I wanted to make this thread because I'm happy and excited! Finally, after decades of trying...New York has finally legalized Gay Marriages.

It's about time, people should be able to date/marry whoever they want. Not being able to is discrimination and I thought this country was against that.

I just hope this doesn't get overruled.

How do you guys feel about gay marriages not only in New York but in general?

I think gays are normal, and I like them. I'm not even a little bit creeped out, not even close. 

Woot, is it really legalized in NY?! Neat =D

And this is what I will say... Love is love. No matter what.

Yeah, it was legalized either yesterday or the day before. There's gay celebration going on all over New York....it makes me want to get involved in Civil Rights. If this was possible then anything can be.

I'm sort of meh about the whole situation. You can legalize everything you want to but that isn't going to change the way people treat the LBGT community and it's not going to change the opinion of a lot of religious groups out there.

I am happy for the LGBT community in New York, and I hope that the ruling holds unlike in California... I am still really bitter about Prop 8 because they had so many lies in those campaign ads... ugh.

I am just picturing Jon Stewart's bit on this... "Take that, California!"

I have a few gay and les friends, so I'm ok with it. People should have the right to live their lives as they please, as long as they don't deprive other people's rights (that excludes murders etc though, lets keep it logical,lol). So yeah, I think it was a good thing
But geeogree has a point. Legislation can change, but people's minds don't change that easy. It might take long time, before there will be a true equalization, not just in lows, but in daily life.

I've been accepting of the LGBT community for a long time, but I'm also a person who takes people for what they are.

Sadly, even though this allows you to get married on paper, it doesn't change a hell of a lot. People can still be together, just now they have the ability to say they are married. At the end of the day, the fear and hate is still there.

However, this is a big step forward, one day they will be seen as equals, it may take a while, but it will happen

legacyme3 : "one day they will be seen as equals, it may take a while, but it will happen"

I disagree. That's like saying racism is going to go away. It's not. People are just too afraid to be openly racist anymore so they use more subtle ways of going about it.

True equality can never be legislated. If that is the route that the minority groups hope to accomplish this goal then it will fail in my opinion. I'm not saying they shouldn't try and fight for equality but I don't think this route is going to actually change anyone.

That might be true, but it is a step in the right direction. You have to work with other methods as well, but the legal victories do a lot to lay foundation for them to work with. Racism and homophobia seems to be most rampant when the people involved don't really know anything about the people they hate... it's xenophobia.

Well, this might be randomly off-topic, but yet on topic, so don't mind me. 

I know equality will never exist in the deaf culture, and for that, I accept, and the society knows us, and accepts us, with the exception of the method of communication. There are 'ableists', who are "racist" against disabilities such as blindness and deafness, but that group is dwindling to a very small portion, and I've never met one. Now, in this topic... Gays are not close to that stage. There are still a lot of homophobic people out there, and I'm not friends of them, but I do know some, and they're still common in this society. Now, my point of this paragraph is that I highly doubt they'll be as complete equal as other people. Us deafs will never be equal. Ever. Unless someone invent a way to magically make us hear and speak. But, I do truly hope gays can reach that stage of society where 99.9% of the population accept them as normal. I can believe that even in 1000 years, there will be still some rare homophobic people. 

Wow, I think I rambled. oh jeesh.   

geeogree :

When I say as equals, I basically mean they will be treated with a level of quasi/semi-respect. Similar to the racism, sexism, and even religion cards.

As a minority myself, (being an atheist), I realize we will never be seen as true equals, but we have reached a level of quasi respect where we aren't being attacked as much through hate crimes. As long as there are people who are different, people will hate. They hate because they don't know.

There are some people I do not like, I will say that right now, but to me it's come clear that my hatred won't make them go away, so I've learned to tolerate them for the most part.

As for others, they continue to hate, but I say it all in terms of relativity. Racism used to be a major major issue, to the point they couldn't do anything, but they slowly gained rights, and now under American law, they are at least given the same unalienable rights. There will always be people who debate it, as there will always be two sides to the same story.

