I'M GLAD WE'RE SCRUTINIZING OBAMA FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC OF A PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER- THEIR POSITION ON HOMOS. WHY DON'T PEOPLE WORRY ABOUT MORE IMPORTANT THINGS LIKE FOREIGN POLICY, GETTING OUT OF IRAQ, HEALTH CARE, TAXES AND EDUCATION. DON'T ASK OBAMA, DON'T TELL OBAMA.

Whoof Arted, what a pathetic ognoramous you've made yourself out to be with those comments. Civil liberties is an important part of our cultural history and the movement to include homosexual Americans in this is just another step forward. I think a good candidate can be strong in all areas, foreign policy, the Iraq quagmire, health care, taxes, pollution, etc., while still helping to influence our inclusive progress as a society. But then maybe you are just so insulated by whatever status you may hold due to ethnicity, gender, age, etc. that you don't know what having limited civil rights means to a person on a daily basis. Had Black Americans sat back and shut up because people like you sneered at their struggle for a voice and footing in America, the likelihood of Obama even being considered for office would be nill.
Whether you are educated enough to understand homosexuality or not, the reality is that gay people are just people born with different characteristics than heterosexual people. Their exclusion from the rights that others enjoy in America is unjust and a mockery of the American vision at its clearest and best. I hope that you can be open enough to mull over these comments.

I suspect that Obama MAY think homosexuality is immoral.

Wow, Paul seems like a really bitter guy. I could definitely see how there are more important issues we should be concerned about in a president. Canidates all try to pander to many groups. I can how Obama attempted to dodge to issue in an attempt to not anger his right leaning voters.

In the past, the Democrats lost big time due to the marriage amendments and they don't plan to lose again. There is a big difference between being in power and being out of power. That may mean temporarily sacrificing one issue for the good of all. Hard times involve hard choice. What ever it takes for victory in 08.

Obama is a F-ing joke. The guy doesn't give a straight answer on ANYTHING. All this guy has going for him is he's black (well, sort of), and he can actually speak English. Aside from that, he's air.

What do you mean by Obama is black and can actually speak English? Is this stereotyping that it is unusal for a Black man to speak good English? Is this latent racism?

You know what distresses me? That people who know better are so ignorant. Do any of you think that Black Americans could have broken the White power block in the sixties without the support of open-minded White Americans? This question is not meant to imply that Black Americans are intrinsically powerless, however, the systems that kept Black America back up until that point [and some still do] were pretty pervasive. It took the outrage of Black Americans AND of fair minded White Americans to bring positive change to America. Now, however, people who probably feel smugly that they are progressive [Beth] won't stand up for human rights. Do you think that pandering to the right is the best answer, Beth? You must be insane, because their view of America is one in which you would have no choice about your reproductive rights, no career outside the domestic realm, no freedom to belong to anything other than some blanded down Christian faith. So go ahead, back down first with 'those queers' then back down on abortion, then back down on ethnic rights, religious rights...the only right left is the zionist right. Learn from the past! Try knowing that you could be ousted from the death bedside of your dieing lover by their third cousin twice removed, Beth, and see if you come out without bitterness. Civil rights are civil rights!

Civil rights! What a concept. And here I was thinking we were shipping our democracy overseas 'cause we were done using it here. Silly me.

Paul, you may never get married in a church/temple/mosque with the crazy morals religion can instill in people, but I wouldn't mind seeing a constitutional amendment allowing you to get married by a justice of the peace in any state in the union.

As a temporary stopgap, have you ever considered trying to have a contract drawn up that looks exactly like marriage including durable power of attorney for each other, but doesn't have the M word in it?

Yes, I know, some states call this or are considering calling it civil union. But, as a partnership agreement of sorts, if it doesn't mention sex and simply has all other features of marriage, it may work. (Only Nevada allows legally binding contracts other than marriage that have sex in them, AFAIK.) At least that might allow you to appoint a next of kin other than some distant relative you never see anymore. Just a thought, not a solution for the long term, of course. I wonder what the legality of this might be.

