Awesome. This made my day.

I think I love that guy.

Yay that guy!

As someone who just graduated from Divinity School (in the South no less) let me tell you that most young ministers and seminarians support marriage equality, but Rev. Reggie really deserves some praise. He's older, male, Baptist, and Black (social subject positions which are supposedly ripe for homophobia). He is bad-ass and he really does lay it out--how can someone impose their religious beliefs upon the civil rights of another? Goddess Bless you, sir.

Fantastic! Can we get a clip of the responses, or at least of Edwards' response?

Fantastic! Can we get a clip of the responses, or at least of Edwards' response?

Dorothy_Parked_Her, I cannot get to YouTube here at work to get to video, but here's transcript taken from www.thestate.com:

QUESTION: I'm Reverend Reggie Longcrier. I'm the pastor of Exodus Mission and Outreach Church in Hickory, North Carolina. Senator Edwards said his opposition to gay marriage is influenced by his Southern Baptist background. Most Americans agree it was wrong
and unconstitutional to use religion to justify slavery, segregation,
and denying women the right to vote. So why is it still acceptable to use religion to deny gay American their full and equal rights?

(APPLAUSE)

EDWARDS: I think Reverend Longcrier asks a very important question, which is whether fundamentally -- whether it's right for any of our faith beliefs to be imposed on the American people when we're president of the United States. I do not believe that's right.

I feel enormous personal conflict about this issue. I want to end discrimination. I want to do some of the things that I just heard Bill Richardson talking about -- standing up for equal rights, substantive rights, civil unions, the thing that Chris Dodd just
talked about. But I think that's something everybody on this stage will commit themselves to as president of the United States.

But I personally have been on a journey on this issue. I feel enormous conflict about it. As I think a lot of people know,
Elizabeth spoke -- my wife Elizabeth spoke out a few weeks ago, and she actually supports gay marriage. I do not. But this is a very, very difficult issue for me. And I recognize and have enormous respect for people who have a different view of it.

COOPER: I should also point out that the reverend is actually in

the audience tonight. Where is he? Right over here.

Reverend, do you feel he answered your question?

(APPLAUSE)

QUESTION: This question was just a catalyst that promoted some other things that wrapped around that particular question, especially when it comes to fair housing practices. Also...

COOPER: Do you think he answered the question, though?

QUESTION: Not like I would like to have heard it...

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: What did you not hear?

QUESTION: I didn't quite get -- some people were moving around, and I didn't quite get all of his answer. I just heard...

COOPER: All right, there's 30 seconds more. Why is it OK to quite religious beliefs when talking about why you don't support something? That's essentially what's his question.

EDWARDS: It's not. I mean, I've been asked a personal question which is, I think, what Reverend Longcrier is raising, and that personal question is, do I believe and do I personally support gay marriage?

The honest answer to that is I don't. But I think it
is absolutely wrong, as president of the United States, for me to have
used that faith basis as a basis for denying anybody their rights, and I will not do that when I'm president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

I wasn't able to watch the debate, but damn do I wish I had! I loved Edwards' response posted here - like the Reverend, that's not necessarily the answer I wanted to hear, but at least someone is acknowledging that this is a complex issue in our society and that he is wrestling with long standing personal and religious beliefs and how they can be applied to the position of Commander in Chief.

I'm writing in that dude for President. My favorite question was this...

Kent: Senator Dole, why should people vote for you instead of President Clinton?

Kang: It makes no difference which one of us you vote for. Either way, your planet is doomed. DOOMED!

Kent: Well, a refreshingly frank response there from senator Bob Dole.

And I don't hear agony in Edwards' response apart from his wanting to have it both ways through wife-proxy.

hell to the yeah!

having grown up southern baptist myself, (and having run screaming in the other direction at my first true opportunity) it's nice to hear that not ALL church leaders are hate-mongers. :)

here is a link to the question and answer from the debate
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2007/07/23/debate.reggie.gayrights.cnn

You might find this interesting ~ I paged through them all and tallied what you might consider, "feminist" issues. (yes I know every issue is a feminist issue) ERA - 8, Pay Equity, Ledbeter v Goodyear - 1, women and leadership - 2, reproductive justice - 2.
That is out of almost 3,000. And you and I can think of a 1,000 more questions addressing advancing women.

