I hope that gay marriage is allowed in the entire US from this day onwards. If they want to get married, than they should be able to...especially in a country that claims to be the land of the free. I thought that even conservatives would be in favor of marriage...after all they say it is a sacred bond between 2 people (never mind the gender)...so let them be bonded. So why can't we all just get along and have some fun? Here in Holland we try to...

Divorce attorneys are behind the same sex marriage.

This is not Holland. We here try to live the basic laws of God. Where the commandment given in the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" Genesis 1:28. And also the commandment "Thou shalt not commit adultery." and "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s." Being gay or lesbian you cannot keep these commandments. So if man says it's ok it is still wrong in the eyes of our creator and we would have to face his judgment sooner or later.

Utah has no business telling other states how to regulate marriage.

Why don't you worry about keeping your own house clean, and let GOD be the judge of everyone else. K?

The biblical reference you quoted was referring to a beast of burden not a posterior.

Oh, and why is the government in the marriage business? Sounds socialist to me. Are you a socialist?

This letter is to the people of Utah. Please don't tell us what to do. From here it looks like your state has plenty of other issues to deal with. Utah is dealing with significant probems with pollution, depression, bankruptcies, polygamy, etc. etc. Nobody likes it when another state tries to tell it what to do. Please mind your own business.

What's the big hurry when it was a narrow decision for gay marriage in California?

Hurray for the political process!

If CA voters choose to make only hetero marriage legal, won't the courts still have the ability to say it's unconstitutional? It's the purpose of a 3 branch government.

Legalize morality is extremely difficult unless it is based on equality for all. Laws are created to protect the minority, not the majority. The majority already has protection.

We can be a funny state. Mormons came here in 1847 when it was part of Mexico to circumvent federal influence, as Mormons were the minority.

Go California and Mass!

To Anonymous, Utah's not telling CA what they can and can't do, they were just asking CA to put off implementing the ruling so that UT can prepare for the lawsuits that are going to happen as a result of CA's decision. Basically they're asking CA to hold off for a while so that CA's ruling doesn't affect UT (the opposite of what you accuse UT of trying to do).

To Dave, when gays and lesbians made marriage a political issue, the government has every right to get in the marriage business. Remember, it wasn't the conservatives that started making a stink out of it, it was the GLBT community.

Californian wrote:

"This letter is to the people of Utah. Please don't tell us what to do. From here it looks like your state has plenty of other issues to deal with. Utah is dealing with significant probems with pollution, depression, bankruptcies, polygamy, etc. etc. Nobody likes it when another state tries to tell it what to do. Please mind your own business."

I have to agree. Utah had no right telling California what to do. Just as Utah would not like it if California told us what to do.

On behalf of the people of Utah, I apologize. Also, go Lakers!!

This letter is to the people of California. Please don't tell us what to do. From here it looks like your state has plenty of other issues to deal with. California is dealing with significant probems with pollution, depression, bankruptcies, illegal aliens, etc. etc. Nobody likes it when another state tries to tell it what to do. Please mind your own business.

So California gets to set the agenda for every other state now? We can live in a free country and can be free to have our own opinion as long as it dosent go against the California happy living agenda! Please government sanction my life style "choice" because my church and the moral police won't.

Many LDS seem to forget that in the pre-existence the War in Heaven was about freedom of choice. Forcing someone to your moral standard is not God's way but Satan's way. Therefore I'd say let California do what it wants and Utah should stay out of it. Forcing people to be moral will never work. I don't trust anyone that wants to force their morality on me because they seem to forget other moral issues like Health Care, Immigration, Tax Breaks for the Rich, and War and think it's OK for the poor to pay in all these areas while the rich get a break.

Eleven score and two years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil debate on gay marriage, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great technological battlefield of that debate. Many have died to protect the equality and liberty of all. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that the honored dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth; that all men may be created equal in word as well as in very deed as we remove the shackles which have kept many from enjoying the full blessings of liberty and equality in marriage.

Because I strongly support traditonal marriage, I also strongly support gay marriage.

And as a Sacramento, California resident, I welcome gays in Utah and elsewhere to come here to get married and receive the same legal benefits that are enjoyed by those who are in traditional marriages. CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME!

Dear California Supremes,

We the people of California told you what we wanted. Remember Prop 22. It passed not by a narrow margins, but by 22% more than the opposition. In a narrowest margin possible (4-3), you have decided to thwart the will and voice of the people. I encourage all people from all states to stand up for the rights of the people to pass laws they feel are appropriate.

