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I'm likely to be a lone dissenter on this thread but here goes. I know Joe and Kevin personally (Joe used to work at my company...bright, hard working, friendly and nice person. Kevin as well. We actually postponed the go-live date of our e-commerce site so they could go on their "honeymoon" and we're a very large organization) and am genuinely happy for them. These guys are not flamboyant in-your-face folks in the least. They simply feel that after being in a committed relationship for many years they deserve the same status as a non-gay couple. They are not particularly political people but I can tell you this: they genuinely love each other and just want to spend their lives together and enjoy success in their careers. I wish them nothing but happiness and good health.

I know a lot of people here have a serious problem with gay "marriage" (and yes, I too wish we could find another term for it but who needs to play word games) and frankly, until I got to know these two I was less than comfortable with it as well. But you know something? It doesn't really affect my life or my family in the least, and if you all think about it, it really doesn't effect yours either. I know that some will feel this is a blow to "family values" and I respect the opinion, but think about it: whose family values? My family values were learned from my parents; namely, be a good person, work hard, respect others for who they are, believe in G-d and try to give something back to your community. I can't see how anything anyone else does should in any way counteract that.

This may be hard for people whose only exposure to gays has been pictures of guys dressed up like the Queen at a Pride parade, or some hideous left-wing activist that, face it, if they weren't gay would be trying to screw up society from some other front, but not all gays want to have a promiscuous lifestyle and get in people's faces. It appears some, and I know this to be the case with Joe and Kevin, had "family values" of committment and respect instilled in them by their families.

As for the Rev. Hawkes, my understanding is that he's been in a committed relationship for something like 15 years and has made church a place of worship and support for many who felt they had nowhere to go but felt a strong need to stay close to the church. He was also a major player in the process of turning Toronto's Pride Week into a non-political and relatively tame outdoor street party that attracts not only gays from across North America but also a huge cross section of Toronto's population. Hey, we get a short summer up here and will take just about any excuse to party outside,a nd Pride Week is now possibly the largest festival in town, matched probably only by our Carribean Caribana festival. Oh, and if you like gospel music you have to hear Hawkes' church choir...they can bring tears to your eyes.

Anyway, not to seem to be poking anyone in the eye, but I'm glad for Joe and Kevin. They've wanted to put this challenge behind them and just enjoy their lives together and I wish them all the best. Not the way I live, but hey, that's them and they deserve happiness too, IMHO.

Cherres for a good weekend, all!

As for the Rev. Hawkes, my understanding is that he's been in a committed relationship for something like 15 years and has made church a place of worship and support for many who felt they had nowhere to go but felt a strong need to stay close to the church.

They can "worship" all they want, but until they repent and change, God is not hearing them.

they genuinely love each other

Sodomites confuse natural love and sex. They genuinely lust for one another. Read Romans 1.

Actually, I know many gay people, some of whom are also in longterm committed relationships. Personally, I live and let live. What bothers me is that important societal issues like this should be dealt with in the political process, through open, democratic debate. It is poisonous for them to be dealt with by judicial fiat. If America decides to legalize gay marriage through the democratic process then whatever consequences accrue will have to be dealt with accordingly. But this decision should not be imposed upon us by decree.

EWWWWWWWW. don't you feel somehow dirty after having to deal with them.

Those two are afflicted by choice with Same-sex Attraction Disorder and you are enabling them to remain sick rather than be healed. You should be ashamed of yourself. (I'm ashamed of you)

Any exposure of children to homsexual behavior is child abuse.

God Save America (Please)