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

We have so much discrimination in this world - colour, race, creed, all of these things - and there is an issue here that the right of marriage in the civil law is not extended to same-sex couples.

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

If the rights of civil partners are met differently in law to those of married couples, there is no discrimination in law, and if civil partnerships are seen as somehow 'second class' that is a social attitude which will change and cannot, in any case, be turned around by redefining the law of marriage.

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

I have a deep-seated belief that marriage is between a man and a woman exclusively.

After lengthy consideration, my views have evolved sufficiently to support marriage equality legislation. This position doesn't require any religious denomination to alter any of its tenets; it simply forbids government from discrimination regarding who can marry whom.

There is something wrong with our culture when the view that marriage is between one man and one woman, a view shared by half the nation, is portrayed as evidence of hatred.

My own personal, moral, spiritual, religious, etc. beliefs don't oppose same-gender marriage.

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.