Elf Sternberg

True equality can't be achieved until either gays have access to the "marriage" label and all the social legitimacy it carries with it, or the government gets out of the marriage business entirely. Having the government recognize a distinction between civil unions and marriage while denying the latter to a group of its citizens based strictly on religious mania is intolerable. The middle ground of civil unions and whatnot, even if it were to be extended to the federal level, is just "separate but equal" all over again.

I'm sorry you don't like the racial analogy, but I fail to see why it doesn't apply. I also don't understand the bizarre statement about blacks wanting to be called whites; gays don't want to be called straight, they just want access to the same fundamental rights that straights have.

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