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Look at marriage in the most basic broad terms, its purpose in history, and its function now. Consider your own preferences and the "icky" factors influence on your position. Let's not forget the separation of church and state thing also. Then the solution becomes obvious, at the very least it defines who you are and your position. I am a married man who has experienced a wide rage of friends: black white in between and with large birthmarks of varied hues, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and temporary insanity, homo, hetero, auto, a, bi, and just desperate sexuals. My opinion is not designed to forward any cause except intelligence over emotion.

Popular thought says that marriage was invented by Jewish kings as a way to guarantee their lineage would inherit their throne. Certainly something like that, if not that, is true. Almost universally cultures have a subgroup that looks just like marriage. Typically these groups are to maintain a sexual exclusivity and form the basic "unit" of a culture, the smallest sub-tribe we call family. Although this is still true for many in our culture, almost every other alternate is also true. Non legal marriage, non religious marriage, non marriage sexuality, non sexual marriage, homo, trans, group, extramarital, Internet sexuality and an ever changing if not diminishing role of family paternal and maternal rights. We or "them", depending on how you see the world and yourself have already made the historical definition of marriage, well, historical.

So I guess the real issue here is more Homophobic Christian vs. Gay Rights. I have no real need to support either group; both have offensive points (mostly based on "the world should be like me" crap) and very few redeeming ones. I have entertained and been entertained by the "homophobes are just afraid of their inner fag" idea, I think probably the great majority of our fears are self generated and a fair group of them are self image fears, maybe because of self obsession. I wonder if some gay people are plagued by their inner Hetero.

So to take a stand on this issue for me is based on a rapidly becoming unpopular notion of fairness and the little bit left of an American way. We, as a culture don't seem to hold any other aspect of marriage as sacred, the idea of family and the roles of husband and wife replaced with a new idea, more geared toward the individual and government intervention. Hey, the world changes. Why not let all people enter into the contract of legal marriage, So they enjoy the very few benefits left for married people. If your god doesn't like it, he (I'm bet you would see god as male if you have issues with this) will take care of it himself. Consider more important changes in morality and the world before you tell Patrick Fitzgerald and Gerald Fitzpatrick what they can do. Worry about what you should do to be the person you like and respect. It's a far more important and easily attained goal. The very act of hating difference is mind narrowing per Se.

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