Is it written anywhere in the constitution that lesbian/gay marriage is illegal?

If so, is it not in contradiction with the fact that each and every person must have basic equal rights?





If NOT, how does lesbian/gay marriages become an issue?Is it written anywhere in the constitution that lesbian/gay marriage is illegal?
It wasn't an issue over 200 years ago when the constitution was drafted. Investigate it yourself, and what happened to people with not so ordinary relationships at the time the constitution was drafted? Things have gone a long way.Is it written anywhere in the constitution that lesbian/gay marriage is illegal?
Marriage is up to the states.





It's NOT a federal issue.





Marriage is NOT a right. States (through the people) determien who can get married. Depends on mental state, age, etc.





Liberals trying to change marriage laws through the courts by divining rights that don't exist.





Same thing as a driver license. It's not a right to drive but a privilege and states set the rules.








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Of course it's not in the Constitution. Even THEY knew that homosexuality was wrong and found no need to address dysfunctional behavior.
Marriage is a church function and government has no business sanctioning marriage one way or the other. However, there is no reason why we can't have civil unions be the law of the land.
It's not in our Country's Constitution- however many states have put it in their state constitutions that marriage is between a man and woman only, and other wording to include civil unions and such.... if it comes your way, make sure you vote no/ it's going to be on our ballot next election- Bush was trying to get it into our Country's Constitution, but it wouldn't pass in Congress.


Gay/Lesbian marriages become an issue because people disagree with how they live their life and feel like they have the right to tell them how to live... didn't think we did that in the US but I guess I was wrong...
No, it is not in the U.S. Constitution that it is illegal. It is in many of the state constitutions, and that number is still growing.





I'm not sure how to have a conversation with anyone who talks about ';the fact that each and every person must have basic equal rights.'; I have a hunch that people who talk that way don't know much of anything in terms of how judges go about interpreting law.





But I'll put it this way. At no point in U.S. history has this body politic every risen up and starting oozing so much compassion and concern for us gay people (yes, I said us, I am gay) that the polity said to itself, ';We must make sure that, from now on, we will never treat homosexuals any worse than we treat ourselves.'; The Federalist Papers, written to help rally support for ratification of the Constitution, never said anything like ';Equal Rights for Sodomites.'; Nobody during the Reconstruction Era -- when the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were proposed and ratified -- was using that slogan, either.





Gay/Lesbian marriage became an issue because of the Hawaii state Supreme Court's GROSS MISinterpretation of that state's own constitution -- not the U.S. Constitution, but the constitution for the state of Hawaii. And then, much more recently, the Massachusetts state Supreme Court did the same thing -- a GROSS MISinterpretation of the state constitution.
Each person does have equal rights, men can marry women and women can marry men. Where's the inequality there.
You are right...it is an issue because the Church and other intolerant people like to mess with others life.





Marriage is a right.


Sexual orientation is a right.


Discrimination is forbidden





Amendment IX


The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.





Amendment X





The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.





Amendment XIV


Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.





look up in here; there is a lot of Info...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_ma鈥?/a>
Um it was Not a Constitutional issue and left to States Rights. Like Most Laws the 50 states make them. Gay and Lesbian Life style are a contradiction in themselves. The Constitution did not mention Cannibalism either does that mean you can cook a neighbor this weekend?
Marriage of any kind is not mentioned in the Constitution.


As stated, it was considered the jurisdiction of individual states until it recently became a national hot button issue.





How does it become an issue? As you can see from some of the responses here, there are those who would impose their (subjective) opinion of what is right on everyone. Don't misunderstand - I am all for having an opinion, but not for discrimination against any group. From a legal standpoint, it is a matter of civil rights. You may choose to disagree with gay marriage, but it isn't (technically) legal to legislate against it. Sadly, we in the US are granted freedom of religion (which is itself increasingly open to debate) but not freedom from it.





To equate homosexuality or gay marriage with cannibalism is irresponsible, illogical and misguided. First of all, we do have laws against murder. Second, even if you were to happen upon a corpse and decide to feast, this would break state health laws in every state in the country. There are very strict laws about what can and can not be done with human tissue. Cannibalism has been proven, SCIENTIFICALLY, to carry considerable health risks and to pose a threat to the well being of the general populace. Gay marriage has not/does not!





You may not condone gay marriage, but let's not alter the Constitution on a whim. Ever hear the term ';slippery slope';?
The constitution was written that longago if you were gay you would have been shot
No, it doesn't..........equal rights, lets see, everyone should also have the right to have sex with animals..........was that mentioned in the constitution?
No, nor can it be. That is a moral question and answer. Is the constituion moral law or immoral???? You decide. You know when the constituion was written there could not be a immoral in the bunch, why? Because it would have us lopsided today , and the reason we are not? That is for you to determine. Lesbian/gay marriages are such an issue because they as people are trying to enact this princple in our law. You are crazy if it succeeds, does not everyone who follows history determine the effects of a society that enacts this kind of behavior? That's just it, those societies do not exist today either do they?