Gay people have the civil ceremony – leave it there

“As a follow-up, it would appear the French have passed legislation to allow same-sex marriages (see http://tinyurl.com/a5ul2my ). That's not bad coming from a predominantly Catholic country.”

“Bigots, dave12548, is a word bandied around with gay abandon nowadays. When in doubt or on the back foot, call someone a bigot. It's almost up there with racist, nazi or paedophile as one of the 'go to' insults of recent times.

I ask all of you who are opposed to gay marriages to state your true reasons. Going by some of the previous comments posted throughout this site by the most vehement objectors, I cannot believe they are anti-gay marriage by virtue of their religious beliefs as the language they used was certainly not that of one with Christian values.

FYI Mr Birkett, you claim 'every English dictionary shows that marriage is a union between a man and a woman – full stop!' May I refer you to the Chambers Dictionary 11th Edition? On page 936, it describes marriage as 'the ceremony, act or contract by which a man and woman become husband and wife; a similar ceremony, etc, between homosexuals; the union of a man and woman as husband and wife.' Having spent the last 20 years working with encyclopaedias and dictionaries, I rate Chambers as possibly the best one-volume dictionary available and I have yet to find a fault in it.”

“It's amazing how you can be called a bigot by the likes of dave12548 for supporting equality, and funny how those who do the calling spout off about freedom of opinion and free speech. For the likes of dodgy dave it seems these freedoms only work one way.
dave12548 has regularly used this site to express his prejudice and hatred of the gay community. His comments and attitude have no place in civilised society.

It seems to be easy for some to deny others the same rights they themselves enjoy, but how would they feel if they were denied the right to something as basic as marriage simply because of who they are?
If black people were denied marriage it would be seen as prejudiced, the same if the disabled were denied marriage. How about if religious people were denied, or atheists? I would hope such prejudice would never be allowed in this country, but some of these people would happily deny others this right, but can't see that it's the same prejudice at work.

We must always strive for equality!”

“Absolutely spot on Tony, there are many that agree with you and rightly so. Ignore the bigots on here who spout on about homophobia, you are perfectly entitled to your opinion on this matter.”

“Tony, it's people like you that give the rest of us atheists a bad name.

M. Lupo - to answer your question, I would suggest homophobia.”

“Tony, if your objection is not based upon religion, what is it based upon, pray tell?”

“Dictionaries tend to follow uses that society puts on words, not the other way around.

I wouldn't rely too much on what the dictionary says to form your view.”

“So as an athiest you base your view on the bible and dictionary quotes, maybe you should look up the meaning of equality!”