64 Responses to:
GAY MARRIAGE ISN'T THE PROBLEM

# 1. 5/10/12 7:25 AM by Nyal - Vestfold, Norway
What about Norway? We've embraced gay marriage years ago and the vast majority of children are out of wedlock - few bother getting married. Yet our nation scores at the very top of every list one caree to name. Over even my other nation, the USA. Where's the calamities foretold by prophets? We also abandoned god! Where's the high crime or drug use? The broken homes, the bad education, the high unemployment? We even have a lower welfare rate than in the states!

Editor's Note: yeah, but you guys have sucked since the vikings stopped sailing. and, no, this isn't your country. you're from salmon land. nice sweater, euro trash.

# 2. 5/10/12 7:29 AM by Bart - Webster
Good riddance Jim Alesi, and do let the door hit you in the butt on your way out. And don't forget the $450,000 you got for your vote on gay marriage.

# 3. 5/10/12 7:38 AM by Abner D

Birds of a feather ...

Look for Obama to join Cuomo in this year's Gay Pride Parade. Together they can sacrifice their children on the Altar Of Diversity.

# 4. 5/10/12 7:49 AM by OldVietVet - Rochester, NY
Restrict AFDC to married couples in need, and widows w/children in need. Prohibit all single people,male or female between ages of 18-50, from receiving any govt. welfare "aid" i.e. food stamps,rent subsidy, "free" education,free counseling,free medical care, free cellphones etc. Deport all unemployed foreigners,and their children,and all illegal aliens.Return unemployment payouts to the traditional 6 month max.Get the Government completely out of the communistic social engineering racket.And watch the marriage rate go way up.Of course none of this will happen.

# 5. 5/10/12 7:55 AM by Cal - Rochester, NY
Bob,

I think that, first Biden and then Obama, are worried about "stopped up toilets on the Titanic", as they are now proposing legalizing gay marriage! This seems like their first prioity as they rule over a decaying society! I say get rid of them, as well as Louise, in the next election next November! This would be the first step in the right direction!

# 6. 5/10/12 8:00 AM by Alan. - Geneva NY.
Exactly right. Great column, Bob.

# 7. 5/10/12 8:07 AM by Bart - Webster
In the future, suppose supporters of polygamy claim their civil right are being denied because marriage is limited to COUPLES only? They would point to biblical references of polygamy, acceptance of polygamy in other parts of the world and by other religions. The same politicians who caved in to gay marriage would cave in to polygamy so as to redefine marriage as between one or more man to one or more women.

# 8. 5/10/12 8:11 AM by GEORGE (THE OTHER ONE) - GANANOQUE ONTARIO CANADA
*

About twenty years ago I would have disagreed with you. It is amazing how 20 years of life experience will teach you what is right and wrong.

# 9. 5/10/12 8:19 AM by Matt - Rochester, NY
"Yes, it is a sign of just how far our culture and values have fallen."

You mean your values? And your culture? Talk about narrow minded, or maybe egocentric is the better word. Do your values also include numerous children by different women? What you define as "our" values and "our" culture don't include a vast majority of the people in this country. Live and let live. You don't like it, maybe you should go to a country like Iran and join their culture where they are against everything like this. America, land of the free! Free to be whatever you like. Free to marry who you want. Your views on this seem very un-American.

# 10. 5/10/12 8:34 AM by Paul - Rhode Island
I like a viewpoint expressed by some libertarians that government should get out of the marriage business.

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, render unto God the things that are God's".

The government should simply certify (and de-certify) civil unions as a financial and legal arrangement. The gender of the individuals involved should be at most a bookkeeping question.

If couples want to be married in the eyes of God, they can go to a church.

# 11. 5/10/12 8:34 AM by Ed Browne - Geneva, NY
Bob, I agree with you on the minimal overall importance of the issue. What I can not understand is how your side links work on your site. Why is there a link to "stand with Obama against a gay marriage ban" on your page? What happened to FUBO Bob?

Editor's Note: take it up with google. their ad algorithm picks the ads for that spot. sadly, it usually does it in a completely ridiculous fashion. i'd drop them, but, honestly, i need the $150 a month.

