Ake:    "The Homosexual marriage issue is a very good example of a minority being dragged kicking and screaming to claim 'rights' which hardly any of them want."

Really? Some 18,000 homosexual couples in California got married during the brief time that the law was in effect before out-of-state religious groups squelched the same-sex marriage law with Proposition 8.

Anyone who is really interested in reducing homosexual promiscuity and transmission of HIV/AIDs ought to be in favor of doing whatever is possible to encourage stable, monogamous relationships.

No, "liberals" are not "dragging" same-sex oriented people "kicking and screaming" into claiming their civil rights. The move toward same-sex marriage and equal legal rights has been initiated by gays and lesbians themselves. That is not just an opinion, it is historical fact.

I don't know about the other states where same-sex marriage laws have been passed, but in Washington State where I live, although the state does not yet recognize same-sex marriage (yet), the recently passed domestic partnership law has produced a definite increase in the number of same-sex couples who have applied for such status. And there has been an increase in the number of marriage ceremonies requested of churches that perform such ceremonies since the law went into effect. Recognition by law as having the same legal rights as a marriage, plus sanctification by a church, whether the state recognizes the relationship as "marriage" or not. And that's since November, when Initiative 71 (sponsored by the same out-of-state religious groups who sponsored Prop. 8) was defeated by the voters and the recently passed domestic partnership law went into effect.

Sorry, Ake. You are picking your "facts" out of your own wishful thinking.

Don Firth