Sincerely,
Torrance CA

P.S. Just so UTHANS don't feel too bad. CA has other problems too: teenage pregnacy, gangs, foreclosures, lack of affordable housing, energy policy, water policy, growth policy, emminent domain, government corruption, illegal immigrants, nanny-state laws, democrats run amok, unions controlling public policy, and the State is bankrupt not just the citizens.

Simply put, the California court just negated the majority vote in California statsting that " Marriage is between a one man and one woman" because it was a law not an amendment to the State Constitution. The judges simply stated, to bad folks, we can strike your vote down. In November, the Constitutional Amendment will be voted on and passed. THe judges want to cause as much trouble as possible for all by not staying the execution of the order untill November . Time for the folks to take back the legislature and courts to keep men in black robes from ruling by fiat.

Gays think that if they can legally marry it will somehow make their lifestyle not immoral. It won't. The millions of people who believe homosexuality is wrong will keep believing it's wrong whether it's legal or not. The truly sad thought is that children raised by gays are the ones that suffer. Every child needs a MOTHER and a FATHER. Every gay person I know had a mother and a father. Why do they think it's ok to deny their children of this need.

I applaud the CA Court's denial to stay their decision.

Yes the Utah courts will now have to grapple with issues related to CA couples marrying and moving/returning to Utah. (This is on the horizon for Utah courts anyway, whatever the CA court's decision had been because of Mass. marriages.) More significant, It seems to me, is that the Court's denial now reframes the debate. It will now be a more difficult hurdle for those pushing the measure to amend the CA constitution. Actual, real couples will marry. When people are asked to vote to remove rights from people---rights that are already in place, they tend to be more reluctant.

Still might happen, but its a harder sell.

Gay and lesbians have always wanted the right to get married. It is just lately that they have tried and when conservatives were upset, CONSERVATIVES passed a law to prohibit it. The courts were then called upon to determine whether the law was constitutional. It wasn't.

The government has always been in the marriage business. They are the ones granting rights and privileges to married couples.

God won't ever recognize gay marriage, nor will I. It doesn't and will never exist to him. There is no such thing in his realm.

No matter what laws we create or how we redefine marriage, that won't change true marriage as defined, ordained, and upheld by God.

No gay marriage in California, any other American state, or foreign land, will be recognized in one state--the state of Heaven.

Sorry miscreants, your political lobbying is abhorred by the ruler of the Heavens, though for a time you are free to choose wickedness over happiness on Earth, even those days of petitioning for acceptance of your wrongdoing are numbered. He will never accept your state of sodomy. You may fool yourself, but He knows your lies and your choice to depart from the sanctity of holy matrimony. I'm sad for you, but your hope lies in changing your ways, not in me accepting you self-defeatist attitude.

Utah needs to mind its own business. Please keep your narrow intolerant behavior behind the Zion curtain.

To - Just Sayin' | 8:28 a.m. June 5, 2008.

This would not be an issue if Utah would mind its own business and stay behind the Zion curtain. For all I care you can have as many wives as you want.

Anonymous 6:49am and Califorian- Neither Utah, nor anybody else is telling California how to do their business. What California does with this is clearly being determined by the CA Supreme Court (as stated in the article). The actions of the California Supreme Court, however, do impact other states. Any and all of those states are well within their rights to make a request for a stay until November.
As for freedom to do whatever you want, you are sadly deluded to think that the Constitution guarantees such rights. I have not read anywhere in the U.S. Constitution the right to marry whomever and what ever one wants; it is one of those rights reserved for the states. I don't know about the California constitution, but I doubt it says anything at this point.
It is true that this is government by the people. It should be obvious that there are certain rights which are not absolute, such as your right to hold another person in servitude even if the people generally agree it is O.K. You don't have the right to dance naked in the street. The government actually does have the right to legalize morality.

Anetelope Island or Catalina Island? Pineview or the Pacific? Lagoon or Laguna Beach? Droughts or Disneyland?

As for me and my house, we will choose California.

To Matt Mo and Others:

In Mexico and other nations, the state only recognizes marriages by officers of the court, not ministers of religion. To be sealed in an LDS temple in Mexico and elsewhere, one must be married by a justice of the peace first. And of course, most such civil marriages don't involve LDS (or active LDS). Similarly, the California decision only involves civil marriages, not religious ones, and in no way forces the LDS church to seal gay married couples in the temple, and therefore does NOT affect or harm LDS marriages at all.

