California to De-Legalize Gay Marriage

Alexface.:

^ Good point. Didn't think of that.

Yeah. I don't know much about what the Jamaican government would have to say on the subject really, but in cases like these I think it's ridiculous that the Bible is taken so literally that it's okay to be a gay female, but you're jailed for being a gay male. I swear pretty much everything in the Bible is technically addressed to males, but it obviously applies to women too?
Ugh.

Fallen From Grace:

Yeah. I don't know much about what the Jamaican government would have to say on the subject really, but in cases like these I think it's ridiculous that the Bible is taken so literally that it's okay to be a gay female, but you're jailed for being a gay male. I swear pretty much everything in the Bible is technically addressed to males, but it obviously applies to women too?
Ugh.

Maybe it's extreme feminism at work, more than what the Bible says...

^ Lol. I think it's more that female sexuality wasn't thought to be as important, or as "real". (Thanks, Freud.) Now people are realising that women have sex for more reasons than procreation or pleasing their partners, we're catching up, and people are realising that they should discriminate against lesbians too. Yay!

It's In The Blood.:

^ Lol. I think it's more that female sexuality wasn't thought to be as important, or as "real". (Thanks, Freud.) Now people are realising that women have sex for more reasons than procreation or pleasing their partners, we're catching up, and people are realising that they should discriminate against lesbians too. Yay!

I think that's pretty accurate- we learnt about the Victorian era last year and women who had sex for pleasure were looked down upon.

Isn't that why the age of consent is different for lesbians? (or I might be misinformed with that point)

Anyway, if marriage really was strictly a religious institution I doubt atheists would be able to get married.

^ It's sixteen in Britain regardless of sexuality. Not sure about everywhere else.

It used to be eighteen for gay sex though. And I believe that once upon a time there was no law for lesbian sex at all.

emily.:

Age of consent in Australia (I saw this a few pages back as well but while we're on the topic) is sixteen for everyone nationwide. The only exception is some weird sodomy law in Queensland that says anal sex under eighteen is punishable with like fourteen years of jail, but it stands for all anal sex regardless of gender/sexuality so I'm pretty sure it's based solely on age.

I thought anal sex and oral sex were illegal in Australia...but maybe that's changed now.

And Sing:

I thought anal sex and oral sex were illegal in Australia...but maybe that's changed now.

It's legal now. And as a second source, I remember my year 12 history teacher telling us that homosexuality was a criminal offence in Australia as recently as approximately a decade ago.

And thanks for the clarification, It's In The Blood.

Religion is in politics. Political leaders such as Kevin Rudd, John Howard and George Bush are all Christian, they all believe in God and therefore will not allow homosexuals to get married. Plus, most of their voters are probably christian, or have a religion and so the political leaders will not legalze same sex marriage as to not lose voters and supporters.

Annie Black:

Religion is in politics. Political leaders such as Kevin Rudd, John Howard and George Bush are all Christian, they all believe in God and therefore will not allow homosexuals to get married. Plus, most of their voters are probably christian, or have a religion and so the political leaders will not legalze same sex marriage as to not lose voters and supporters.

John Howard isn't in government anymore.

Also, it isn't just the Prime Minister who gets to decide that gay marriage will or won't be legalised. Things like these are often voted upon in parliament.

I'd just thought I'd also mention that in 2005 Canada legalised same sex marriage, and at the time they had a Catholic for a Prime Minister, so...

Annie Black:

Religion is in politics. Political leaders such as Kevin Rudd, John Howard and George Bush are all Christian, they all believe in God and therefore will not allow homosexuals to get married. Plus, most of their voters are probably christian, or have a religion and so the political leaders will not legalze same sex marriage as to not lose voters and supporters.

There are a lot of Christians who would vote FOR the legalisation of gay marriage. Being Christian or religous doesn't automatically make one against gay marriage...

And Sing:

There are a lot of Christians who would vote FOR the legalisation of gay marriage. Being Christian or religous doesn't automatically make one against gay marriage...

No, but the prejudice is that it does. Most likely because pretty much every argument against gay-marriage is religious-based. I read a study awhile back bout how more Christians do not want to identify as being a Christian because the prejudice is that Christians are prejudice and narrow-minded.

be calm druscilla.:

No, but the prejudice is that it does. Most likely because pretty much every argument against gay-marriage is religious-based. I read a study awhile back bout how more Christians do not want to identify as being a Christian because the prejudice is that Christians are prejudice and narrow-minded.

