Reply #10: Exactly [View All]

That's exactly right, of course.

But I think it's good for gay marriage. Most of the opposition to allowing same-sex couples to marry comes from religious feeling and fears that their religion or their church would be forced to do something that goes against their beliefs.

The reality, of course, is that no such thing would happen. There are already lots of state-sanctioned and recognized marriages that individual churches won't perform, and there is nobody trying to force them to. First cousins (in some states), or interfaith relationships, and even interracial relationships. And that's fine. Freedom of religion.

It's critical to get across that this isn't about religion and that people who are for same-sex marriage are just as against the state telling churches what to do as those who are against it.

Correcting the misperception that "gay marriage" is about forcing churches to marry gay couples would go a long way, I think, towards reducing the opposition to equal treatment under the law for gay couples.