# why worry so much re homosexuals marrying but not about other sinners marrying? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 10, 2005, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-worry-so-much-re-homosexuals-marrying-but-not-about-other-sinners-marrying/284026 "2005-01-10T11:36:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-worry-so-much-re-homosexuals-marrying-but-not-about-other-sinners-marrying/284026/41 "2005-01-14T04:40:48Z")
> [@Puffs](#): > > yeah, but they woudn’t be real 'murkans now would they? Well, not if they immigrated _here_, they wouldn’t be. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Puffs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c77e96/32.png) [@Puffs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Puffs)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-worry-so-much-re-homosexuals-marrying-but-not-about-other-sinners-marrying/284026/42 "2005-01-14T06:03:42Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Well, not if they immigrated _here_, they wouldn’t be. 😃 And I though SDMB (_here_) was an international message board :smack: ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-worry-so-much-re-homosexuals-marrying-but-not-about-other-sinners-marrying/284026/43 "2005-01-14T11:12:35Z")
just like to pipe up and say I found the debate interesting. The current legal thinking does seem to be with Huerta, but of course I agree personally with Gorsnak and polycarp that the system seems wrong. I suspect that Huerta may also feel this way? ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-worry-so-much-re-homosexuals-marrying-but-not-about-other-sinners-marrying/284026/44 "2005-01-14T15:40:42Z")
> [@scm1001](#): > > just like to pipe up and say I found the debate interesting. The current legal thinking does seem to be with Huerta, but of course I agree personally with Gorsnak and polycarp that the system seems wrong. I suspect that Huerta may also feel this way? As may have been evident in my focus on the economics of state sanction of (heterosexual) marriage, I am suspicious as to whether the state has any business recognizing or getting involved in **any** marriage. I view marriage largely as a private contractual/religious affair. So I guess I arrive at a point similar to yours: I don’t require the state to privilege heterosexual relationships/couples over homosexual ones (although I do believe that it is completely constitutional to do so, if the state so chooses). We differ only in whether the state should (as a policy matter, not constitutionally) be granting special civil status to (a) everyone or (b) no one. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-worry-so-much-re-homosexuals-marrying-but-not-about-other-sinners-marrying/284026/45 "2005-01-14T15:47:38Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > As may have been evident in my focus on the economics of state sanction of (heterosexual) marriage, I am suspicious as to whether the state has any business recognizing or getting involved in **any** marriage. I view marriage largely as a private contractual/religious affair. So I guess I arrive at a point similar to yours: I don’t require the state to privilege heterosexual relationships/couples over homosexual ones (although I do believe that it is completely constitutional to do so, if the state so chooses). We differ only in whether the state should (as a policy matter, not constitutionally) be granting special civil status to (a) everyone or (b) no one. That’s a useful and valid stance. I for one am grateful for your clarification on it. Without laying yourself open to flames, would you care to critique how that would be applied to _Loving v. Virginia_’s assertion that marriage is “a fundamental right”? Granted that that was specifically àpropos anti-miscegenation laws, it still made the broad-based assertion, which ought to translate to something as regards claims of “gays’ rights to marry each other” vs. “states’ powers to regulate marriage.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-worry-so-much-re-homosexuals-marrying-but-not-about-other-sinners-marrying/284026.md?page=2)