Why you men so obsessed with sex? There are more important issues. I am a single mother with three young kids to take care of. I need health care for me and my kids, this is a life and death issue for many. Obama can get us health care.

You have my sympathies, Latonya, but imagine how much worse it would be if you HAPPENED to be a lesbian and were evicted from your apartment on top of your other issues and HAD NO LEGAL RECOURSE TO KEEP A ROOF OVER YOUR CHILDREN'S HEADS.

Keep plugging away, Paul. You'll get there with these people. (Not sure if you're gay, but I am!)

But the truth is homosexuality can be viewed as immoral. I view it as both disgusting and immoral. The human body was designed to engage in propogation with the opposite sex. The penis is not designed to be anywhere but in the female vagina. It is certainally not designed to be in the male anal cavity. I want my military leaders to view homosexuality as immoral. I want my politicians to view it as immoral as well. If a filthy queer gets off on his immoral act it is his business, but his act is immoral.

Jonathan - Did you see Edwards reply to the question?

From Salon:
"CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Edwards Tuesday: "In your opinion, is homosexuality immoral?" His response: "I don't share that view. And I would go further than that ... I think the 'don't ask, don't tell' [policy] is not working. And as president of the United States I would change that policy.""

Loud and proud, Austin, loud and proud!
Ames, you sound too stupid to reply to, but I can't resist the question: You've never engaged in oral sex with a woman? Because it sounds like you're saying that only penile-vaginal intercourse is correct.
In a good democracy, while you can have the perverse views you've expressed here, you can't make something illegal just because it makes some people uncomfortable. If your position that it is immoral is religiously based, than where do we draw the line? By religious standards, divorcing and then remarrying is immoral [adultery] so now people can't get divorced or remarry? And if you're trying to go for a scientific argument against gay sex [you were talking about your cavity but I don't remember the details - there was something in your cavity?] than morality does not fit that conversation. Science doesn't try to be moral or immoral. And for the record, my prostate is located very conveniently for pleasurable gay sex. Sorry, Amesy, but you opened the cavity discussion.

DeShawn:

90% of the make black population in America is either stupid, illiterate, uneducated, or only capable of blaming theirr poor showing in America on racism..

You race is a joke...

John Trigue,

I just said exactly this on another post to Tamara. It seems equally appropriate to say it to you.

Please leave this blog for intelligent discourse. Your comment shows bigotry for what it truly is, the result of horribly small-minded inDUHviduals. Please stop wasting oxygen and other planetary resources with your existence.

People need to be judged as individuals.

This is the American way..

You do not judge the son to be like the father. This is America, not England...

My views on Obama are quite simple. I will give him a chance just as I will give all of the candidates a chance. The person who sounds the most reasonable and has the best solutions and answers gets my support. I often worry that the best candiates don't even bother to run, chich is quite distressing.

I conclude that there is an unusually high percentage of racists amongst the gay community. It appears that too often the only thing on your mind is sex. My sister is right. How can the Black community have sympathy for your so called "civil rights" when too many members of your community appear to be just racists? It is just an excuse to engage in immoral conduct. There have been studies of gay men and they are just hypersexual. Our Black ministers speak out against such immoral activities.

DeShawn,

In one breath, you denounce bigotry based on race, a terrible thing, and replace it with bigotry based on sexuality, a terrible thing.

Bigotry of any form is terrible and should be shunned. People of intelligence should stand together and denounce all forms of bigotry, whether it is by race, by religion, or by lack of religion.

I would suggest to you DeShawn that you apologize for your own bigoted remark and stand together with all victims of bigotry to put an end to this sort of prejudice.

DeShawn,

In one breath, you denounce bigotry based on race, a terrible thing, and replace it with bigotry based on sexuality, a terrible thing.

Bigotry of any form is terrible and should be shunned. People of intelligence should stand together and denounce all forms of bigotry, whether it is by race, by religion, or by lack of religion, or by sexuality.