# 12. 5/10/12 8:37 AM by Scott - Henrietta, New York
Gay marriage is not about relationships. It's about politics, about in-your-face rebelling against our set society.

Gay marriage isn't the problem. It is only one of the signs and symptoms of the disease.

The Family, Mom, Dad, Children, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, this was our country's safety net for most of our history. Not Uncle Sugar with the check and the card.

However, people of all cultures have found the way onto the gravy train is by popping out children. Children that are seen as sources of income, not the precious individuals they truly are.

Stop rewarding sin.

Stop rewarding shacking up.

Stop rewarding out of wedlock births.

# 13. 5/10/12 8:41 AM
Obama will do anything to get votes. What do you call that? Where did that slime emerge from?

# 14. 5/10/12 8:42 AM by Debra - Bergen
Bob, thank you for saying what the rest of us are thinking. Amen

# 15. 5/10/12 8:43 AM by Original Lurker
Can't disagree, but I'd suggest the two are related in an attempt to make the abnormal accepted and normal. You see both being shown as normal in TV, movies, and society, and righteous people of any or no religion need to continuously stand against that.

# 16. 5/10/12 8:53 AM by S J - Rochester, NY
While most conservative commentators probably have their queer-hatin' panties in a bunch right now, I'm proud of you for focusing on the bigger issues and not just writing the "easy" column.

# 17. 5/10/12 9:10 AM by Al - Hornell NY
Liberal democrats are the greatest threat to America as they're responsible for the two choices on your poll today.

# 18. 5/10/12 9:10 AM by kittynana - Lewiston NY
Seems to me only 50 years ago, Civil Rights was the big issue. How many peopl ein America felt 'dem niggers' don't deserve anything? How'd THAT turn out?

Don't be so myopic.

# 19. 5/10/12 9:11 AM
The person from Norway is correct. They have a great society so why are they trash?

Editor's Note: your guess is as good as mine. genetics? too close to the pole?

# 20. 5/10/12 9:14 AM
"Worrying about gay marriage is like complaining that the toilets were backed up on the Titanic. It is evil, but it is not particularly relevant." So don't worry about it. It's no more evil than the sanctimonious blatherings of bigots. Why should anyone else care if two same-sex people want to get married? How is that anyone else's business? There's all kinds of nonsense in the Bible that need not be legislated one way or the other.

# 21. 5/10/12 9:27 AM by jaymor
#1 Nyal: Norway is a great nation. But its sense of well-being is less attributable to cultural values than luck in the form of petroleum resources (during an era of historically-high global energy prices).

# 22. 5/10/12 9:31 AM by Grr
You're exactly right but I don't think there is anything we can do to stop the decline. People who are just too used to their entitlements, won't give them up to become more discliplined. It's like death by "I deserve".

Strike up the band? Enjoy it while we can, I think that water's going to be cold ...

# 23. 5/10/12 9:35 AM
Of course divorcing 3 times and having multiple kids with multiple wives is AOK?

Sin of the world is the problem, not picking and choosing one sin that you haven't participated in and pointing fingers at another's sin saying it's 'worse'.

It's like a church condemning gays and saying they can't attend their church and in the mean time a 10th of the congregation and possibly the pastor is cheating on their wives.

Sin is sin is sin is sin.

# 24. 5/10/12 9:56 AM
Agreed. I have yet to see a tragedy in the news about a gay guy killing his boyfriends kids.

# 25. 5/10/12 9:58 AM by Joe
You could be right, maybe YOU are the problem!

# 26. 5/10/12 10:16 AM by JJ
the bible says nothing about gay marriage or homosexuals. It does say it is an abomination for a man to lie with another but it also says it's alright for men to give another man their daughters to lie with. ?

Jesus's parents were not married by the way.

Quit lying Bob about the bible.

# 27. 5/10/12 10:21 AM by James
What about Switzerland? they do not get married either and have you ever been out of the country to even know what Norway or any of Europe is even about? I did not like your reaction to #1 but then I feel sad for you due to your Klu Klux Clan genetics as do you even know how to respond to another? Does everyone have to agree with you in your household? I feel bad for your kids too.

# 28. 5/10/12 10:23 AM by Jim - Rochester
"i'd drop them, but, honestly, i need the $150 a month."

So much for principles Bob!

