS JUDGE (not according to their own standard Matthew 7:1-2)
"Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." John 7:24 (Ephesians 5:11, 1 Corinthian 5:12)
"But he who is spiritual judges ALL things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one." 1 Corinthians 2:15 (1 Corithian 6:2-3; 10:15; 14:29, Romans 16:17)
Judging Is Believing.
Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? (Luke 12:57)
What is right?
The statutes of the Lord are right (Psalm 19:8).
Amen.
I like Biden – and agree with him – I am Canadian Catholic – real faith is about treating ALL people equally.. – GOD is testing you if do do not think that ALL people should be treated equally – some people think the bible does not support equality WRONG AGAIN!!!
Actually, the Bible does not support equality at all. Not even the golden rule can be twisted to show support for equality, but can be used to support every injustice done to others.
But I will refrain from bludgeoning you to death with this. I am just bored and looking for errors to point out.
TruthPrevails :-), wrote on Monday, May 7, 2012 at 11:53 am, stating, "All that coming from the most immoral bigot on the blog...you can't speak of morality God's Oldest Freak when you are not moral yourself. So please do answer us as to what you would do if your relative told you they were gay? Stop avoiding the question...you're too thick headed for us to attempt to read that mind."
My female cousin was married once and had a child and then was divorced. She turned to lesbianism to satisfy her urges of s.e.u.a.l.i.t.y because she was mistreated in her childhood and not really a "looker" so she became "gay" to ease her hungers for s.e.x Her son turned gay when he was thrown into jail for some years! I know the whys and what fors of gayness and lesbianism so don't try rockin my cradle of relativisms just for you to be nothing but adisgruntled imbecilic crouton!
Stupid sits on you like a second skin.
So because one Ho.mose.xual you know went to jail other hom.os.exuals should not be allowed to marry?
TruthPrevails,,,,,,,,,,,, ,
My immoral past is behind me! My moral presence has been with me for many years and it continues on in being of morally consecration's demeanor! Hate you say I have? Yes, I am allowed to hate just as much as you are allowed hatredness! I though do not thrive on it the ways you and your kind do so do! All things in goodness are measured and measurably due!
You as.sume I hate...no no no, you're so wrong...I don't hate anyone and I find your excuses to hate to be as pathetic as your belief. You cousins son didn't just turn gay when he was in prison, he was more than likely already gay but remained in the closet out of fear that bigots like you within his family would shun him. Your cousin did not become a lesbian due to her childhood...it doesn't work like that. She was born a lesbian. Hate to rain on your parade of delusions but if you left the Bubble Squadron that religion and belief have you stuck in, you might comprehend the facts instead of making an ass of yourself.
God's Oldest D-bag: You have no right claiming your morality is above anyone else's.
Dreamer, trauma is the major issue. Thanks for bringing the subject into the light.
TruthPrevails,,,,,,,,,,,, ,
Your absurdities toward a.s.s.uming my cousin and her son are sheer lunacies,,,LoL,,, for you don't even know my relatives and yet you make assertations to beguile the tempests' teapots! Go play your "viscivious" mindgames with otherly folks of lessor mindives so you can bewilder them with bullish crapola!
sam stone,,,,,,,,,,,, ,
I have no right to be morally centered in mu cusping treasured troves of rightminded animosities you say? Who died and left you holding the bag of puke? Suredly not I !
listen...we have had three years of an administration (if you can call it that) who has done nothing but tear this country apart...the states will decide this issue...this is a political ploy by a desperate politician who has made a mess of things...we need a unifier as Chief Exec of America...not a nut case radical community organizer...enough is enough. America has REAL PROBLEMS THAT NEED TO BE SOLVED and this is not one of them. How about dealing with debt, health care, and jobs...now about dealing with an ever wording mess in the middle east where the world economy is at risk...AND YOU FOOLS LET OBAMA TURN YOUR FOCUS TO THIS!
"America has REAL PROBLEMS THAT NEED TO BE SOLVED and this is not one of them."
