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Government shouldn't tell you whom to marry.

People don't think about the fact that when Barack Obama's parents had him - it was illegal for them to be married in several states in this country. So if we start making it okay that certain people can marry and other people can't, it's a slippery slope of civil rights. Who knows who is going to be allowed to marry or not marry next.

Government has no place telling you who to fall in love with and who to marry.

Obama is for same-sex marriage. If the president is saying that, then who am I to go the other way?

As a married person myself, I don't know what it's like to be told I can't marry somebody I love and want to marry. I can't imagine how that must feel. I definitely think we should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love.

Just like Barack Obama, my views on gay marriage have evolved, and now I am a reluctant groom.

I certainly believe that I have no right to tell another couple whether they can or cannot be married.

The right to marry is vital in society. It's a right that's older than the Bill of Rights because it goes back to the common law.

President Bush once said that marriage is a sacred institution and should be reserved for the union of one man and one woman. If this is the case - and most Americans would agree with him on this - then I have to ask: Why is the government at all involved in marrying people?

Interpreting anyone's marriage - a neighbor's, let alone the president's - is extremely difficult. And yet, examining the first couple's relationship - their negotiations of public and private life, of conflicts and compromises - offers hints about Barack Obama the president, not just Barack Obama the husband.