I would suggest to you DeShawn that you apologize for your own bigoted remark and stand together with all victims of bigotry to put an end to this sort of prejudice.

P.S. I hope I was able to stop the prior post so that I could correct an obvious omission prior to sending this. If not, please ignore the prior and read only this one.

My pastor tells me that it is immoral. He says that God did not design the male polinator to go into the waste pipe. He said that they are all types of problems that come about from that activity and that gay people do not live as long as non gay people.

DeShawn,

Your pastor is following the teachings of a two thousand year old religion. Times change. People learn. Your pastor has done neither.

Despite your pastor's teachings, and probably that of most religious leaders, especially the more conservative, orthodox, or reactionary ones, the fact is that homosexuality is highly common throughout much of the animal kingdom.

If there were a god, which I do not suppose, and said god were actually against homosexuality, why did s/he put so much of it on the planet?

This, to me, is yet another example of the way in which religion twists peoples' natural morals. By doing so, religion shows itself to be truly immoral.

Religion, as should be obvious to anyone that pays attention to both historical and current widespread violence, has a serious deleterious effect on humanity throughout the ages, as is evidenced by the large number of humans who were physically deleted by those seeking to spread their religious views.

DeShawn - I know it's a cliche, but if you pastor told you to jump off a bridge would you? You pastor is plainly wrong about the facts, and besides which, why does you pastor care how other people live their lives?

I don't think anyone really cares if people want to personally be opposed to homosexuality. As we've seen on this board, some people are racist too. The problem is that the government has no business telling people how to live their lives (aside from hurting other people). Gay people aren't hurting you or your pastor.

I agree with you that the government should not tell people how to run their life. The government should not force my daughters to have HPV vaccinations. My pastor speaks from the Bible about personal responsibility and personal conduct for the elect saints that are on the road to glory land. Sexual restraint for men is a virtue.

All the cadidates are jokes. And the election is in two years. Lets focus on making real change in the now, instead of getting naively optimistic that the election of one person in 2008 is going to create a progressive utopia.

Does it matter what Obama said outside the capitol today? Not really. Geuss what does matter - what he and his colleauges did inside the capitol! They once again failed to produce a plan to the end the war, among other issues that the 2008 election is allowing us to ignore in the now and put off until then.

DeShawn,

Your pastor speaks from the Bible. Are you trying to confirm or dispute my prior post? People, or at least non-fundamentalist people, have learned a lot since biblical times.

Scott, have you too learned like adam that "the government should not tell people how to run their life."

DeShawn,

I think your statement is too broad. People should not be free to hurt other people.

No one is hurt by anyone else's sexuality. Consenting adults should be free to pursue their own happiness. This includes, but is not limited to, the right to equal treatment under the law, the right to enjoy sex, the right to marry, and the right to freedom from the violent acts of religious fanatics or anyone else.

You also have rights. Your rights include, but are not limited to, the right to equal treatment under the law, the right to believe in the ancient mythology of your choice, the right to enjoy sex (or abstain from it), the right to marry, and the right to freedom from the violent act of racists or anyone else.

Celebrate these rights. They do not exist in all places. Do not attempt to take away the rights of others lest you lose your own rights in the process. Civil rights and liberties are easy to throw away and very hard to win back.

As a minor example, I once had the right to freedom from religion on my paper money and in the pledge of allegiance. McCarthyism took that away and added godvertisements in both places. Now we can’t get rid of them. People are called unpatriotic for wanting to get rid of them.

Patriotism, however, means love of one’s country. Our country was founded by people that were about as non-theistic as one could reasonably be at the time. They were strongly against organized religions. I love that about our country. But, getting god off of our money is now seen as unpatriotic.

If I were theistic and did not believe in a real and final death, I would think that the founding fathers would be rolling in their graves over this state of affairs.