Denying people their civil rights does need to be solved for the sake of gay families! I bet if we were to take these rights away from you, you'd be screaming!
These rights include:
Tax Benefits
-–Filing joint income tax returns with the IRS and state taxing authorities.
-–Creating a "family partnership" under federal tax laws, which allows you to divide business income among family members.
Estate Planning Benefits
-–Inheriting a share of your spouse's estate.
-–Receiving an exemption from both estate taxes and gift taxes for all property you give or leave to your spouse.
-–Creating life estate trusts that are restricted to married couples, including QTIP trusts, QDOT trusts, and marital deduction trusts.
-–Obtaining priority if a conservator needs to be appointed for your spouse – that is, someone to make financial and/or medical decisions on your spouse's behalf.
Government Benefits
-–Receiving Social Security, Medicare, and disability benefits for spouses.
-–Receiving veterans' and military benefits for spouses, such as those for education, medical care, or special loans.
-–Receiving public as-sistance benefits.
-–Employment Benefits
-–Obtaining insurance benefits through a spouse's employer.
-–Taking family leave to care for your spouse during an illness.
-–Receiving wages, workers' compensation, and retirement plan benefits for a deceased spouse.
-–Taking bereavement leave if your spouse or one of your spouse's close relatives dies.
Medical Benefits
-–Visiting your spouse in a hospital intensive care unit or during restricted visiting hours in other parts of a medical facility.
-–Making medical decisions for your spouse if he or she becomes incapacitated and unable to express wishes for treatment.
Death Benefits
-–Consenting to after-death examinations and procedures.
-–Making burial or other final arrangements.
Family Benefits
-–Filing for stepparent or joint adoption.
-–Applying for joint foster care rights.
-–Receiving equitable division of property if you divorce.
-–Receiving spousal or child support, child custody, and visitation if you divorce.
Housing Benefits
-–Living in neighborhoods zoned for "families only."
-–Automatically renewing leases signed by your spouse.
Consumer Benefits
-–Receiving family rates for health, homeowners', auto, and other types of insurance.
-–Receiving tuition discounts and permission to use school facilities.
-–Other consumer discounts and incentives offered only to married couples or families.
-–Other Legal Benefits and Protections
-–Suing a third person for wrongful death of your spouse and loss of consortium (loss of intimacy).
-–Suing a third person for offenses that interfere with the success of your marriage, such as alienation of affection and criminal conversation (these laws are available in only a few states).
-–Claiming the marital communications privilege, which means a court can't force you to disclose the contents of confidential communications between you and your spouse during your marriage.
-–Receiving crime victims' recovery benefits if your spouse is the victim of a crime.
-–Obtaining immigration and residency benefits for noncitizen spouse.
-–Visiting rights in jails and other places where visitors are restricted to immediate family.
Loyal Fox News listener, y/y/? Sheesh.
You know Sparky, there are whole websites devoted to listing all the accomplishments of this administration. Things like 25 consecutive months of job growth. Saving the auto industry. Bringing us back from the black abyss caused by Bush.
Oh yeah – and killing Bin Laden – you know, the guy who caused 911? The one Bush decided to give up finding and invaded Iraq instead.
jerry, take a pill.
I doubt many people would be persuaded to vote for Obama because he supports gay marriage. They will be persuaded to vote for him if they don't think Romney can do any better. I have yet to see any evidence that Romney would be an improvement. You think Obama is far left of center, but you're getting your views from Fox. He isn't. Both he and Romney are not that far from the center at all, as any sand political analyst will tell you.
What is with you?
Edit: sane, not sand.
Jacques Strappe, World Famous French Ball Juggler wrote on Monday, May 7, 2012 at 11:28 am, stating, "GOD, You can't recruit someone to become gay. It doesn't work like that. You are either gay or you aren't. It's not a choice. It's in the genes man."
Genetic algorythmns are not, I repeat are not an acretion of social decadence as are the gay and lesbian crowds! I can no more be strait or een a gay person unless I make a choice to so be! Excusing one on the grounds of genetic engineering is sucha bold-faced lie and cannot be scientifically proven!
everyone has moral agency...they make their own personal choices ...the govt bedamned.
