Because now EVERYONE is going to want to be gay because being gay is HOT! Who the hell would be straight when they can be gay? And gay folks don't have families which is why gay couples want to get married. Ah the logic.

On a less sarcastic note, it is interesting given all the problems with the gay pride parade. It must be wonderful to live in a country where the judiciary is in step with the progressive public (and the concept of equality and justice).

Yediot Ahronot, the Israeli equivalent of the New York Post, published a headline that said, "Soldiers Disciplined for Gay Orgy on Base," detailing how officers came across conscripts a gay orgy and everyone got busted.

Yael Dayan called for an investigation of the officers, as sodomy was decriminalized in the 80s, and gays can openly serve in the Israeli military. If the privacy of soldiers had been compromised and soldiers had been disciplined, it would have been a serious violation of Israeli law.

The investigation brought to light a number of facts. The first was that it wasn't a gay orgy. Two pairs of soldiers had performed oral sex on each other in public, and in full view of many other soldiers. And the soldiers involved weren't actually gay. The public oral sex was a result of a frat boy dare. And the discipline was especially harsh because by making out gay sex to be a big joke, something to be horribly humiliated about in a dare, these soldiers might have hurt the feelings of the actually gay soldiers on base.

Try imagining that at Fort Lewis.

Treaties are like that. They override state and federal laws.

Including DOMA.

Wow, that sounds really, uh, hot!

I’m no authority on heterosexuality (I really don’t know anything about it other than rumors and gossip), but I can’t imagine four straight GI guys sucking each other off in front of a crowd on a dare. Do you have a link? And video? (!)

Will in Seattle,

It’s very expensive and time consuming to move to Canada even if one is so inclined. We shouldn’t have to move to a foreign country to obtain the benefits of marriage, and the idea that a treaty might protect us is a shaky legal theory at best. Bigots can always find a way to justify and legalize discrimination, just ask Barbara Madsen.

As Bill Maher said a few weeks ago “It’s time for the US to stop telling everyone we’re the greatest country in the world and start acting like it.”

I know we had to be quiet and meek during the election campaign (from March - November), but its ok now, right?

...or maybe it's too early. Maybe we need to wait longer to demand anything from the Democrats. Thats probably it. Yeah they'll get around to us later...I'm sure of it. We didn't make them look bad and consequently they won the election, so when they are ready, the Dems will do the right thing.

They probably shouldn't criticize Mitt Romney too much right now though. That might look bad.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061121/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians

It is, of course, a great thing that their society is open, and have open and progressive policies that benefit all Israelis, but perhaps they can treat their neighbors the same way.

I love how people make words sound less offensive. Land grabs become settlemets and occupiers become settlers. Same in Iraq, Mercenaries become " civilian contractors".

No one says that Israel shoulnt defend themselves. No one says that terrorism against the Israeli state is ever justified. But blind support for everything Israel does is just plain stupid. But if you think the genocidal policies being carried out in the West Bank are nothing, than I guess there is not much to debate.

But read the article, its simple. They stole the land and then claimed it was unclaimed.

They demolish homes, shoot people on sight, including women and children and they allow settlers to roam armed shooting at unarmed Palestinians.

To be fair, I will say that you have some very valid points, but you fail to address the occupation, the brutality of the Israeli policy and the effect this has on the population.

Yes, a lot of the Arab world uses the Palestinian’s suffering as a way to rally fanatics to their cause, but at the same time they treat Palestinians like dirt in their own countries. One of the only countries that welcomed them and offered them some sort of humane treatment is Iraq and they fled there when the first bombs started falling. I wholeheartedly agree with you that a workable deal was offered to Arafat, it wasn’t perfect and it did not allow for the return of the expelled Palestinians from Jordan, but considering that they were a defeated people, it was the best that they were going to get. It is simplistic to say that it was due to corruption.

But the supremacist view of you and your fellow conservatives that the Arabs are to blame and thus they must be punished through a brutal occupation that by the way created the conditions that gave birth to fanatics and lunatics and religious fanatics. Funny enough homophobic religious freaks here agree with you wholeheartedly when it comes to Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians. It is not necessary for you conservatives to agree, but at least you should try to understand the devastating results of an occupation.

Iraq, an occupation which you and your fellow conservatives (like Sullivan) now oppose offers you a clear view of what happens to a humiliated population. And again, I am in no way saying that it justifies suicide bombing, but I’m sure you know that I’m not saying that.

To turn a blind eye to Israel’s brutality and supremacist attitudes towards the Palestinians is to continue to contribute what surely one day will be world war 3.

Conservatives might not be aware but there are plenty of moderate Arabs in the Arab world, and most are pushed against the wall by brutal occupations and corrupt Arab governments that are supported by our country. Iran was a great example of this, and there was hope to bring the moderates to power there, but again the conservative view that Arabs or Persians in Iran’s case are blood thirsty freaks contributes to the brutal situation that we find ourselves.

Finally the, they bought it argument is silly. Read today's NYTIMES. Most settlements are on Arab owned land. That’s the equivalent of saying we bought the land from the Native

But I wanted to point out something within Israel that is funny yet pathetic. If you read the story, you'll see that only gay couples married outside the country will have their marriages recognized. And for the foreseeable future anyway, there will be no gay weddings in the country? Why? For the same reason that there will be no secular or non-Orthodox hetero Jewish weddings in the country. The country's chief rabbis have a lock on the marriage biz in the country, and they fight tooth and nail to keep control of it. Ceremonies performed in the country by someone besides an Orthodox rabbi (any other rabbis might as well be uncircumcised heathens - particularly the female rabbis, who are at least uncircumcised...) are not recognized by the state, which is why you find a lot of secular Israelis traveling to Cyprus, Greece, Europe, anywhere besides their own country really, to tie the knot.