One of my co-workers and I have been debating the issue for a month. We have a good relationship and know that we have no chance of changing each other's minds, but we appreciate intellectual debate. I also appreciate that those of you who support bans on gay marriage are willing to engage in debate here, even though you must feel like you're on the defensive.
My question is not one about tolerance. It seems to me that fundamentally this is a religious issue. Many supporters of same-sex marriage bans do so out of a moral or religious conviction. However, others (including supporters of same-sex marriages) do not hold those same religious convictions or have different interpretations of those convictions. So the questions that I asked were about religious beliefs.
Our country was founded by people who were being persecuted for their beliefs. We have established a seperation of church and state in order to protect people from the abuses that minority religious groups suffered at the hands of other forms of government. For me, it seems that our government is failing to protect a minority group because of their beliefs. If there is an alternative (such as labelling all marriages "domestic partnerships" and confering equal legal rights), why can't we take the religious meaning out of the state sanctioned ceremony?
