[Hoot Gibson]

Sooner, I don't know how soon exactly of course, the Supreme Court will extend the equal protection clause to same sex marriages. It appears to me, Hoot, that your stilted view of the Constitution is a status quo document. Thank goodness your views were not heeded in the civil rights decisions. If you are a staunch states rights guy, who believes state sovereignty trumps individual rights, have the guts to say so. Quit hiding behind "judicial activism" and all that rant. Apparently, you would rather think of yourself as a "winner" because of quibble than honestly suggest why equal protection should not extend to same sex couples?

You apparently believe that debates can be won by intentionally crediting your target with positions that he has not taken. That won't fly here, CM. If you don't want to respond to the actual positions that I have taken, then don't bother responding at all. Just making up stuff and implying that I am a racist is not going to win you any points.

There are certain civil rights that are explicitly protected by the US Constitution and no state has the legal authority to deprive any individual of those rights. A universally government sanctioned marriage is not among those rights. IMO, any state has the constitutional right to eliminate the government's role in marriage if they so choose, including those among heterosexuals.

Using your poorly reasoned argument, it could be argued that states have no right to pass laws that are not identical to those of the 49 other states. Why? Because not having identical laws means that individuals who are residents of different states are not being treated equally. The purpose of the 14th Amendment is to ensure that no state infringes upon the rights that the US Constitution guarantees all people.

The 14th Amendment was never intended to create additional federally protected rights nor was it intended as a means to nullify the votes of state residents when those votes do not deprive anybody of their real constitutional rights. You and your socialist buddies are as wrong on this issue as you are on the economic theories that have been discredited repeatedly.