Correction. People once hard the right to freedom from religion on paper money and in the pledge. Under god was added to the pledge years before my birth. God was added to our money in the year of my birth. I never had this freedom.

Paul Miller needs to get a life. Do you actually work or do you just argue with people on the MJ blog? What kind of loser spends their entire day arguing with people.

Head of my own company, sweetheart, so I answer to me and me alone on that. I have something to say, which is not the same as just signing in to condemn someone for speaking at all.

Let's not forget that the Bible has been (mis)interpreted to justify all types of heinous acts and beliefs, including slavery, lynching, segregation, and discrimination of all sorts. White supremicists still use the Bible to justify their belief that non-white individuals are sub-human and should be referred to as mudpeople. The same Bible passage that supposedly makes homosexuality an abomination also dictates that Christians not wear mixed-thread clothing. How many Christians are wearing a cotton-poly blend to Church this Sunday?

Personally, I don't care that much if people judge me immoral. If you read the Bible then you know that its between me and God anyway. I believe he reserves the right to make the final judgement himself. In the meantime, your personal beliefs should not be used to deny me the rights of full citizenship in the US. I work, I pay my taxes, I volunteer my time and donate to charity. I teach college students about the dangers of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. By all accounts I am a good person. My partner and I have been together for 9 years, during that time my brother has seen two marriages come and go. We don't have the money to get a lawyer to draw up a contract, and why should we have to?

It is demoralizing to be subjected to all the hateful and meansprirted things that people have to say each election season. I'm tired of being used as a political football. Whether you think I'm immoral or not, I'm still human. I deserve to be treated with respect and humanity. Is that really so hard to do?

Most of the Black vote is behind Obama. If he is not the Democratic candidate and if we feel that he was unfairly treated(such as this criticism by the gays) we will stay home on election day. The candidates running against Obama need to watch what they say about Obama, because we are. Without the Black vote, the Democrats will lose. We demand respect.

jo: NO!! It is not hard to do. Or, at least it should be amazingly easy. And also, no, you should not have to do any more than anyone else to get married. I suggested the lawyer contract as a possible short term workaround. The law needs to change, ASAP.

Sherman: I intend to vote for whoever is the best candidate, both in the primary and in the general election. I intend to do so without regard to color or gender. I intend to make that decision based on the issues I find important.

At the moment, Obama is leading in my mind. I like his environmental voting record better than Hillary's. I would like to hear him state real concrete views on subjects more than he does. But, his voting record is among the best. I don't know why he doesn't talk about it more.

He has a 100% rating from the League of Conservation Voters. LCV missed the boat on an issue that has environmental concerns but isn't typically seen that way. Even on that issue though, his record is the same as everyone else for whom I might consider voting. So, for the moment, Obama has my vote.

But, to say you would stay home on Election Day FOR ANY REASON IS A VOTE FOR THE CANDIDATE YOU HATE MOST!! Remember, whichever candidate is THE ABSOLUTE WORST in the bunch, IN YOUR OWN OPINION, is the one who gets your vote when you stay home.

There is no way that all of us will get our first choice. Let’s try not to get our last one!! We’ve lived with extreme right wing bull for entirely too long. I’m guessing that you and I will likely agree on Election Day about which candidate is worst. PLEASE VOTE ON ELECTION DAY, even if you don’t get to vote for your first choice.

To demand respect because of your race and to turn around and say that you demand we ("the gays") not criticize the candidate of your choice is laughable and something from the 18th century, not to mention bullheaded and outright ignorant.

Grow up, Sherman. This is 2007 - the only people who still make a fuss about race and ethnic origin are conservative right-wing nutjobs. I don't care who gets in office with regards to race, color, gender, sexual orientation, weight, height, shoe size - I just want them to be SMART!!!

We the People need to stop this fighting each other and demand Equality for ALL! If we all refuse to allow ANY Inequality or Denial of Any Civil Liberties to ANYONE, maybe we could save ourselves and lead the rest of the world to a better life for ALL!