Have you studied the history of marriage? Do you understand research that looks deep into the well-being of individuals? Or are you simply shouting the rhetoric of the day?

You ask why government is in the marriage business. The history of marriage from day one was instituted by religious organization, not government. HOWEVER, the wellbeing of civilization and its converse decline, rests upon the health of society's marriages. Thus, governments choose to protect society by regulating marriage. The reason marriage is the bedrock of healthy societies is that it’s also the seedbed of our next generation. In truth, healthy marriages provide sound children. I'm not stating my own opinion, but the results of countless studies.

Our next generation's wellbeing comes from homes where there is a married biological father and mother who care for their offspring. This is the most secure environment for the rising generation; this is the foundation of stable societies. Government has every right to regulate the safety of society. Rather than personal gratification, our focus should be on the security of our nation’s children.

For More information read Harvard’s “Alone Together: How marriage is changing in America.”

To MattMo and others:

It is not the responsibility (nor the right) of government under the US constitution to use the police powers of the State to enforce God's commandments, as we LDS (or anyone else) sees them. Otherwise, government could imprison those who dare to divorce, stone those who dare to commit adultery, fine those who dare to break the sabbath (never mind which sabbath--LDS, Seventh Day Adventist/Jewish, or Moslem), swear, break the Word of Wisdom, have "dirty" thoughts, etc. All of these "violations" of God's laws involve Holiness, i.e., what we do WITH others or by ourselves. The police powers of the State should only be used to enforce Morality, i.e., what we do TO others against their will. So if you don't like gay marriage, don't marry a gay person, or don't support temple sealings for gays. But don't make gay marriage illegal because it violates your sense of holiness.

Well said, Greg.

I would add that marriage equality already exists as presently constituted. Last I checked, anyone who wants to get married has the right to do so. Any man is able to marry a woman. And any woman is able to marry a man. Since everyone fits in the gender categories of man or woman, marriage is equally available to all, so this isn't a matter of equal rights, Abraham, clearly the lesser.

Huh Gays making marriage a political issue sorry it seems that the mormons made marriage a political issue way back when they anted to become a state but had to discontinue multiple marriages in order to become a state thats like way political if you ask me

Marriage Equality already exists
that is the dumbest argument that you all seem to keep putting out it makes no sense but then most f your arguments don't either

so what you are saying is I should marry someone I am not attracted o so that I can share all I have with them think about it its is a stupid argument

besides I have been there and It only created hurt and misery on both sides but I guess thats what you want

I totally agree.

That Californians-it's OK, I used to be one myself-are telling us to keep our morals to our own state. Gay activists are already proclaming their intent to have gays from other states come to CA, get married, return home and file suit to have their marriages recognized under the "full faith and credit" clause of the Constitution.
So who is imposing whose morals on who?

"Gays think that if they can legally marry it will somehow make their lifestyle not immoral."

Wrong! We already think that we are moral. We just want to live our lives with all the rights and privileges that everyone is suppose to enjoy in this great ol' USA. We are all suppose to be equal. You can get married to the person that you love and enjoy all sorts of rights, but we can't. Why? Because some of you think that we are not good enough.

"God won't ever recognize gay marriage, nor will I. It doesn't and will never exist to him. There is no such thing in his realm"

I find it interesting that anyone supposes they know what exists in "God's realm"
Didn't he once say to Isaiah "...your ways are not my ways"?
He may very well have established a model of procreation for humans here on earth, but you can't honestly suppose that defines the sum and whole of all things Godly.

Kev,

No one is forcing you to get married.

The argument is simply that you already have equal rights to marry under the constituted format of marriage (Being between a man and a woman), just like the rest of us have that same right. Therefore, You cannot logically or justly argue that marriage equality is already available to you. Furthermore, that right has nothing to do with the happiness of any relationship.

If you choose to be with someone of the same sex, it is you who have forfeited the right of what marriage is (And what real marriage always will be).

By no means should you intrepret this as a request that you go and marry someone who you don't love and make both parties miserable. That would be stupid.

If you were happy in your gay relationship than you wouldn't need the government's approving label. It is you who just can't be pleased. Happiness is a choice. It is your right to be happy and it is just too bad that you choose not to be whether you are in a marriage or out of one.

Do you suppose that God makes laws He doesn't follow?

We may not know all God's ways, but He has clearly revealed his answer to this law (If commanded in this realm it naturally perpetuates what exists in the next realm if bound by God):

Matthew 19:3-5 (See also, Gen. 2:24)- Jesus says--

" 3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?"

