Quote:
Originally posted by nostatic
What's the difference? I ask that in all seriousness.
I'm near the end of a divorce right now. At this point it is simply business negotiations. When you distill it down, "marriage" is simply a legal partnership between two people who are "committed" (or should be...ha!).
Is it just the word? So we keep marriage for man/woman, and "legal union" for gays, and both have identical tax/benefits/etc? If so, I think most gays/liberals would be fine with that. I don't think you'd find many conservative/republicans who are. But I could be wrong...
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The difference, to me anyway, is that marriage (although also a legal term) is originally a religious union between a man and a woman. At least this is what marriage is to me. To redefine that union to accept couples other than man and woman changes marriage in a way that affects all married people, myself included. Again, this is just the way I feel about it...not saying it's the right or wrong way.
And yes, I would absolutely be ok with a legal union giving gays/lesbians the same legal and financial rights as a married couple but without using the term "marriage".
--wludavid-- Sorry bro, but you're wrong again...
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20051118-122021-1117r.htm
HIV infections among homosexual and bisexual men in the United States rose 8 percent last year, after remaining relatively stable the three previous years, new federal data show.
The increase for the virus that causes AIDS compares with average annual declines of 4 percent among heterosexuals and 9 percent among intravenous-drug users from 2001 to 2004, according to a report in this week's issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report. ***snip***
"By transmission category, men who have sex with men continued to account for the largest number of [HIV] diagnoses overall" between 2001 and 2004, comprising 44 percent of the total caseload and 61 percent of male infections,
Now the rate of transmission in blacks is certainly going through the roof, but I'm not sure you can say that blacks are an "uneducated and poor demographic" overall without having a study to support that. This is in the US mind you...if you want to talk worldwide it's a different story...