Comments on: Gay marriage opponents denounce ‘notary’ wedding bill

By: Gus

Gus — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 11:21:21 +0000

Do not like competition! As Str8 Americans increasingly have non-religious marriage ceremonies (even here in the Midwest), they are fighting for their market share of the lucrative wedding business.

By: Stan James

Stan James — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 05:34:03 +0000

My reply to St. Vincent of Annandale………………………

the guys like bishop long, and mostlikely Jackson are busy planting their seeds where they will not grow. In the mouths and uknowhats of young children, Male and female.

By: St. Vincent of Annandale

St. Vincent of Annandale — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 22:08:54 +0000

It seems to me that the Bishop and minister should be preaching “keep your knees together” and your “zipper up”. What happens to all the black “fathers” who plant their seeds and disappear?

By: Skeeter Sanders

Skeeter Sanders — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 18:11:04 +0000

Bishop Harry Jackson and Minister Leroy Swailes are clearly treading on thin ice constitutionally with their opposition to a bill that would allow marriages to be performed in D.C. by a notary public.

As members of the clergy, Jackson and Swailes are free to voice their opinions like everyone else, but they have no constitutional authority to interfere with the D.C. government’s authority to empower notaries public to perform civil wedding ceremonies.

By now, it should be obvious that their fight against same-gender marriage is rooted inextricably in religious approbations against homosexuality — and that they have no respect for the constitutional separation of church and state. They have every right under the First Amendment to refuse the religious sacrament of matrimony to gay and lesbian couples, but those couples have a constitutionally protected right to civil marriage — which is the exclusive province of the state — and the clergy cannot interfere with that.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:55:11 +0000

Your point is very well made. It IS crazy making.

By: Doctor Whom

Doctor Whom — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:33:21 +0000

Many Christians carry on as though the entire Bible had been repealed except for the parts on homosexuality. After all, rules are for other people.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:12:48 +0000

“. . . . to further weaken the institution of marriage . . .” Let’s talk reality. In the U.S., 50% of marriages end up in divorce. Of course, these are heterosexual marriages since that’s the only kind available! Further, kids are increasing being born to single women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics for 2007 (the latest year of recorded data) 40% of children in the U.S. are born to single women, this is a blended number. The breakdown is: 28% to white women; 51% of Latinas; and 72% to Black women. Again, 72% of kids are born to Black women. If “Bishop” Jackson and his ilk really want to do something about marriage then they can clean up their own backyard! Address the real issue challenging “traditional marriage” in D.C. — minorities having children outside of marriage. It seems so obvious and simple, but then again, why use reason since they haven’t up to this point. It is so obvious that this is about homophobia in the black church.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 13:25:04 +0000

Nice sharing

By: Doctor Whom

Doctor Whom — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:22:46 +0000

Sounds as though some people want to keep the lucrative special privilege that D.C. law now gives them. As for appeals to tradition, those ministers do realize, I trust, that in the Christian world until the 16th century, people outside of the nobility typically got married without either clergy officiation or state licensing.