OR Mark 10:6-9

6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;

8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

First of all, there is nothing in the constitution about marriage, period.
We are however, a nation built on the idea that citizens have a right to pursue happiness.
Since a relationship with someone of the opposite sex is NOT a state of happiness for someone who is gay, then government sponsered support of ONLY heterosexual relationships, is a violation of the principals upon which this nation was founded.

Also, for those studying the history of government involment in marragie, it was established for the purpose of conveying property. It has always primarily been a financial institution--from the perspective of government. Therefore to deny gays the same financial benefits is wrong.

The very nice couple in their 70s I know that just got married, certianly didn't have the idea of raising children foremost in their thoughts.

It is amusing to read the comments. The ruling of the Crazy courts here in Calif is like a comedy of errors. We can really worry when these marriages start to reproduce by natural means.

To Matt MO:

I am sorry you have such a narrow-minded view of the world. I am gay--and proud of it. I am in a long-term, monogamous and loving relationship. And believe it or not, I am fully able to keep God's commandments.

I have never committed adultery. I have never coveted my neighbours house, wife, manservant, maidservent, ox, ass or anything else. I honor my mother and father (who are proud of me and my partner--and they are LDS). I have never killed anyone. Do I need to continue?

When you say that being gay or lesbian makes it so you cant live those commandments--it is offensive. I am doing a whole lot better at living these commandments than a lot of heterosexuals. You need to come up with a better argument.

To God reveals enough knowledge:

I'm not quite sure why you're injecting religion into the discussion at hand. I get that you have a religious objection to same-sex couples marrying, as is your right.

But not all people, not all religious people, not all Christians, not even all LDS object to same-sex couples marrying. So why should your particular religious view be legislated above others?

I was privileged to help my brother's ex-wife raise their children. They are beautiful, contributing, moral people. The only problems of a major nature came into the family dressed in suits, holding the priesthood and telling their mom that she should have consulted men in the raising of her family. That two women, no matter how capable (and I'm wholly capable and then some)could compare to the influence of men on the family. All hell broke loose when the children stood up for their mom and she caved and lost all sense of self-respect.

What a lovely commentary on this community. Leave a woman alone to raise her kids with her ex-sil's help, then destroy it with gobbeldygook presented as doctrine.

Marriage is commitment and NOT adultry Matt Mo. And wherever do you get off saying not coveting is impossible for gays? Do you know what coveting is? Certainly no one will be coveting you.

to all you narrow minded, liberal Californians, we aren't telling you what to do. we were asking your kangaroo, oops, I mean supreme court to wait until YOU can have your say, which is scheduled for November, so that YOUR actions don't have negative effects on us.

The fact that the four kangaroos on the CA court didn't even cite a reason for not granting the delay says they are much more interested in legislating from the bench than they are in listening to the will of the CA voter.

Since I'm past the age of bearing children, are you saying my impending marriage shouldn't take place?

I don't understand your take on gays not being able to keep the commandments you cited, but I'm guessing it's quite likely no one of any ilk will be coveting your ass any time soon.

Good point Stupidity, no wonder you're not happy,

Again, no one said you can't be in a relationship. The government does allow and therefore support homosexual relationships, we just don't call it marriage, which would be a violation of what marriage is, and a violation of the principles on which this nation was founded, by married persons.

If you want money from the government, claim your stupidity check with the welfare department like every other single person.

Dear Y, sure am glad I don't live in the realm you describe.

Why is it that people think they can read God's mind? It must be rather tiring to have to be benevolent and tolerant of such foolishness all the time.

You do realize that in 50 years you'll be seen in the same light as the racists are today, right?

Homophobia will be relegated to a quaint, backward position that will make your grandchildren cringe with embarrassment when you spout your hatred. The world is changing, and for the better--get used to it or you're in for a very bumpy ride.

Justification on here is hillarious...

The dictionary defines fornication as sexual intercourse between partners who are not married to each other. Sexual activity with persons of the same sex is therefore not only homosexual but also fornication. The bible commands against, and condemns fornication like unto adultery.

Yes God, don't you hate being called a homophobe. You do realize when people want to marry their dogs, man's best lover, in fifty years, those who oppose it will be considered backwards. Those for it, will claim that unless you are a dog lover, literally, you are no better than the racists. Yeah, God is the one who should fear because He is so backwards. Please!

Gays already have equal rights. You want special rights. You should be afraid, because I do accept you as a person, but I have no guilt for not accepting your actions, that is your fear before homophobes like God.