# 29. 5/10/12 10:32 AM by tw - rochester, ny
You are right. Gay marriage is a non-issue. It is an issue the government should not even weigh in on, let alone have some redneck moron state write it into their constitution that it is "wrong". Stupid.

The only arguments I've heard against gay marriage are religious ones. Given we clearly define the separation of church and state in many documents, why is it the place of government to legislate what is a religious issue?

Why? Because it is a sideshow. The idiot evangelicals want to tweak the noses of the idiot liberals and get all the idiot voting evangelicals worked up. They succeeded.

A proclamation of who can and can not get married should be nowhere near a constitution. What a friggin waste of time.

# 30. 5/10/12 10:41 AM by Cal
#4 restrict AFDC to married couples with children in need? Maybe euthanasia would be an option for you. i doubt you're even a vet. either way, love it or leave it!

# 31. 5/10/12 10:45 AM by Don - Fort Worth
Homosexual "marriage" is nothing more than a mockery of traditional marriage. If B.O. is successful in pushing this agenda against the will of voters, then marriage, even between, even a man and woman, will no longer have meaning. It's no wonder we have terrorists wanting to destroy us, because they see us plunging into immorality. Furthermore our "leader" B.O. is no help to us.

# 32. 5/10/12 10:47 AM by Philip
I agree that the culture celebrates celebrities, etc. ignoring the conventions of the past, but those are the folks the young people are emulating in their lives.

Who in their right mind cares about any (including Bruce Jenner) of the Kardashians. The mother is a nightmare, the kids dysfunctional, and they don't really do anything do they?

Sports stars are no better. Remember when they were the people we admired? Now baseball, football and basketball players are all thugs who have to shack up with anyone that will trade their morality for some sudden fame just to keep their street "cred" up.

Does no one remember the word shame?

And don't even get me started on politicians, on the right or the left.

Sad state America has come to today.

# 33. 5/10/12 10:54 AM by mike
as Jesus said mind your business!

what part of that don't you get?

# 34. 5/10/12 11:07 AM
If it's money Bob wants he could turn tricks at a gay club that would make that $150 a month look like pocket change.

# 35. 5/10/12 11:13 AM
You really don't make any sense. All you can do is toss out insults because you can't back up your claim that people from Norway are trash. We should be so lucky to have a society like them. There are probably more gays in the US than Mormons. The problem is you think everything centers on your view of religion. This is the main reason why we make so little progress here. You don't want poor people to have kids, then your type wants to ban abortion. Just stupid.

# 36. 5/10/12 11:14 AM by BIFF
The constant disintegration of American society is tiresome and disturbing.

I think Obama's motive is to try to set an example to China, to show that communist government that allowing everything people want to do is right and acceptable. Well, it's not. Gay marriage is an insult to the sanctity of marriage, and allowing for it is like allowing ... .... ..... well, I cant think of a good analogy, but it's just taints some of the things in life that many people still hold as sacred.

# 37. 5/10/12 11:24 AM by real vet
Ephesians 5:22-33 commands wives to obey their husbands and husbands to love their wives. Ephesians calls wives to submit to their husbands just as children must obey their parents and slaves must obey their masters.

The reality is people should obey their conscience. bob, you sold out for $150. Jesus never married. Just because he attended a wedding doesn't mean that he is saying everyone should get married.

# 38. 5/10/12 11:54 AM by RMS - Rochester, NY
To all you "Christian" right-wingers.....LISTEN UP, once and for all.....gay marriage is a CIVIL right which should be available to all.....it should have NOTHING to do with religion, and it doesn't affect any of you in the slightest, anyway.....remember the concept of "separation of church and state"? If your particular religion doesn't want to recognize or perform gay marriages, then DON'T.....IT'S THAT SIMPLE!

# 39. 5/10/12 12:18 PM by Jean - Fairport
Bob

This Column is so true... If our country is to turn around, first of all God has to be first in their lives and all need to realize without God first, things are just going to get worse.

Thankyou for putting the truth out there. I hope many will read this ... and face the serious condition our country is in...

