Source:CSPAN– the House Judiciary Committee holding a hearing on the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.
Source:The New Democrat
“The House Judiciary Subcommittee heard testimony concerning the Defense of Marriage Act from activists, state legislators and others.”
From CSPAN
Source:CSPAN– Conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan, arguing against the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, at the House Judiciary Committee in 1996.
If you believe in freedom of choice and even individual freedom and liberty, as well as marriage, and that people who are in love with each other should be get married, then you shouldn’t have a problem with same-sex-marriage, if you’re also a constitutionalist. Because marriage whether it’s straight or gay is about uniting a partnership between two people that are in-love with each other.
If your politics if defined by your religious and cultural views and not by the U.S. Constitution and your religion and politics are fundamentalist, then of course same-sex-marriage is going to be a problem for you. Hell, if you’re a religious fundamentalist, you probably don’t believe that gays should be allowed to freely walk the streets, let alone be in-love with each other or get married.
I look at same-sex-marriage and homosexuality the way I look at all freedom of choice issues: does someone’s else personal choice affect me in a negative way or not. If the answer is no, then what do I care if gays want to get married or do anything else with each other, just as long as they’re not hurting any innocent person with what they’re doing.
The Andrew Sullivan-Dennis Prager debate about same-sex-marriage and perhaps homosexuality in general, is about the Constitution, freedom of choice, and individual liberty, versus religious fundamentalism and perhaps nationalism and the idea that these fundamentalist values are so powerful, that everyone else should be forced to live under them, even if they disagree with them.
The Daily Times 