The Right to Love...in today's LA Times:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

Same-sex unions do not diminish the bonds of marriage, they uphold them.
June 17, 2008


Across California today, in mass public weddings and in small, private services, gay and lesbian couples will exchange official vows of undying love and wedlock. With the sanction of the state Supreme Court, these couples stand together as full citizens at last.

Their long odyssey to reach this day serves to remind us why people marry at all, especially in an era of casual relationships. As any married person can attest, marriage is significant precisely because it is difficult. True, it confers certain public protections, but even more, it requires personal sacrifices. If mutual affection and appreciation were enough to sustain relationships across the years, there would be no need for solemn vows of fidelity. Those vows protect many a marriage through many a rough patch; when two people agree to enter into such a union, it by rights should carry the name and honor of marriage, whether it's between people of opposite sex or between a man and a man, or a woman and a woman.

Opponents of same-sex marriage often deplore this expansion of the meaning of marriage because they view it as threatening to traditional unions. As they use this day as a rallying point for a proposed amendment to the state Constitution to ban such marriages, it's time to ask them directly: How does marriage of one type threaten others? Why do many heterosexuals feel that the beauty of their own marriage vows is in no way changed by today's weddings, while others feel theirs have somehow been diminished?

Perhaps the next few months will ease these fears, as same-sex couples begin their married lives together. Those couples will settle into communities without disorder or threat; they will bring legal protection to their bonds of love. Those bonds can only be good for society -- children gain from being raised by married parents, and communities are stronger when residents are legally committed to one another. As more and more Californians marry, society will grow stronger, not weaker.

More at link:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-marriage17-2008jun17,0,6193795.story

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Marriages uphold marriages

Doesn't matter who the partners are. If they remain married and committed to the vows they have made, then they are upholding marriage. Those who get divorces or choose to live as a couple outside the bounds of marriage are the ones not upholding marriage. Frankly, I'm glad that we have more folks to set good examples to the young--that marriage is a commitment worth making.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. This is absolutely the core of it!

Marriage is a commitment worth making, no matter who's getting married.

Thank you...

[Lionel Mandrake]

3. You are absolutely right. K&R (nt)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. I thank you! (nt)

[pacalo]

5. My hubby & I both support the right to love whomever one chooses.

Especially after watching a documentary on Sundance called "For the Bible Tells Me So", which is a must-see. The next showing will be tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. (don't know if this is eastern or central time). This documentary is quite moving & it has the power to change minds, I believe.

http://www.sundancechannel.com/films/500320079

Appeared at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
Bravely tackling one of the most politically and religiously divisive issues in contemporary America, documentary filmmaker Daniel Karslake presents a consideration of the intersection of scripture and homosexuality. Profiled are five devout families who each have dealt with the disclosure that a relative was gay or lesbian. Discussion is given to the importance of mutual understanding and unconditional parental love, while often-cited Biblical passages come in for scholarly interpretation and reconsideration. "Admirable and moving." - Salon.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. Thank you for your excellent post!

I greatly appreciate your remarks, and your link!

That looks fascinating...

[ismnotwasm]

6. Excellent article

K&R

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. Thank you...

[JTG of the PRB]

7. Exactly!

I hope that, as a society, we can someday move beyond the political idea of love and simply embrace the fact of love - sometimes, you can't choose who you love. You just love them, regardless of what other think. You love who you love, male or female, regardless of your own gender.

K & R!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. I do believe that we as a society are moving towards this...

And it will be a great day when we accept this concept fully.

Thank you!