Sincerely Jean

# 40. 5/10/12 12:27 PM by Earl
I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Gay rights = civil rights.

# 41. 5/10/12 12:45 PM by Jodi - Wayne County East
Open gay marriage and child rearing as an accepted social practice is simply the icing on the cake or the proverbial last straw on the whole pile of already acceptable immoral and unethical acts our country condones as acceptable or normal.

It is just another symptom of the complete degradation of sin our country has entered into under the justification of personal liberty and constitutional rights.

Apart from the restraining influence of the christian church, God's Word and the Holy Spirit we will ultimately consume ourselves in our sin as did the ancient Roman Empire.

Just because God has granted us free will to choose evil over good or our U.S. constitution is interpreted to make it a personal right does not mean we will not be ultimately held accountable to God as a an individual or a nation for our ungodly choices.

Do you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?

Are you death or Rapture Ready?

# 42. 5/10/12 1:06 PM
Hate is more of a sin and abomination than nearly all the moral issues you preach about and you've got hate in spades Bob.

# 43. 5/10/12 1:17 PM by Mark
I'm betting that Obama's muslim friends are none too happy with him right now.

It is also a shame that the black community (statistically speaking) are so blinded by his color that they will vote for him regardless, even though they are more opposed to gay marriage than white people.

# 44. 5/10/12 1:54 PM
It's here whether we like it or not. The "New York Times" has a section named "Celebrations" and every week there are 2-3 writeups and pix of gay marriages, along with the heterosexual couples. They are no longer in the closet and maybe we'd just as soon not know about this but can't avoid it. My company even allows medical coverage for partners. Different world out there from the one I was brought into.

# 45. 5/10/12 2:10 PM by Rick G. - Spencerport, NY
Your point is well made. You oppose gay marriage on biblical terms, but acknowledge that there are much bigger fish to fry regarding marriage and family dynamics. That's hard to disagree with no matter which side of the fence one weighs in on regarding gay marriage.

I guess this point of view means you won't be invited to George Clooney's Obama party.

# 46. 5/10/12 2:53 PM by Michael - Las Vegas
So Obama takes one more step towards officially declaring himself an enemy of all that is good, true, and holy--as if aligning with Marxists and the Muslim Brotherhood wasn't enough. Not that it'll be so much of a surprise when he does. In fact I suppose there will be many, in that day, that will support him and mock those of us who still take issue with coming out in open defiance of the Creator.

I agree with your column Bob--mostly. Disdain for, and disintegration of, marriage and family has been the problem with society for a long time, since at least the 60's. The growing tumor has breached the surface with this latest issue. Is it any wonder, though, that many who have become "tolerant" of the disease justify this latest and especially disgusting symptom?

# 47. 5/10/12 3:51 PM by hc
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? ~1Peter 4:17

Homosexuality isn't our problem so much as it's the homosexual's problem. And homosexuality wasn't the only thing the people of Sodom did wrong.

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy ~ Ezekiel 16:49

Pride, gluttony, and laziness.

Now THAT'S the church's problem.

~xp

# 48. 5/10/12 4:09 PM by Free Girl
It makes no sense for gay marriage to be illegal. There are so many things that I feel would be bad choices for myself: Drinking, smoking, extra-marital sex, nailing another woman...but those are my decisions to make.

I'd rather have us be free, and responsible for upholding our own morals and standards, than not free.

# 49. 5/10/12 4:35 PM by Political Observer - Greece, NY
To #27. "What about the Swiss and the rest of Europe". American blood and money had to straighten those folks out twice in the 20th century. Right now almost all the European countries are broke or close to it due to their welfare and socialistic mentality. Those who think its so great there are free to move, don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.

# 50. 5/10/12 4:40 PM by Beth - Canandaigua, NY
I like how you made clear that the point of the article was about the scourge of single parenthood and the tolerant still had to try to make it about the civil rights of homosexuals. Anyway...I work with emotionally disturbed teenagers. The exception to the rule where I work is the intact family. Many have multiple siblings and no common father. There are teen boys who have never had a male role model in their lives. There are girls who have been exposed to multiple "step fathers" Realistically these kids will grow up, never work, and create another generation of this mess. I remember in the late 80's and early 90's the media made single mothers out to be heroes. Sad...the consequences of out of wedlock children are devistating.

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