Marriage is a contract that should be available to all citizens. I really don't care who you love. From Texas too.

The U.S. evolved today, in my opinion, and joined the rest of us in accepting that two people of the same sex can be in love and marry.

Love is love. Rights are rights. Everyone should have equal rights. Everyone.

Flag....well, where I am from, it was always looked on as a bit racist. I don't know enough about it throughout history to really have a strong opinion of it.

I'm very happy with the supreme court ruling.

I honestly don't understand why people believe religion and marriage go hand and hand. Marriage was developed as a business transaction. Nothing more. Nothing less. Weddings added the religious element to the equation.

Hell, women didn't have a voice in their own marriage until the 60's and 70's. Up until then, the laws allowed husbands to legally rape their wives, married women couldn't apply for bank accounts or credit cards in their own name if they were married and woman could be turned down for bank loans because they were.....wait for it.....women.

I am married to H. We were not married in a church, nor were we married by clergy. Does that make our marriage any less than those who were married in a church setting and by clergy??

No..no it does not. Why? Because we were legally married in our state.

Do I care if people get married in a church and by clergy? Nope. I don't give two shits about it because it has no bearing on my situation at all.

Marriage equality and religious rights have nothing to do with each other. Marriage is a legal contract between two people, not a religious right of passage into adulthood.

Those people that claim same-sex marriage takes away from their own commitment, well all that tells me is they don't have much of a commitment to their partners in the first place.

I'm a liberal living in Mississippi and let me tell you that this week has been an interesting one! I get most of my news from NPR/PBS, HuffPo, Washington Post. And also the local news stations and local press. It's like two entirely different planets.

Gay marriage. The government has no business telling us who can and can't get married based on Christian principles. Religion has no place in law making. The only arguments I've seen against gay marriage are religious arguments. So I think the decision was correct.

The confederate flag in the deep south... more interesting, more divisive. The Mississippi flag includes the confederate battle flag in its design. People (generally white people) say it is part of southern pride, southern heritage. And indeed there is a LOT to be proud of in the south, even in Mississippi (last in most things good and first in most things bad). But that battle flag is all about the Civil War, which was fought for "state's rights" (every state seceding the Union had statements about the right to own slaves as part of their state's rights). So to a large number of people, that symbol still means slavery and oppression. And in recent years, primarily since desegregation of the 1960s, that battle flag has been co-opted by skinheads and white supremacists, active racists.

My own opinion is that the flag needs to come down from public buildings and public property. If an individual wants to fly the battle flag on their property or put a sticker on their car or wear a tshirt or belt buckle, ok with me. It'll give me early warning that we're not likely to be buddies. Teach about the flag. Put it in museums. Keep the history alive. But in contemporary society, I want symbols that say everyone is welcome here. This government represents everyone. I'm an idealist like that.

I'm thrilled they've made gay marriage legal. As stated above, marriage is a business contract. The gender of the people involved should be irrelevant. Now, a WEDDING is a different thing - that may (or may not) have a religious component and the government has zero right to tell anyone anything about religion.

I'm also thrilled the the SCOTUS overruled the states here. That is part of it's JOB - to ensure that states do not go off and do something that violates the federal rights of the citizens. (They also forced the states to desegregate, etc. They MUST use that power when people are being discriminated against, and I'm happy to see that they did.)

Ah geez... the flag thing. *sigh* I dunno. If people want to like the flag, fly it on their own homes, etc, then that's their right. HOWEVER. People DO have the right to be offended by it. Having the right to like it doesn't mean that you have the right to be free of being JUDGED for liking it. But no one should have the right to tell you that you can't fly it I suppose - they only have the right to tell you why they don't think you should.

I come from one of the most Liberal cities I've ever known. Also has the largest % of most gay people per population, so I'm kinda happy about the marriage laws. They have been partners all their lives before marriage was around, now its legal partners, sounds good.

The flag has ALWAYS been know in my hometown as a symbol of racism, ALWAYS. So when people flew that flag to us, we were taught growing up that they were openly advertising that they are raciest. That's just what we were taught as children and they didn't teach us any other meaning of the flag. So I guess I don't know my opinion of it, can only be honest about what I was taught as a child.

I guess I'm ok with the decisions thus far.
Now you want to talk about removing my right bear arms and conceal and carry, thats the debate Im hard and fast set on.
You can take my families guns when you pry them out of our cold dead hands! lol
And yes, my house is protected by Smith and Wesson.

While they are legalizing stuff I sure hope weed is next.

I'm happy about the gay marriage ruling. Equal rights..awesome!! I AM over the whole "flag" debate..Of course, maybe to me, the confederate flag might not have the same meaning as it does to other people..but it wasn't a flag who killed innocent people..and that moron had a pic of himself burning the American flag too..but we're not going around asking it to be taken down. And like some people..when I think of the Confederate (or Rebel) flag..All I can think of is the Dukes of Hazzard. (I know that's not where the flag originated..I just don't see it as racist and I have a lot of African American friends who are not offended by it either.)

As Long as they don't try to force churches to perform gay weddings, I don't care what they do. Nothing against them whatsoever but I believe in religious freedom and I'm tired of Christianity being under attack

The only reason that flag exists is it was chosen to represent an extremely racist cause. So, in fact, it was always racist, not never.

You are very familiar with the sight of it and never apparently had cause to think about its origin or what it represents. May even seem like a quaint talisman for regional enthusiasm like a cheesehead hat for Packers fans. But do yourself a favor and visit some Civil War or slavery sites. You ought to run across something there that will hit you in your gut -- a photograph, a description, a statistic. Then you will understand the pain that flag represents.

To put it simply, I think it all comes down to morals, empathy and stupidity. If you're a good person, you know right from wrong and can empathize with those who are treated unfairly. If you're stupid, you just go along with what others think.

Not very deep, but it's how I feel.

Frankly this has nothing to do with whether you are for or against gay marriage, religious beliefs etc. it is about the Supreme Court and their interpretation of law. The constitution is what it is. What they did today was rewrite a law to fit a political agenda.

@Ruby55:
"The constitution is what it is..."

You do realize that the constitution was created to be a living document, right? It was made so that changes could be made to it, which is why we have 27 amendments to it (technically 33), the first ten considered the bill of rights.

"What they did today was rewrite a law to fit a political agenda."

As dtzyblnd stated the constitution never defined what marriage was, so this doesn't make any sense.

Even if it did, so what? Abolition was a political agenda. The 13th amendment abolished slavery in this country. There were several sections within articles of the constitution that protected slavery and banned the federal government from banning it or preventing importation of slaves. Hell, the most famous one (3/5ths) talked about how to calculate the slave population with the state's population. Obviously, these aspects of the constitution no longer hold. I'm sure many are glad for it.

Furthermore, not long ago it was illegal for a black person and a white person to marry in some states. There were many people who considered it immoral and wrong. I'm glad those people didn't have their way either or I wouldn't exist today.

The constitution doesn't define marriage so it cannot to redefine it either. This is not about gay marriage frankly it's about states rights. I now look forward to the same principle of being applied to my being allowed to carry firearms into any state of the union surpassing states rights on this issue. I could frankly care less about gay marriage, because in my mind the only one who defines marriage is God. this is about the federal governments role in our lives. And when eventually it doesn't go your way you'll get that.