New York: Gay Marriage Officialy Legal

I'm pretty confident this is going to pass. Go NY!

 

Hopefully this passes, I saw in the last paragraph of that article that it provides an exception so that religious organizations don't have to perform same sex weddings so that exception gets rid of my one concern about gay marriage. So it would be good if this passes.

 

Go New York, Go New York, Go.

I got a postcard in the mail asking me to call my state representative and tell him to support the bill. I called twice and the attitude of the staffers sucked.

 

There was never a danger they would be forced to marry gay people in the first place. Churches don't have to marry anyone they don't want to for any reason now. That would not have changed, even if the language weren't there. And even with the language there, church groups are still fighting it.

Why? What did they say?

 

Nothing they said per se but just their attitude; like they were doing me a favor recording the wishes of one of his constituents. They put me on hold 3 times.

 

I bet their office is getting flooded with calls.

 

Yes their was, they may not be forced to marry gay people, but if they refused they would lose their tax exempt status which is how most churches in the US are able to stay open. It happened over interracial marriage, note I do think the university in that case was in the wrong. I'm sure most gays will be content to not ask churches that they know will refuse, but at the same time I'm sure there would be a gay couple who hates religion and wants to prove a point that would seek out a church to sue over it. Fortunately the language protecting religious groups has been included in this bill so I don't see why religious groups are still fighting it.

 

Umm...I'm having a difficult time understanding that article. It looks to me that Bob Jones University won the suit.

And the reason religious groups are fighting it is because they don't like us, and want to make sure that we do not get treated equally. That should be obvious by now.

EDIT- nevermind. I got it. But still, that does not mean that churches would have to perform marriages for gay people.

 

That's a new one. Now we will turn into China and North Korea if we allow gay people to get married.

 

My sentiment exactly. Most churches do not agree with same sex marriage so they shouldn't have to be forced to allow it... as long as everything in the church is privately paid for. If a taxpayer somehow pays for any part of the church (is this possible?) then said taxpayer should be allowed to use its facilities to be married in. The preacher, priest, pastor etc.. if privately salaried shouldn't have to perform the ceremony though.

 

Because politicians are always worried about the next election, that's why. Gay people, percentage wise, are not a large part of the population. Therefore a politician figures they can afford to lose their votes. But they can't afford to lose the people whom may be offended by their vote. So they side with those people rather than what is right or perhaps what they even believe themselves.

Also frankly, most heterosexuals won't refuse to re-elect someone if they don't vote for equal rights, even if they agree with equal rights. If more straight people would withhold their support of a candidate over a no vote on this issue, you would see more movement. But they don't. So there isn't a whole lot of motivation, politically speaking, for doing the right thing. Other than doing the right thing. And sometimes that just isn't enough.

 

Excessive tax deductions for a group that usually does not need them, I would say ya. I'm paying for it. You should see the mega churches here in Dallas. Makes me a little sick.

As much as I do not like religion I do understand it is important to a lot of people and would be OK with an exemption on churches that do not have large incomes but the mega churches should not be getting any deductions outside of what any other business gets for charity donations.

As for cutting deductions if they don't do gay marriages. Hummm I would have to think about that. For the most part the church is drug kicking and screaming into morality, they tried to hold on to slavery and block women's rights for the same silly superstitious reasons they try to hurt gay people, eventually the churches that discriminate will kinda die off on their own as people progress.

 

I would completely support such a move. If religious institutions don't want to perform same sex marriages/unions they should lose their charitable/tax exempt status. They should instead by classified as a private organisation.

 

Regardless if they married gays in their church, I don't think any church should be tax exempt. They are for profit, who are you kidding. When a church can buy out a water park just to turn it into a parking lot. They shouldn't be tax exempt. We even had one church build two mega indoor/outdoor parks that charge people and the church says it's just in name only. Yeah right.....

Hugh

 

Bravo Senator McDonald, bravo! Wish we had some sane Republicans from Long Island.

 

Please, please, PLEASE write to the undecided Senators! Even if you don't live in the Empire State - please, take some time to send a simple message to these undecided Senators urging them to vote in favor of the marriage equality bill. New York is a critically important state, and if it embraces equality for same sex couples it would definitely start a trend. The vote is expected to take place either Thursday or Friday - and you can bet they'll be counting E-Mails up till the last minute. Our number has GOT to be higher! So please take 2 minutes and write a simple message.

BTW; Senator McDonald is my State Senator, and I'm very proud to be his constituent.

 

Careful, I used to say the same about Anthony Weiner.

 

That's one bare chest I'd rather not see, sorry Senator.

 

No pun intended, but this took some balls to do. Please let there be video of this!

BL.

 

Can't believe ny is beating nj in the race for gay marriage.

We're gonna have to up our game soon, as soon as we're done impeaching Christie.

 

You're surprised? NY has been beating NJ in everything for years now.

Remember when they tried to claim the Statue of Liberty as their own?

I kid. What I can't believe is that it's taken so long for NY.

 

Upstate NY might as well be a red state located in the midwest.

 

Awesome news!

GTFO! I want to see this!

 

I spent about 20 minutes looking for video. Didn't find any.