I thought the same thing.

Fuck her! Well, not literally, or you might loose a part of your anatomy!

@BirdMan1 pass.

Not close enough for you.

@barjoe
Nope. He needs to be backing marriage equality, not civil unions.

@xenoview Is that what he needs to do? He could've said nothing.

@barjoe
Yes, he could have done more.

Not really. He went all out on this one.

@barjoe
I guess civil unions is a small step in the right direction.

@xenoview There you go.

This is a big step even if its not good enough for you. It has nothing to do with secular laws in different countries. He's the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics. I don't know why anybody want to get married. I think it's stupid for straight people. My opinion, most people disagree.

@barjoe I agree about marriage and said the same thing to some gay friends. Their response was that they agree, but they should have the same choice as others. It's hard to see any flaws in that argument.

@Cyklone They want benefits for property, bank accounts, etc. in case one of them dies. If you spend all that time together you don't want the law to be against you in these.

@barjoe Yes...but...the Pope implies that same-sex couples can't have the SANCTITY of a religious marriage. And I'll call "bull" on that. They should have every single option available to you and me!

@LucyLoohoo It may not be enough for you but it's a big fucking deal. Huge.

All I care about is that gay couples have equal marriage rights under civil law. I don't care if they can or can't get married in the church (although some of them may care). So the pope's statement is a positive in my view.

@nicestuff Perhaps, if what you believe is true. But who said that a civil union would give equal marriage rights and why should they settle for less. That's like freeing the slaves but not letting them ride the same bus, or use the same facilities, because they're still not equal. Sometimes half measures are worse than no measures because it takes the pressure off the need to act.

@Cyklone
Maybe it depends on local or state legal codes to some extent - I'm not a lawyer. Are there different levels of civil marriage rights in the same jurisdiction? I think that civil marriage does give all the rights and privileges that any other civil-marriage couple has - inheritance, visitation, taxes, etc.

I don't see what additional privileges a church-recognized marriage gives, outside of the church's membership benefits - being buried in the church cemetery, charity from the church, whatever.

@nicestuff If it's exactly the same then why isn't it called the same thing?

@Cyklone I'm afraid I'm just not understanding what you are getting at, or if you are misunderstanding me. I guess it's rather arbitrary of me to say I don't care about how bigoted a church acts within its own domain - but maybe its own poison will only hurt itself in the long run. However, I'm 100% for legal equality in the public domain, and immediately.

P.S. And any church that does fully accept gays, well, that's a good thing. I just don't expect conservative denominations to change quickly.

@nicestuff fair enough

I don't believe in God. To me the Pope is just another guy. There are a billion people who believe the Pope is infallible. Yes, there are people maybe not in Whitney, Texas, but many Catholics on this planet who will be influence by this Papal Statement.

@barjoe Perhaps.

@jlynn37 Matthew 16:18, Jesus says to Peter, 'And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.' Whereby the Pope, as "head of the college of bishops," enjoys papal infallibility. There are 1.2 billion Catholics and according to Kinsey that means 100 million of them are gay.