Human sèxual orientation is a biological multivariate bases in genetics, hormonal bths in utero, neuronal plasticity, neuroanatomy, etc.
Again, if you spent less time listeniing to "Pastor Dave" and more time cracking open science journals, you would have known this. The problem is that "Pastor Dave" is just as ignorant about science as you are.
Given the fact that there is an unusually high probability that catholic church goers have a gay priest, it seem natural they would support gay marriage far more than other christians. No big mystery there. It created the problem by forbidding its priests to marry just as Paul prophecied in 1Timothy:4.
Paul never met nor knew Jesus. He was a Gentile who entered a Jewish sect and fought with Peter to take it over. Paul was thrown out of Ephesus for his power struggles. John of Patmos (Revelatons) feared the Gentiles would take over the Jewish sect. Revelations is a diatribe against this happening. It happened anyway. If it hadn't been taken over by the Romans/Gentiles Christians today would be keeping Kosher etc. Hence Paul's concern about certain foods not being allowed to be eaten (he didn't want Jews to rule this new movement even though it was a Jewish movement). He wanted to lead the movement and didn't want the Jew Peter to be it's leader. Christianity today is Paulism not really Christianity as it was.
Jack, the reason Jesus made scavengers was to clean the waste of the world. If you want to eat scavengers, expect to get ill.
One of the ironies of this religion blog is when Christians express dismay and are "offended" when people are critical of religion, going so far as to say that nobody has the right to question their views (how disrespectful!), and then have no problem imposing their religious views on others through politics.
It is as though they are completely ignorant about how these two things are related.
They pick and choose what works for them and we're supposed to be tolerant to this type of behavior? I think not.
The common wealths of any nation are its' nationalism and moralism and even individualism! Without individual certainties there is chaos and without moral relaencies there would be no conformities and without nationalism there would be no fruited plains of common moralities and righteous indiidualities!
Bad! Stop it! Bad Dreamer!
relaencies,,,, I meant relavencies
All that coming from the most immoral bigot on the blog...you can't speak of morality God's Oldest Freak when you are not moral yourself. So please do answer us as to what you would do if your relative told you they were gay? Stop avoiding the question...you're too thick headed for us to attempt to read that mind.
I support Gay rights but not Gay Marriage. A Gay couple wil never ever have a LOVE CHILD. All children should be love children and raised as such. That is the universal, eternal function of Marriage. The Propagation of the species is actually the mission of all humans, it is. Gays just want to force society and their parents to accept them and now want marriage to validate themselves. Grandparents don't care if their grand children are left/right handed, hair color, or eye color. They want healthy babies that continue the family. BUT not one of them truthfully wants a gay grandchild. Bidens a fool.
Neither of those are words so it really doesn't matter which you meant.
A LOVE CHILD??
So gays don't love the children they have? Do adoptive straight parents love theirs? No? How about couples who undergo IVF or have an egg donor?
Moron. To hear you babble, marriage requires reproduction. Do show me where that appears in the law.
"A Gay couple wil never ever have a LOVE CHILD. All children should be love children and raised as such. That is the universal, eternal function of Marriage. The Propagation of the species is actually the mission of all humans, it is. Gays just want to force society and their parents to accept them and now want marriage to validate themselves. "
LOL! Gays and Lesbians have children and the experts have proven that children raised by them are just as normal as children raised by a straight couple. As for the procreation (not PropagationLOL!) the planet is already over populated in many areas and if we keep multiplying the planet won't be able to sustain all of us. DUH! Keep making excuses for your prejudice and bigotry but they aren't founded in actual REAL facts.
@God's Oldest Dreamer,
"relaencies,,,, I meant relavencies"
lol, why worry about spelling now?
YeahRight, Jesus teaches about abundance. Man teaches lack of.
@ Beechwood – all states now have their lws on-line. Please post the relevant laws from each state that requires marriage for procreation and require procreation for marriage.
