THE TOP TEN REASONS TO MAKE GAY MARRIAGE ILLEGAL

This one is for the Mormon and Catholic churches for broadcast at the next sermon.

THE TOP TEN REASONS TO MAKE GAY MARRIAGE ILLEGAL

1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed, like many of the principles on which this great country was founded: women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of marriages like Britney Spears’ 55-hour, just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry, because our orphanages aren’t full yet and the world will implode without more children.

7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.

9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society, and we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

Other Religious Leaders Call Out The Catholic Church

After threatening to discontinue their social services through Catholic Charities because of the same-sex marriage bill in Washington D.C, other religious leaders are calling out the Catholic church for their disgraceful actions.Reverend Dr. Dennis W. Wiley, Pastor of the Covenant Baptist Church just released the following statement:
“Yesterday, the leadership of the Catholic Church made clear that they are choosing a cynical political ploy over their call to serve the neediest among the community.
"Members of the Church hierarchy announced that they will prohibit Catholic Charities from providing services to D.C. residents if the D.C. City Council decides to recognize all married couples as equal under law. If it indeed takes this step, the leadership of the Catholic Church will be turning their backs on thousands of D.C. Catholics and other D.C. residents who embrace all of our neighbors and seek to provide for them in times of need.
“The Catholic Church hierarchy is at a crossroads: they must decide whether they are in the charity business for charity's sake, or if imposing their will on the D.C. City Council and the citizens of the District is their primary interest.”

Is SkyWest Airlines Discriminating Against Gay Employees … Because of Mormon Rules?

Is SkyWest Airlines Discriminating Against Gay Employees … Because of Mormon Rules?



Gilbert Caldwell and David Farrell are one of those rare species: a legally married couple under California state law. (Together they represent 0.0055556 percent of their kind.) Together for three years and domestic partners since 2002, they wed in June 2008, before Prop 8 shut things down a year ago this week. So how come Cadwell, 56, isn't able to offer Farrell, 72, free flights on the airline SkyWest, his employer that offers that very perk to hetero married couples?

Good question! And it's one this duo want answered, since state law requires legally married gay couples and domestic partnerships to be treated the same as hetero married couples in things like housing, insurance, and, yep, employment.

Working for SkyWest since 2004, Caldwell, a baggage agent based in Palm Springs, is only able to score discounted flights for Farrell, but not free ones like he'd be able to if Farrell were his bride. Which has the couple weighing a discrimination lawsuit against the airline if it doesn't change its policy.


SkyWest, meanwhile, maintains that Farrell is Cladwell's "travel companion." You know, like carry-on baggage or a small dog. The airline also argues that its regional partner, Delta, refuses to grant equal benefits to gay spouses. (Caldwell sent both airlines letters asking for clarification.) Though as the Cladwell's Lambda Legal attorney Tara Borelli notes (and the SF Chronicle paraphrases), "SkyWest's explanation is hard to believe because Delta has a policy of treating its own gay and lesbian employees equally."

Now, it's a complete coincidence that SkyWest, which flies to more than 150 cities in North America, is based in the Mormon state of Utah, right? And that SkyWest's chief executive, Jerry Atkin, is a LDS member himself? Not that we're insinuating all Mormons hate the gays, but a top businessman dubbed a "famous Mormon" would, seemingly, subscribe to the church's anti-gay marriage stance.


UPDATE: Queerty checked the database of Prop 8 donors, and what'd we find? A $5,000 contribution from a an attorney named J. Ralph Atkin from St. George, Utah, where SkyWest is based. (The donation to ProtectMarriage.com was recorded Oct. 28, 2008.) And just who is J. Ralph Atkin? Oh, just the founder of a little airline company called … SkyWest. He retired as CEO in 1991; the company was taken over by Ralph's nephew. His name is, oh, right, Jerry Atkin. Ah, it all makes sense now. (To be clear, Jerry's own name didn't turn up in the donors database.)

http://www.queerty.com/is-skywest-airlines-discriminating-against-gay-employees-because-of-mormon-rules-20091102/