1. By asking if all our ancestors were dumb and bigoted, you've certainly loaded the deck, haven't you? You call for a more civil tone, than immediately ask a question that can only be answered in one of two ways: by using insulting language or by agreeing with you. I can certainly answer for myself that many of my ancestors were, indeed, dumb and bigoted. I can remember growing up hearing racist jokes from the revered elders and exhortations that mixed-race marriage just "wasn't right." These statements were dumb, and they were bigoted. I will not make any presumptions about the intelligence of your ancestors, but if they were opposed to equal rights for homosexuals, then I believe they were wrong, just as many of our common ancestors were wrong about human sacrifice, slavery, and child labor.
2. Sure, my sexual organs exist for reproduction, but that's not primarily what I use them for. I have been pregnant four times (although only three pregnancies were successful). As a happily married woman for nearly a decade, I can assure you that I have used my sexual organs more than four times, and in ways I found much more enjoyable than childbirth.
3. I, personally, prefer to give in to my sexual desires. As I have mentioned, I have been happily married for almost ten years, and my husband has yet to complain about my lack of control.
4. Your arguments regarding "wrong sexuality" are somewhat mixed. You give three examples, but not all are illegal. Certainly, pedophilia and bestiality are illegal for good reason, but adultery, while not a practice I condone, no longer results in criminal prosecution. Can you imagine what the difference might be? I'll give you a hint. An adult of sound mind is capable of giving legal consent to sex. I am an adult woman, and therefore capable of giving legal consent. My children, as minors, are not capable of giving legal consent. That is why, even if my thirteen year old daughter wanted to have sex with a twenty seven year old man, I would still be able to charge him with rape if he complied. Her consent would not be legally valid. There is a huge difference between two people who are both capable of giving legal consent engaging in a mutually-agreed upon act and one person performing an act on a person (or animal, if you like) who is not capable of giving consent. Certainly, this distinction does not prevent you from having whatever beliefs you want about homosexual acts, just as I believe that adultery is wrong. However, adulterers, while they frequently lose their marriage and suffer financial penalties resulting from a divorce, do not lose any other rights or privileges in our society. After a divorce, they do not lose visitation of their children on the basis of being adulterers. People are free to judge them as morally wrong, but they are not free to determine whether an adulterer is fit to try marriage again at a later date.
5. I think it is going to work this time because we live in an age where laws are written based on rational, not religious, principals. I could be wrong, but that won't stop me from doing my best to create the kind of world I want my children to grow up in.
6. I am not religious, so I was tempted to blow this question off. However, I did think of what I consider a rational response. You are free to try to dissuade every gay and lesbian friend you have from marrying. No one is trying to take that right away from you. Pray for them, plead with them, do whatever you think is necessary. However, by removing their ability to act as they choose, are you making any difference in their salvation? If a person is not allowed to marry a same-sex spouse, but they spend their entire life longing to do so, what difference does it make? Jesus was very clear when he said he judges the heart. Speaking of Jesus, he was also very clear about divorce. He plainly stated in Mark that anyone who divorces one spouse and marries another is an adulterer. There are millions of marriages in America today that are blatantly unbiblical and not valid in the eyes of God, according to Jesus. Neither I nor my husband are in the least bit tempted to leave our marriage for a same-sex marriage. However, there are circumstances where it could be conceivable that one of us could be tempted to leave our marriage for a different opposite-sex marriage. Same sex marriage is no threat whatsoever to our traditional marriage. The proliferation of divorced people remarrying, however, could potentially be a threat to our family. Why is the Christian right fighting so hard against something that is no threat to my family while ignoring the very real threat to families across America? Why are so many Christians patting people like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh on the back instead of encouraging them to repent? By legally condoning all of these marriages that Jesus plainly spoke out against, is there not a small chance that they will all face judgement much like you imply homosexuals will? However, much like in the case of adultery, as adults it is their legal right to make these choices, even if you or I may believe them to be wrong. We are not actually asking you to accept anything, in the end. You can oppose same sex marriage just as much when it's legal as you do now. You just won't get to control other people's lives by any other means than your powers of persuasion. With all due respect, good luck with that.