@heavensent: how abundant do we need to be? our over popluation has lead to the exstinction of thousands of species a day. we over fish our waters, over hunt our game. we pour waste and treat the world as our own dumping ground, but it's ok.......god will come back and be our maid, he will clean all the nuclear waste and raw sewage we create. do you know the waters around most countries is so unfit to drink or fish out of they have signs warning against eating much of what you would catch for fear of mercury poisoning. how aboutt he folks in africa and other thrid world countries is it such a great idea for them to continue to "go forth and multiply" when they barely have enough food to feed what they have? how much food do you think america transports to various parts of the world, just to keep these people barely alive because we are over farming our lands to save the world's abundance of humans. place the bible into context of the time period it was written; disease was rampant, most people had some form of body lice, STD's were prevalent due to lack of understanding of microbiology. waste was poured out windows on to the street below, cattle was washed and their waste ended up in the same water the village would drink from.......so the mortality rate of children was extremely high. so yes it was encouraged to have multiple offspring so you would have a chance of two things, getting a son to carry on your name and a chance of atleast one child surviving to adulthood to take over the farm. rampant breeding by humans will deplete this world of it's resources then it will lead to wars between nations and eventual nuclear war. so yeah keep breeding like rabbits, either one or two things will happen, our grandchildren will be locked in a hellish world of hunger and war, or god will sweep in like mary fracking poppins and clean up the earth like a good little maid. lmfao if you have been teaching the future leaders of the world we are so fracked.
After having grown up in the Catholic community and raising two children with the same moral values, it seems quite hypocritical to now accept the gay/lesbian practice of sodomy as normal and to further validate it by recognizing their marriage to one another as if the sixth commandment never existed.
please, please, please explain to me how lesbians practice sodomy.
morality matters: It's more immoral to be a bigot!! What your cult taught you was wrong...time to live in the 21st century!
… and what does “thou shalt not kill” have to do with same-sex unions?
Have you ever tried so.domy? Heterose.xual couples can do it to you know, it's fun. Just do it when the kids aren't home if your wife is a screamer.
What does it matter if they marry? How does it affect you personally?
Apparently,you are unaware that straight couples engage in the same activities as gays do.
I do not find it hypocritical necessarily to change your views when you learn new things. I used to think hom.os3xuality was disgusting, but I later learned that gays have just as normal of relationships as straights.
"it seems quite hypocritical to now accept the gay/lesbian practice of sodomy as normal"
LMAO! Duh....straights do it to. LOL! Nowhere does your bible condemn the saved loving respectful relationship of a gay couple. Your bible does condemn male prostitution, idolatry and pagan worship using sex. By the way once your children are out of your house they will get to know the real truth and they will recognize you as nothing more than a prejudice bigot.
@J.W: Always a pleasure to see a truly GOOD christian speak.
morality matters,,,,,,,,,,,, ,
Tepid are the pots' steaminess in young variances and their priorities preclude them to eccentuate the problematic insiduances belaying propogandist particulars! Be strong and of good cheers for the hammers of justifications' solisciousness will parlor thru! Although it may entail horrific assentions in descending accords, the meekly motivated will endure to the end!
@morality matters,
If you legislate the 6th commandment, why not the 1st? "No Gods before me."
Of course, you'll have to fight the other "Christians" for which version of "God" that is, but whatever.
TruthPrevails, to be a Christian is to follow Jesus' righteous teachings. This bigot baloney is the non-believers unrighteous underhandedness to get your nonsense heard.
god's oldest d-bag: using big words to obfuscate your bigotry doesn't change it's nature
HeavenSent: And hiding behind a holy text or a flag are bigot's greatest cover
I think that many biblical scholars have come to the conclusion of YeahRight. I do not know any hebrew, but I have heard the word used that was translated into abomination regarding a man lying with another man was actually a word referring to idol worship.
Why do people, including Joe Biden, claim to be Catholic but not believe in Catholic teaching? Would it be better if they just claimed to be part of a religion where they actually believed the teachings, or should they try to actually understand why the Catholic church teaches what it teaches?