Lets face it, electing a woman doesn't equal advancing feminist causes. BTW - tho I am not a supporter of Richardson - he is the only one who has publicly supported the ERA - just last week.

Thank you Reverand! Well said. I think most sane people recognize that much like the historical atrocities the Rev lists off, gay marriage will one day seem just as absurd a right to have been denied individuals.

I agree with what I think norbizness is saying, in that Edwards fails to come across as genuine. While I appreciate the tactic of being forthcoming about his personal beliefs and the complexity of the issue, I don't believe that his personal beliefs will not enter into decisions he makes as prez.

Thank you Reverand! Well said. I think most sane people recognize that much like the historical atrocities the Rev lists off, gay marriage will one day seem just as absurd a right to have been denied individuals.

I agree with what I think norbizness is saying, in that Edwards fails to come across as genuine. While I appreciate the tactic of being forthcoming about his personal beliefs and the complexity of the issue, I don't believe that his personal beliefs will not enter into decisions he makes as prez.

hell to the yeah!

having grown up southern baptist myself, (and having run screaming in the other direction at my first true opportunity) it's nice to hear that not ALL church leaders are hate-mongers. :)

Thank you Reverand! Well said. I think most sane people recognize that much like the historical atrocities the Rev lists off, gay marriage will one day seem just as absurd a right to have been denied individuals.

I agree with what I think norbizness is saying, in that Edwards fails to come across as genuine. While I appreciate the tactic of being forthcoming about his personal beliefs and the complexity of the issue, I don't believe that his personal beliefs will not enter into decisions he makes as prez.

I guess that's Edwards' way to separate himself from Bush while still satisfying that oh-so important group of voters: bigots!

Kudos to the Reverend.

Wow, the Reverend's question was so well stated and presented. Just awesome.

And I agree completely with what you said, dykerson. I also think he kind of jumped around that question: he simply said he would not use his personal faith as a reason to deny someone their rights. He didn't say that he would not deny gay rights for any number of other reasons though. Shady.

I'm pretty sure the only one i'll be voting for is Dennis Kucinich. Check out this site: www.dehp.net/candidate/
you can enter your views and see where the candidates fall based on whether they match your values or not.

This one also tables down all the candidates on a list of issues that tend to be big ones: www.2decide.com/table.htm

Preach it!

I dunno, I think Edwards is answering this on a personal level, when what we want to know is what his political, presidential answer would be. I don't care if he personally supports the idea of gay marriage or not, what I want to know is if he as President will recognize that his faith is not a reason to deny them marriage.

I feel like I did hear him say that was true, at the very end of his answer. But I wish he had stated it more definitively so I can be sure about that.

YES.

My favorite part, by far, was when the debate leaned into the OMG-Hillary-STILL-doesn't-have-a -penis issue and suddenly everyone broke out into a "no, i'm the bigger feminist!!!"
Clinton, quick to pick up on it, said, "I think its terrific, we're up here arguing about who's going to be better for women. isn't that a great change?"

this guy is my hero! I love him and would love to attend his church.

He's representing North Carolina well :)

I'm in love and heading to North Carolina...

but we're not staying, sorry Reverend.

"I think Reverend Longcrier asks a very important question, which is whether fundamentally -- whether it's right for any of our faith beliefs to be imposed on the American people when we're president of the United States. I do not believe that's right."

"my wife Elizabeth spoke out a few weeks ago, and she actually supports gay marriage. I do not. But this is a very, very difficult issue for me. And I recognize and have enormous respect for people who have a different view of it."

Why should one be conflicted if they believe that one's personal beliefs should not interfere with law making? Gay marriage is nothing like murder, where legislating morality is necessary to keep everyone safe. Gay relationships do not hurt anyone. I hope that one of these day Americans can look back on the Gay Marriage debate and realize how utterly ridiculous we were being.