Is gay marriage a civil rights issue?

I personally believe it is but I'd like to hear both sides.





Thanks!





PS. Why I believe it is a civil rights issue: Civil and political rights are a defined as class of rights ensuring (among other things) protection from discrimination based on gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Therefore, I believe it is discrimination to withhold the right to marry from homosexual couples. I am a traditional person, but I believe tradition has its place. Is gay marriage a civil rights issue?
Marriage started out as a religious ceremony but when the government started giving married couples certain tax advantages that others not legally married could not receive; Then gay couples put their financial happiness in the hands of a government ruled by Christians who do not sanctify gay marriage.


Were they to ignore the tax issue and marry only for love there would not be this problem.


Sometimes when things don't go the way we would like it is better to let the heart lead rather than the pocketbook.


If I were to find a significant other of the same sex; then that would be fortune enough for me.


Is gay marriage a civil rights issue?
Yes it is.





The 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection and equal rights to all of its citizens. To allow heterosexuals to get married and bar that right to homosexuals is very very wrong.





Prop 8 was a silly prop because if it passed, it's going to get overturned anyway.There are people filing civil law suits against it. Yesterday about 18,000 marriage licenses belong to gay couples have been nulled.





They got screwed over =(
depends on who you ask %26gt;%26lt;





i dont agree..the definition of marriage in the dictionary is between a man and a women...





i am fine with them having some sort of union but if we are to use words properly it could never be marriage. i think they should make a new word/definition. mustriage is my idea oO





i am for civil unions however =/





the fact is it shouldn't* be up to the state anyways...it should be up to the church. the state should have nothing to do with it.
Damn right it's a civil rights issue. I cannot believe after America took that HUGE progressive step forward that the state of California, a BLUE STATE no less, took that huge step backward. Well that's what you get for having CONAN as your goddamn governor.





People think gay marriage degrades the word marriage? I'll tell you what degrades marriage... DIVORCE!
Its not a right to marry. It is a privilege to marry. Being so the state has the right to dictate the rules on marriage. Man and Woman is how the state wants it so that's the way it is.


Your drivers license is a Privileg given to you by the state, thus the state can put whatever restrictions on it they like.
The ability to give one person the ability to make life and death decisions for another should not be limited to heteros.





On a side note: I would love to see a guy any guy in a divorce get all the stuff like a woman does.
As unfortunate as it is, yes it is a civil rights issue and how ridiculous is it that a basic human right has been turned into any kind of an issue!
No because marriage is not a right





thumbs down will not change reality





Marriage is a privilege not a right

bloom-