The Llama Ledger - Bard College at Simon's Rock's Student Newspaper

Well they did ban slavery, and lets face it- free labor was the best thing that the economy could ever ask for.

The Declaration also says that they are endowed by our Creator...with those rights.

In any case, I think it should be a state's issue. 10th Amendment all the way....of course even when the public votes - the bench legislates and does whatever they want. Look at California - the people voted, the bench ignored. We will see what Florida does this upcoming election - my guess is ban it.

Of course, I think we cannot forget that marriage is usually considered a religious ceremony. Whereas the actual marriage license and legally binding what not can be done without the title and outside of a church - civil union. It's the fact that Christians (well, ones who read the Bible) see the Church as their sanctuary for their religion that doesn't condone gay marriage. To them it is like giving up their personal space for something they believe is wrong.

I know it is hard to see the other side with an issue we vehemently disagree with...but it is imperative that we try.

Well written and well reasoned column.

I'm afraid I'm confused about what political Repudiation is trying to say. Beyond the question of whether slavery really was beneficial to the economy, where is the parallel to gay marriage? Are you saying banning slavery was a bad thing, or what?

The issue of religion is the big divide on the gay marriage, but while "we cannot forget that marriage is usually considered a religious ceremony," we cannot forget that our country has separation of church and state, too---and I think that separation should make everyone happy, on both sides of the issue.

We cannot constitutionally deny a gay couple, be they atheist, Christian, Hindu, whatever, rights based on a particular religion, because religion is supposed to stay out of government. However, the flipside is we cannot constitutionally demand that individual denominations or religions recognize that couple's marriage as a religious union.

And no one is suggesting that we should. To my knowledge, no church has ever been forced to perform or even recognize a marriage it objects to, for any reason. My father grew up in the Catholic Church, which does not recognize his marriage to my mother. But oddly enough, both my family and the Catholic Church have continued to function quite well over the past twenty years, neither doing significant damage to the other.

If you believe that gay marriage is religiously invalid or even morally wrong, you have the right to those beliefs, and legalizing gay marriage is not going to invalidate those rights. What it will do is validate the religious rights of churches which do perform gay marriages--and there are plenty of them. Saying that gay marriage shouldn't be constitutional because marriage is fundamentally a religious issue is saying that one religion or one denomination is recognized by the Constitution while another is not, which I think is fundamentally antithetical to what the Constitution is trying to accomplish.

So on a legislative level, why does it need to be a religious issue at all?

I agree with Ganeida's point. There is a separation of church and state (supposedly, anyway), but gay marriage should be constitutional to the point that it legalizes the CHOICE of any religious establishment to perform said marriage. (In my opinion, gay couples should be allowed to have civil unions at the least).

That said, my main issue with the entire debate is that homosexuals are denied certain rights given to married homosexuals; this is where the law limits "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." We're supposed to be a country where "all men are created equal" but our laws have never quite reflected that core idea.

*I meant married heterosexuals.

Thank you for writing the article, I am very pleased with how it came out.

Great article. I agree totally.

I have to agree with teh poster above... :/ looks like a lot of hot air to me.

Wait for next writes!

I thank you for the opportunity to share a portion of my moments in time with future generations.

Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!

This sounds like a great program and a great way to improve education in our schools!