GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONIES

Ruben diaz, Sr. has consistently voted against same-sex marriage legislation. He is the Puerto Rican democratic New York state Senator of the Bronx. His granddaughter, Erica Diaz, is openly lesbian. On June 24, 2011, Diaz voted against the same-sex marriage legislation but the State Senate passed the bill by a vote of 33 to 29. New York state is the sixth state in the United States to legalize same-sex marriage. The law goes into effect on July 24, 2011.

 Ruben Diaz is an ordained minister of The Church of God. The Constitution states that church and state must remain separate. His resistance against same-sex unions obviously stems from his personal religious beliefs. It is inconstitutional for Diaz to deny United States citizens their personal rights based on his individual religious opinions. Christianity states that divorce is not allowed. A Christian that divorces and remarries is committing adultury based on Christian doctrine. (refer to Mathew 5:32 and I Corinthians 7:10-16). Why isn't Diaz fighting to make divorce illegal? One either follows the entire law, whether man's laws or the alleged God's laws, or one lives without regard to laws.

In Old Regime France the Christian ceremony of "Affrerement" joined unrelated same-gender couples in life-long unions. Those unions raised family, held property jointly and were legally united in a marraige union. In ancient Greece, "Adelphopoiesis" was a ceremony practiced by Christian churches. The ceremony united two people of the same sex in life-long unions. Other cultures such as American Indian, ancient Chinese, Germanic and Scandinavian peoples also embraced this same-sex union ceremony.

We should not speak for God. In addition, God has no gender. If we must assign a gender, God is a spiritual hermaphrodite. So is God homosexual, heterosexual or sexless ?????

Harry Irrizarry

Chicago Office