That's exactly how it is.

I'm Christians are constantly being called hypocrites or two-faced. It isn't everyone. I know plenty of Christians who are more like a Christian should be than preachers. I personally see nothing wrong with gay marriage.

be calm druscilla.:

No, but the prejudice is that it does. Most likely because pretty much every argument against gay-marriage is religious-based. I read a study awhile back bout how more Christians do not want to identify as being a Christian because the prejudice is that Christians are prejudice and narrow-minded.

That is very true, and it's very sad. At least it saddens me as a Christian. But then I believe it's prejudiced and narrow-minded to think that all Christians are prejudiced and narrow-minded. [Oh boy...].

I'm proud to be a Christian. But some Christians just make me want to hide in a hole and not acquaint myself with them.

It's a shame that some narrow-minded Christians give open-minded Christians a bad image. As for me, I think it's not only insane that gay-mariage isn't legalized worldwide, i think it's insane we're even having this discussion about people who did nothing wrong expect for falling in love with the same gender. Than again, I'm from a country that was one of the first who legalized it, so I also am used to the fact that gays can marry.

Christians are supposed to be loving and caring,but then they turn their noses up at homosexuality.They say it's a sin.
But in the bible,it says God loves everyone.Homosexuals are part of that everyone.
Dammit,can't we all just live in peace?

GreenDayisGod:

Christians are supposed to be loving and caring,but then they turn their noses up at homosexuality.They say it's a sin.
But in the bible,it says God loves everyone.Homosexuals are part of that everyone.
Dammit,can't we all just live in peace?

Please, don't talk about things you know nothing about. Yes, in Bible it says God loves everyone. But it also says, that homosexuals should be killed. Do you understand it now?

I am Christian, and I thing gay-marriage and adoption should be legalized.
But some Christians don't.

We all know, that Bible we have now isn't the same, as it was written two thousand years ago. Some things changed, some writers added their own thoughts etc. As for me, I believe that part of killing gays was added, since God loves everybody through all Bible, and wants to kill gays in one part only.
But some Christians don't think so.

And one more thing. Don't generalize. In the same way, that you said: "All Christians hate gays." I could say: "All Americans are obese." Which isn't true, of course.

All of the discrimination comes from prejudice and all of the prejudice comes form generalizing.

So.. Just get your facts straight.

Eh, I agree with you, but this is a heated topic so let's leave phrases like "get your facts straight" out of it unless people are claiming God is green and likes to shoot fireballs at lesbians?

It's true that not all religious people are homophobic - my closest friends are a mix of Catholic, Muslim and Atheist and they were all very accepting of me when I came out at fifteen.

It is, however, also true that the vast majority of homophobic people use religion as an excuse. It's one of those "not all doodits are widgets, but most widgets are doodits" things.

And you're right, generalisations can be very dangerous things. Especially when a lot of religious people are probably fighting for the rights of gays and lesbians to marry.

Edit: Also, where does it say homosexuals should be killed?

Double.

^Leviticus 20:13 is generally the most-used quote for this that I've seen.

"If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."

But I've seen people on here say that quote has been taken out of context/was only meant to apply to a certain people/something else I've forgotten. And from this site I found a place saying that "To the Jews an abomination was not a law, not something evil like rape or murder forbidden by the Ten Commandments. It was a common behavior by non-Jews that Jews thought was displeasing to God. Jesus and Paul both said the holiness code in Leviticus does not pertain to Christian believers."

Same site also pointing out that the Bible mentions homosexuality a grand total of about seven times? Within the thousands upon thousands of verses, and the large portions of verses that we now pretty much ignore completely (Like the remainder of Lev. 20)...and yet some people still use it as an excuse to be intolerant.

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Also, the lovely lovely people of the Westboro Baptist Church, in response to the question "Doesn't it say God loves everyone?", say that it never says that in the Bible, and when it does it means to say that 'God loves his people', and not that 'God loves every single person in the universe'. Of course, it's the WBC, so take with as much salt as you like, but it's just a view that some infinitesimally small amount of people have in regards to that idea I felt like pointing out.