08-06-2010, 10:26 AM
Hope the momentum keeps up. It's when issues like these fall out of the sphere of public discussion that extremists manage to hijack the rule of law and common decency.
It's be interesting to see such a discussion progress to the supreme court and be settled once and for all (with favorable results, one hopes). There was a speaker on TED talks whose topic was about democratic debate, and he made an interesting point. Using the issue of gay marriage as one of his examples, he explained that aside from the obvious freedom/human rights issue involved, what's crucial for a fair decision is an in-depth examination of the nature of marriage, its purpose, and what it means to society. Is it a private commitment between two people? Is it for procreation? Is it to create the basic building block of society (family)? etc. etc. It'll be interesting to see those issues really examined. Heck, an examination of the institution will likely bleed into and affect other laws/issues as well.
It's be interesting to see such a discussion progress to the supreme court and be settled once and for all (with favorable results, one hopes). There was a speaker on TED talks whose topic was about democratic debate, and he made an interesting point. Using the issue of gay marriage as one of his examples, he explained that aside from the obvious freedom/human rights issue involved, what's crucial for a fair decision is an in-depth examination of the nature of marriage, its purpose, and what it means to society. Is it a private commitment between two people? Is it for procreation? Is it to create the basic building block of society (family)? etc. etc. It'll be interesting to see those issues really examined. Heck, an examination of the institution will likely bleed into and affect other laws/issues as well.
PS. If you can, try your hand at giving some of the others a bit of feedback. If you already have, thanks, can you do some more?