[revots33]

[ QUOTE ]
Arguing the normal way doesn't seem to get anywhere with you guys since you're obviously interested in something other than reaching a compromise, greater understanding, or any other positive result of normal adult debate.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the reason it is hard to find common ground on this issue, is because we obviously see it as fundamentally different. Some of us see gay people as normal human beings who happen to have been born with a sexual orientation that puts them in the statistical minority. We do not see them as abnormal, or perverted, or in any way defective as human beings. That is why we feel they deserve the same rights as the rest of us - including the right not to be discriminated against. Saying you'll "allow" gays certain types of legal protections, but not the full institution of marriage like everyone else, is discrimination, at least in my view, and it's no different than racial discrimination.

Others do see gays as defective, obviously. And FFish's statement about their "sham marriages", or that gays have done "their level best" to spread AIDS to the world pretty much shows why it's hard to debate the issue of equal rights rationally with people who are bigoted.