Gay marriage should be legal

You said: "I simply can't get past the fact that they are being denied the pleasure of adopting a child based on one characteristic about them." My Response: --I understand that they are denied the pleasure. I even have quite a bit of sympathy, but there is another party we have to think about and thats the children. Personally, I am more interested in the children's well being that the gay couple, and thats why I feel the way i do about gay marriage.-- You said: "Back when we had black/white segregation, many believed that putting the two together would result in chaos and would present a bad image." My Response: --Black/White segregation isnt exactly the same thing. It doesnt involve the raising of a child. There was no second party at risk. In gay marriage, we have to consider the second party which is the children. They ARE at risk. You can try and justify their situation by saying "Everyone gets made fun of" but there are two reasons that doesnt stand. 1. We both know that the ridicule would be worse. Itd be more personal, and would haunt them forever. Its actually enough to hurt them mentally. They also run risks of getting physically beaten by intolerant kids. 2. Do we want to intentionally place these children in a life that they will hate. A life that will be hard for them? It would be very wrong if we had better options. I cant stress enough how serious I am about thinking of the children first.-- You said: "I myself was teased everyday from 2nd to 7th grade, and it was a living hell. I remember there were days where I cried myself to sleep or just wanted to go away. I had so many problems as a child, including an eating disorder and attempted suicide. If I could, I would protect every child from that kind of ridicule. So what I'm saying is that a child can be teased for anything, not just who their parents are. And the gay community in general faces ridicule. Avi, one of my best friends, is gay. When I asked him how he handled the ridicule people give him, he put it like this: "I am gay. I'm not an alien life-form or some other unidentifiable thing. I am gay. I'm still Avi, I'm still a person. Just because I was born into this lifestyle doesn't mean I'm anything less. When I was younger, it was hard but i learned that your true friends and those that love you accept you the way you are. So if people don't like me, because I'm gay, then I feel sorry for them because they haven't walked a mile in my shoes. I am proud of who I am. I'm proud of who my parents are because they have faced less-than-perfect circumstances and were able to overcome them with dignity. I'm proud. That's what gets me through." My Response: --We all wish that people were more tolerant. In fact, they should be. We cant, however, force them to be tolerant. Gay marriage wont force them to be more tolerant and the truth is, kids raised by gay parents will not be treated justly. Thats just how it is. Not everyone will be noble and stand up for what they believe in. Not everyone will be noble and stand up for what Others believe in. Its just a fact of life. We can dream all we want about peace and tolerance, but that not gunna make it happen right away. When it comes to gay marriage laws, we need to think about how thing ARE now, not how they SHOULD be.-- You said: "Every child deserves a loving home, where they feel wanted and loved everyday. Where there is never a doubt in their mind that their parents love them. Where that child knows that they are taken care of, and that their parents are always going to be their for them, no matter where they are. That's what every child deserves. And if a loving family for that child is a heterosexual couple, great! If a loving family means a homosexual couple, that's great too!" My Response: -- Every child DOES deserve a loving family, but their are many many loving families that are out there that are stable and heterosexual families. We should place the children in these homes first because its whats best. The homosexual parents may be able to prepare their kid for the teasing, but they cant make the pain hurt less. Its not fair to place the kids between a rock and a hard place when there are other options.--