While civilization has been improving our houses it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them. It has created palaces but it was not so easy to create noblemen and kings.

I broke down while at Oxford was rejected by a record number of medical tribunals during the War and finally got permission to leave Oxford and do civilian work till the War ended.

Civil and political rights are critical but not often the real problem for the destitute sick. My patients in Haiti can now vote but they can't get medical care or clean water.

Religious institutions should have religious freedom on this issue. No church or minister should ever have to conduct a marriage that is inconsistent with their religious beliefs. But I think as a civil institution this issue's time has come and we need to move forward.

Civil marriage like all civil rights provided by the government must be provided equally to all Americans.

Public-opinion polls show that Americans split about evenly on civil unions. But when the words 'gay marriage' are presented they break 3-to-1 against it.

I do not believe that defending traditional marriage between one man and one woman excludes anybody or usurps anybody's civil rights and denies anybody their civil rights.

Thousands of years and many civilizations have defined a marriage as the union between one man and one woman. With few exceptions those civilizations that did not follow that perished.

If I felt in the event of a royal wedding inspired to write about people coming together in marriage or civil partnership I would just be grateful to have an idea for the poem. And if I didn't I'd ignore it.

Marriage is sacred and protected and has nothing to do with violating our civil rights.

I rise today in support of Bill C-38 the Civil Marriage Act. I rise in support of a Canada in which liberties are safeguarded rights are protected and the people of this land are treated as equals under the law.

Civil union is less than marriage. Marriage is a sacred and valued institution and ought to be afforded equal protection.

My argument is simple which is that for several thousand years in Western civilization marriage has been the union of one man and one woman. Research is overwhelming that children need mothers and fathers.

Particularly black Americans many of them from quotes that I have seen and conversations I've had are sort of insulted that the civil rights movement is being hijacked - the rhetoric of the civil rights movement is being hijacked for something like same sex marriage. Black Americans tend to have a higher degree of religiosity.

The sad truth is that the civil rights movement cannot be reborn until we identify the causes of black suffering some of them self-inflicted. Why can't black leaders organize rallies around responsible sexuality birth within marriage parents reading to their children and students staying in school and doing homework?

I have no difficulty with the recognition of civil unions for non-traditional relationships but I believe in law we should protect the traditional definition of marriage.

I have not supported same-sex marriage. I have supported civil partnerships and contractual relationships.

I don't think marriage is a civil right but I think that being able to transfer property is a civil right.

I think there are a whole host of things that are civil rights and then there are other things - such as traditional marriage - that I think express a community's concern and regard for a particular institution.

Mrs. Parks' act of brave defiance rocked the foundation of American society and inspired generations of civil rights leaders and created a sense of hope for every American facing legal discrimination in this country.

I oppose any attempt to grant homosexual unions the same legal privileges that civil government affords to traditional marriage and family life.

King consciously steered away from legal claims and instead relied on civil disobedience.

However saying that I totally support the concept of civil partnerships in the eyes of the law and think it a disgrace that same sex couples have had to wait so long for legal rights protection and recognition.

I come from a profession which has suffered greatly because of the lack of civility. Lawyers treat each other poorly and it has come home to haunt them. The public will not tolerate a lack of civility.