However, this is a step forward in gay rights, and it's only the beginning, as eventually, gay marriage will be legalized country wide, just as civil rights for blacks were.

.... I really hate when people treat the black civil rights issues as a comparable thing to gay rights...

gays have all the same rights that straight people do. Blacks didn't. They aren't even remotely comparable as an issue.

geeogree : Why is that?

Just like blacks and other minorities....gays can not change their sexual preference as minorities can not change the color of their skin.

Gays and Blacks are in the same boat as far as civil rights.

yeah, but sexual preference isn't something that you can see...

also, like I said before, gays have all the same rights as straight people do.

Blacks on the other hand actually had fewer rights and were segregated into a separate society from white people.

The idea is that they don't get the rights they are looking for.

Blacks were segregated, and were exiled, this is well known, and while it's not a true comparison, there is no denying that gays are in a situation in which they aren't given the rights they want.

I don't know what military policy is anymore, because I gave up hope on it a while ago, prefering peaceful diplomacy, but I believe they operate on "Don't ask, don't tell." (this isn't to point out that they are being excluded, like blacks were, it's more to point out that you can't see it), which makes it even more ridiculous that people think they can discriminate against it. I could never understand how one could discriminate based on their race, religion, or sexual orientation. Seriously, what's the big deal?

which rights do straight people have that gays don't?

also, the comparison is totally off. Gays want the right to marry... blacks wanted the right to use the same entrances or washrooms or water fountains, or to not be killed simply because of the color of their skin. They wanted to feel safe in their homes and not wonder if a mob of white people were going to take any of them away and drag them behind a car until they died.

Have bad things happened to gay people? Yeah. But to compare the 2 is ludicrous in my mind.

The main one that gets cited, as it is the most common, is hospital rights. When someone gets in an accident and goes to the ER and ends up in Intensive Care, only immediate family (spouse, parent/guardian, or child) is allowed access them or their records... anyone else cannot even be told what their status is. Gay couples found that it didn't matter if they had been partners for decades, the hospitals would not budge. Civil unions tried to alleviate the issue, but didn't really succeed. Taxes are another big thing... you get major perks for "married, filing jointly" as opposed to single, divorced, etc. There is no box for "civil union" and you legally cannot check "married" unless you are.

The problem that will still exist until gay marriage is legal nationwide, is that just because you are married in the state of New York or Vermont, or where ever... does not necessarily mean that marriage will be recognized in a state that banned gay marriage. So what does that mean? No vacations in Texas? Be super ultra careful whenever you leave your state lest an accident happens?

As opposed to a heterosexual marriages, which are recognized everywhere. You and your wife can go anywhere and gods forbid, but if something happens, you would be able to sit at her bedside, have the doctors tell you what is going on, and be able to weigh in on her treatment to ensure she is taken care of.

Sorry to double post, but it wouldn't let me edit.

geeogree : There was also a marriage issue in the Civil Rights movement... interracial marriage was actually illegal in several states in one point, and those laws were not overturned until the Supreme Court case Loving v Virginia in 1967. Even interracial sex outside of marriage was illegal (it was a felony in Alabama). Anyone who was of mixed race (via the ever so popular 1 Drop Rule) legally could not marry anyone. And these rulings were upheld by both state and federal Supreme Courts until the Loving ruling was handed down.

So yes, the suffering that blacks went through was significantly more widespread, but there are points of similarity. Laws have already been passed that make it illegal not to hire someone because they are gay, to make violence against gays a hate crime, to bar entrance of gays to a place because they are gay discrimination... all those things that protect minorities and women thanks to the Civil Rights movement were easily applied to gays (and a bit of extra protection after the brutal murder of Mathew Shepard). Marriage is just a much harder battle because more people were willing to allow a black guy to marry a white woman than to see two guys marry each other.

I think this is great i'm happy to hear this.
Gays deserve the right to be married if they love each other
I don't see hows it's diffrent then too streight people getting married.
I hope that soon everywhere in the world allows gay marriage.
it's not right to stop anyone from getting married no matter what.

"it's not right to stop anyone from getting married no matter what."

are you sure about that?