So you never use contraceptives?
It's because they were baptised as a member of the Catholic Church. They have not disassociated themselves so they are still members of the church. That is how they identify their religion. He probably goes to Easter/Xmas mass too. Wait, so he's a normal Catholic then.
I would bet my life, that you don’t do everything your bible commands you to do.
I think the Frenchman is close. If the Catholic Church didn't baptize infants into their little(huge) club, then there wouldn't be so many cafeteria/lapsed Catholics running around. ...'course, that would decimate there membership as well...
obama is just trying to bring a wedge issue in for his campaign....all of a sudden months to the end of his term he throws this out....politics. obama is desperate and it shows...good luck barry, Mitt Romney is center right(where America is) and you are far far far left and would sell your mother for a vote....we know what you are.
I don't know who you think "we" is, but whoever it is, they're delusional if they think Obama is far left.
explain...fool!
Why? It would be akin to teaching a pig to sing.
As a catholic, I was never encouraged to reject gay people. In fact, the subject hardly ever comes up. I have had no issues with the gay people I've known. But as we know, the media cannot survive unless it is "bold" and "compelling". That's why the gay issue is always in our faces. When will gay people get tired of being exploited by the media?
How is demanding equal rights being "exploited by the media"?
"When will gay people get tired of being exploited by the media?"
Duh, they have to be in the media to educated people and fight for their civil rights. That's what history has taught us because look at Rosa Parks she had to be exploited to move people into changing the laws!
It's really, when will the media get tired of exploiting gay people. Because even if the gays are tired of it, there isn't much they can do. The media will do what it wants.
catholic engineer,,,,,,,,,,,, ,
Gays are tirellessly promoting their agendas! Every child is their new convert to a way of living beyond the metrodomes of civil mindedness!
Oooh, is that what you tried to do to your nephew, GOD? Recruit him?
GOD, You can't recruit someone to become gay. It doesn't work like that. You are either gay or you aren't. It's not a choice. It's in the genes man.
"Why does the Catholic church have to change 100's of years of thier beliefs to satisfy less than 5% of the worlds gay population? sounds like gays are trampeling on thier right to worship and believe how they want. where is the gays tolerance for others beliefs"
This is about civil rights and religion shouldn't be able to block those rights. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American School Counselor Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of SocialWorkers, together representing more than 480,000 mental health professionals, have all taken the position that homosexuality is not a mental disorder and thus is not something that needs to or can be “cured."
So they deserve the same equal rights. These rights include:
Tax Benefits
-–Filing joint income tax returns with the IRS and state taxing authorities.
-–Creating a "family partnership" under federal tax laws, which allows you to divide business income among family members.
Estate Planning Benefits
-–Inheriting a share of your spouse's estate.
-–Receiving an exemption from both estate taxes and gift taxes for all property you give or leave to your spouse.
-–Creating life estate trusts that are restricted to married couples, including QTIP trusts, QDOT trusts, and marital deduction trusts.
-–Obtaining priority if a conservator needs to be appointed for your spouse – that is, someone to make financial and/or medical decisions on your spouse's behalf.
Government Benefits
-–Receiving Social Security, Medicare, and disability benefits for spouses.
-–Receiving veterans' and military benefits for spouses, such as those for education, medical care, or special loans.
-–Receiving public as-sistance benefits.
-–Employment Benefits
-–Obtaining insurance benefits through a spouse's employer.
-–Taking family leave to care for your spouse during an illness.
-–Receiving wages, workers' compensation, and retirement plan benefits for a deceased spouse.
-–Taking bereavement leave if your spouse or one of your spouse's close relatives dies.
Medical Benefits
-–Visiting your spouse in a hospital intensive care unit or during restricted visiting hours in other parts of a medical facility.
-–Making medical decisions for your spouse if he or she becomes incapacitated and unable to express wishes for treatment.
Death Benefits
-–Consenting to after-death examinations and procedures.
-–Making burial or other final arrangements.
