Culver Pictures
In an 1862 lithograph, a slave is depicted fleeing
toward Canada before the Civil War.
Posted on 11/23/2003 10:59:06 AM PST by putupon
Culver Pictures
In an 1862 lithograph, a slave is depicted fleeing
toward Canada before the Civil War.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Heaven was the word for Canada and the Negro sang of the hope that his escape on the Underground Railroad would carry him there," the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once noted in describing the codes American slaves used in their spirituals to fool their masters before taking flight.
Canada is heaven again for Lance W. Bateman and William E. Woods, two American men who were married here recently.
The wedding on Aug. 31 looked like a typical Hawaiian wedding, with the grooms wearing tropical ceremonial shirts made of pineapple fiber woven to look like fine silk and every guest wearing at least one orchid lei. Except the affair was in Canada, because the two men could not legally be married in Hawaii, where they live and to which they have returned.
As untraditional as the affair might seem, the men were actually following a long tradition of Americans coming here to break the conventions of the day, do something illegal, or simply live as they wished. The tradition goes back to the American Revolution, when 30,000 Loyalists flooded into Ontario and Nova Scotia to remain in the paternal embrace of King George III.
Mr. Woods, a 54-year-old public health administrator, and other gay-rights advocates are campaigning to encourage American gay couples to marry in Canada and then take their Canadian marriage licenses back home to press for the kind of pension, medical and other benefits that heterosexual married couples
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Are you referring to black people? Are you referring to me?
This is an issue no conservative skeptic need feel guilty about opposing.
No non-Christian should decry any Christians for believing homosexual behavior is immoral or acting on that belief (short of harming or publicly humiliating folks). The thing completely missing from the liberal side is respect for traditional beliefs.
They also view the government as this generous source of largesse and approval. I favor limited government, but I also want the government to do a few modest things to protect various well-known institutions. This includes a few modest perks to help along the traditional family structure, which is so vital. It is beyond absurd to extend these perks to gay couples.
At the same time, I have no problem with some legislation, that would make it easier for a gay person to name his companion as his next of kin for various purposes. That would be almost no cost to the taxpayer. Once you take away benefit and approval-related issues, what you are left with is the next of kin thing and divorce law.
As far as inheritance, a will can be made out to leave an estate to anyone. Michael Jackson could leave Neverland to his monkey.
But none of these things constitute a marriage, at least not in the fullest sense of that word. For that, a spiritual recognition is necessary. And I am free to withhold that recognition all the while honoring the legal arrangements between two homosexuals.
I'm referring to anyone (black, white, red, brown, yellow, pink, blue, orange, green, purple, etc., etc.) who appears to have less brains than a baboon. Which is to say, anyone who is stupid enough to insert mutendo wegudo -- soil with baboon urine -- inside their vagina !!!
Are you referring to me?
I don't know. You surely appear to be a very intelligent person!!! But then again, tell me... are you stupid enough to insert mutendo wegudo -- soil with baboon urine -- inside your vagina ???
Anti-gay? I don't know anybody here who's anti-gay and I run the homosexual agenda ping list. From what I can tell, everybody on the ping list is only interested in the truth. I'd say it's those folks who are pro-gay that don't really care for gays.
Why? Because the pro-gay folks only encourage a very destructive lifestyle that results in severe health hazards where the folks on the ping list discourage that same behavior. And not just for the homosexuals, but for the general health and safety of our nation and our world.
We welcome discourse based on studies that haven't been discredited.
When AIDS broke out, gays and, most condemnable, gay activists refused to follow recommended procedures of epidemic control. Acting properly would have saved many thousands of lives.
In general, a promiscuous lifestyle is likely to be dangerous in various ways. All that said, I know responsible homosexuals in long-term relationships who are likely to live a good long time and more power to them.
It's no more complicated than that.
Please see my post #51. Sorry I forgot to include thathamiltonwoman in the To: box when I posted same !!!
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Actually, the God of the Bible had a lot to say:
Genesis 20:17
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls so they could have children again
Exodus 12:44
Any slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him (ouch!)
Exodus 21:21
but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.
Jeremiah 34:9
Everyone was to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Jew in bondage.
Well, at least then there was some progress for the Israelites at that point in time. Ok, that's soooo Old Testament, how about some New Testament:
John 8:35
Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.
Galatians 4:22
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.
Galatians 4:23
His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.
Ephesians 6:5
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.
Colossians 3:22
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.
1 Timothy 6:1
All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God's name and our teaching may not be slandered.
1 Peter 2:18
Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.
Certainly, the slave holders of the Old South must have found comfort in those four verses.
It seems that the people who spoke for the God of the Bible were not altogether unhappy with the concept of slavery, unless it applied to them.
You can see why some folks question what they had to say on homosexuality, too. But, then, they are berift of proper interpretation of the writings. Maybe its because they have too much trouble deciding which of the ten thousand denominations of Christianity are the "correct" one.
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