Klarinet Archive - Posting 000098.txt from 2004/11

From: Joe Fasel <jhf@-----.gov>
Subj: Re: [kl] elections
Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2004 18:28:27 -0500

Rien,

Let me assure you that many of us here are as baffled and frustrated
as you appear to be. There are no good arguments against recognized
same-sex unions, but the arguments I have heard propounded are (1)
that they are a threat to the sanctity of traditional marriage (which
is absurd on the face of it) and (2) that they threaten adopted
children (but there is no evidence that children raised by a loving,
stable same-sex couple are in any way disadvantaged, and in any case
the needs of the child come first in any adoption proceedings anyway).

What gets me is that the folks who want constitutional guarantees
against same-sex marriage seem to agree with our President (as do
I) that marriage is a sacred institution (to me and many others,
it is in fact a sacrament). In that case, given our principle of
separation of Church and State, far from having a constitutional
definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, we should
be insisting that the state has no business deciding who can be
married at all, that that determination must be made by Church,
Synagogue, or Mosque. The state should be involved only in the
something we might as well call "civil union", whether heterosexual
or homosexual, which deals with matters like community property,
visitation rights, tax status, estates, and so forth. This ought
to be a completely separate affair from being married in the eyes
of God.

Welcome to the Christian Taliban.

Cheers,
--Joe

On 2004.11.03 16:00, rien stein wrote:
> I want to congratulate you Americans with the way the elections have
> proceeded this time: thanks to the wisdom of Kerry it did not end up in a
> shameful show like four years ago.
>=20
> But what I do not understand, is this: how can you be against abortion an=
d
> euthanasia, and at the same time be a supporter of ultimate penalty, free
> weapon possession? And what are the arguments against emancipation of
> homofile men and women? (For good order: I am NOT gay, but accept people =
to
> be so).

Joseph H. Fasel, Ph.D. email: jhf@-----.gov
Systems Planning and Analysis phone: +1 505 667 7158
University of California fax: +1 505 667 2960
Los Alamos National Laboratory post: D-2 MS F609; Los Alamos, NM 8=
7545

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