Family Benefits
-–Filing for stepparent or joint adoption.
-–Applying for joint foster care rights.
-–Receiving equitable division of property if you divorce.
-–Receiving spousal or child support, child custody, and visitation if you divorce.
Housing Benefits
-–Living in neighborhoods zoned for "families only."
-–Automatically renewing leases signed by your spouse.
Consumer Benefits
-–Receiving family rates for health, homeowners', auto, and other types of insurance.
-–Receiving tuition discounts and permission to use school facilities.
-–Other consumer discounts and incentives offered only to married couples or families.
-–Other Legal Benefits and Protections
-–Suing a third person for wrongful death of your spouse and loss of consortium (loss of intimacy).
-–Suing a third person for offenses that interfere with the success of your marriage, such as alienation of affection and criminal conversation (these laws are available in only a few states).
-–Claiming the marital communications privilege, which means a court can't force you to disclose the contents of confidential communications between you and your spouse during your marriage.
-–Receiving crime victims' recovery benefits if your spouse is the victim of a crime.
-–Obtaining immigration and residency benefits for noncitizen spouse.
-–Visiting rights in jails and other places where visitors are restricted to immediate family.
for the six months they stay married...that is.
"for the six months they stay married...that is."
You can say the same thing about straights seeing as 50% of them end in divorce and the percent goes up the more times they get remarried. DUH!
Biden and Pelosi are both "catholics", yet they flagrantly work against the teaching of the Catholic church. If they behaved the same way against the US, they would be called "treasonous". People such as these are not trustworthy. If they can't live up to the precepts of the church they supposedly embrace, why shouldn't we doubt their patriotism as well? Yet if the Church exercised its priveledge to excommunicate them, the media would turn them into martyrs.
They are simply representative of the majority of Catholics in this country, as the article just said. You don't trust them? Fine, then you should not trust most of the people sitting in the pews with you, either.
"People such as these are not trustworthy. If they can't live up to the precepts of the church they supposedly embrace, why shouldn't we doubt their patriotism as well?"
Oh so all those Christians who murdered Indians to get their land and stole it from them to build this country weren't up to the "precepts of the church" so according to your poor logic they weren't patriotic either. LMAO!
@YeahRight FYI. At the same time that the US gubment was fighting to "free the slaves", it was practicing genocide on the Native AMericans. After the Civil War, General Sheridan ( if I recall) decided that in order to resolve the "Indian Question", all the buffalo should be exterminated. So the Indians were starved and nearly wiped out. Then the US gubment began a boarding school program in which Indian children were torn from their homes and "re-educated" like the communists did in Russia. Also FYI, the first Catholic mission in Oklahoma was established AT THE INVITATION of the Pottawatomie tribe.
@Tom, Tom In reading you many posts, I cannot figure out whether you believe in anything at all. All you do is react. On what grounds should anyone trust you?
Never asked you to "trust" me, bozo.
I'm simply pointing out to you what the article said. You seem to be confused by it.
The Catholic Church is corrupt and most of their members don't follow the teachings. Why do you think 98% of se-xually active female members use contraception? Biden is a typical Catholic.
I totally agree here. They have sold their morals for votes. Hopefully the Pope will make a statement about this, he has in the past with other political figures.
@catholic engineer,
"If they can't live up to the precepts of the church they supposedly embrace, why shouldn't we doubt their patriotism as well? "
Because crimes against God/Church are victimless crimes, whereas secular crimes actually hurt people.
Why does the Catholic church have to change 100's of years of thier beliefs to satisfy less than 5% of the worlds gay population? sounds like gays are trampeling on thier right to worship and believe how they want. where is the gays tolerance for others beliefs
You already posted this, and repeating it doesn't make it any less idiotic.
Catholics can believe what ever they like, they just can't legislate discrimination.
@Kiss:Gay is not a belief MORON!! Gays are not doing anything but looking to be treated equally and if the religitards can't see that, it is their own bigotry causing the issue. Gays don't care what you believe as long as they are allowed to believe as they wish.