Thank you,
Cami Murphy

The question is, should we approve and allow people to conceive offspring with someone of the same sex. The answer is obvious to me that we need a simple federal law prohibiting attempts at creating a human being by any method other than joining a man’s unmodified sperm and a woman’s unmodified egg. I hope you will agree and say so, because we need to break through the libertarian programming that makes people resistant to federal laws. But it is absolutely essential.

[Note: Bob, As I have no comment for you to respond to on this thread, I'm assuming your comment was unintentionally posted here, but was actually meant to be part of the discussion on the “Dr J’s comments to the Rhode Island State Legislature” thread.]

And now for your credentials, Leland.

I was beginning to wonder if you would ever ask. Well let’s see: I graduated from High School at the top of the bottom third of my class; served a few unremarkable years in the Army; dropped out of college a couple times…

But here’s my most important ‘credential’ in this matter Bob: On the one hand, I do indeed acknowledge that when someone has acquired a diploma (or diplomas) and earned the right to add letters to the end of their name, that is in and of itself a very admirable accomplishment. (I always tell young folks how much I wish I had taken my formal education experience a lot more seriously).

However, when it comes to the assertions one makes, I learned a long time ago that those diplomas and letters at most only indicate that it may be worth the bother to pay attention to what the individual has to say long enough to see whether or not their professions hold water in the real world, whether or not their arguments are logical or (as is almost always the case with you and most of your allies who post on this blog) their theses are predicated on ad hominem, argument from ‘authority’, straw men, equivocation, non sequitur, etc…

But if, in addition to academic credentials and sound reasoning, someone has actually done something of note in their field, then hey, now we’re talkin’…

Jennifer Roback Morse first got my attention not because she has a degree in economics (or because of any degree she has in anything, for that matter) but rather because of the way she applied economics to real world issues (as opposed to the way most economist make a career of actually doing harm to the economy with their goofy prognostications). Just one example: She was the first one I noticed who actually took account of how the social capital generated by solid marriages makes a very tangible and crucial contribution to the overall economic health of a nation. (Admittedly, for all I know, there may have been others before her who applied economics to the family in a similar way, but Dr J and company are definitely the ones who are doing the best job of putting ideas like that into the political mainstream, where the rubber meets the road.)

Bottom line, Bob: Dr J has the diplomas, the letters, the books, the accomplishments… but I wouldn’t even give her a free pass for anything she says because of all that, much less you. While, on the one hand, I’m tempted to admonish you, Sean, Mark, and company to try to focus on the substance of our arguments once in a while instead of just attacking people’s character, on the other hand, the more you guys ‘argue’ the way you do, the more obvious it becomes to everyone with an open mind that there must be nothing of actual substance to support your position on same-sex so-called ‘marriage’, just acrimony for anyone who refuses to kowtow to your agenda. And that works great for we who are defending genuine marriage, by the way.

So, as weary as I am of watching you and yours malign the character and affront the dignity of Dr J and friends, go ahead and keep up the good work you’re doing for our team anyway, geniuses…

Manuel :
Dr. Morse is a sociologist

No, she isn’t.

I have a Masters degrees in Anthropology, and currently work as a researcher.

And now for your credentials, Leland.

People of homosexual behavior have every right to voice their opinion, but it is another matter to debate their cause successfully.

Thanks for allowing me to interview you about the Reel Love Challenge. Here is the link:

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20110107/video-contest-asks-youths-is-lifelong-marriage-possible/

I’ll bet they never anticipated a black President either. Or women voting.

“Treating all citizens equally has many different meanings. No culture can afford to treat all behavior patterns equally.”

No it doesn’t. Equally means equally. Unless you can think of a rational public interest in treating gay citizens differently from straight ones, it is constitutionally impermissible to offer marriage licenses to one group but not to the other.

OnLawn, you have enough trouble making your own arguments, let alone Sean’s.

Sean’s argument, since we speak in the third person on this website, is that same-sex couples are no less valuable to society as opposite-sex couples: both create families and raise children. Since procreation is not connected to marriage legally (no one has to be fertile and reproduce to get or stay married), opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples are, for the purposes of marriage, identical. Given that our nation’s constitution requires that all citizens be treated equally, and given that children are better off with married parents, there’s not really much to argue about here, is there?!