No offense, but I have plenty of LGBT African-American friends that would disagree with you, not to mention Congressman John lewis and the late Coretta Scott King.

What would you say to them?

There is a lot of truth here, Louis, but it is confusing to those whom have been led by propaganda to a completely different concept of marriage.

Let me see if I can help translate a little bit.

" an institution that exists to promote a particular form of relationship "
Society supports marriage to promote it. It does this because it has a vested interest in the unique contributions the committed lifetime union of a man and a woman can give back to society, mainly procreation of the next generation of said society, and the best possible environment for that generation to grow up: with their fundamental right to their mother *and* father provided.

"the fundamental defining characteristic of the preferred relationship type"
Marriage is the "preferred relationship type" which is what is being sought by some for couples of the same sex. "The fundamental defining characteristic" of marriage is Man/Woman. There is no such thing as marriage without a wife. No such thing as marriage without a husband. If a union does not have a husband *and* a wife, it is not marital. That is what marriage *is*, the union of a man and a woman.

Louis is exactly right.
Everyone has a right to marry. Even felons, who have had other rights removed from them have the right to marry. Having the right to marry is granted to us as *individuals*. It is not the couple that has the right, but the individuals entering into the union who have the right.
However when a person chooses to be in a loving committed union with a member of the same sex, they have made a willful decision to *not* be in a marital union because a marital union is a union with a member of the *opposite* sex. Their choice for a partner is *same* sex. That is their choice, and every one has a right to make such choices. We do not however have a right to claim to be something we are not and require every one else to acknowledge that we are when we are not, not even to mention to support us as if we were.

Since society supports the marital union because it supports society back with the potential of procreation *and* providing children with a mother *and* a father, if a union cannot provide society this support, then society will not and should not support the union.

It is not a matter of inequality because same sex unions do not support society equally as the marital union. The very nature of their union deems it impossible for them to do so.
Marriage to society is more then just a name.

As a Black man, I can say that the African-American community will NEVER EVER accept any so-called comparison between our legitimate Civil Rights struggle with homosexuals. We reject that nonsense!

You cannot equate the color of my SKIN with the perversion of your SIN. That says it all. Even gay radio pernality Dan Savage has admitted that the gay community is in error to try to make that comparison (Larry King Live 2009).

Bobby->What part of CIVIL RIGHTS doesn't Brian Brown understand?

There is no civil right to have an alternative form of marriage publicly recognized by society.

From whence does the right for a same-sex couple to marry, come?

Why should they? The SSM activists didnt care about what the voters of California said not once, But twice.

Its "rational basis" not "rational legal basis" - its the lowest standard the law recognizes and is easily met by arguments for traditional marriage.

Baker v. Nelson however demonstrates that the fundemental right to marriagealone simply does not submit itself to a 14th amendment challenge to begin with.

Stick to your bumper sticker slogans they're a lot easier.

It is NOT A CIVIL RIGHT to participate in an institution that exists to promote a particular form of relationship while engaging in a relationship that fails to meet the fundamental defining characteristic of the preferred relationship type.

We already have marriage equity. There is no orientation test for marriage. Most courts in the U.S. and around the world have upheld the traditional definition of marriage, as has the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bill, by bringing up the Vatican, is just showing his animus against Catholicism.

"Marriage is neither a conservative nor a liberal issue; it is a universal human institution, guaranteeing children fathers, and pointing men and women toward a special kind of socially as well as personally fruitful sexual relationship. Gay marriage is the final step down a long road America has already traveled toward deinstitutionalizing, denuding and privatizing marriage. It would set in legal stone some of the most destructive ideas of the sexual revolution: There are no differences between men and women that matter, marriage has nothing to do with procreation, children do not really need mothers and fathers, the diverse family forms adults choose are all equally good for children. What happens in my heart is that I know the difference. Don't confuse my people, who have been the victims of deliberate family destruction, by giving them another definition of marriage."

Walter Fauntroy-Former DC Delegate to Congress Founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus Coordinator for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s march on DC

"Marriage is neither a conservative nor a liberal issue; it is a universal human institution, guaranteeing children fathers, and pointing men and women toward a special kind of socially as well as personally fruitful sexual relationship. Gay marriage is the final step down a long road America has already traveled toward deinstitutionalizing, denuding and privatizing marriage. It would set in legal stone some of the most destructive ideas of the sexual revolution: There are no differences between men and women that matter, marriage has nothing to do with procreation, children do not really need mothers and fathers, the diverse family forms adults choose are all equally good for children. What happens in my heart is that I know the difference. Don't confuse my people, who have been the victims of deliberate family destruction, by giving them another definition of marriage."

Walter Fauntroy-Former DC Delegate to Congress Founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Coordinator for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s march on DC