Thought for the Day:

WikiAnswers reflects the world in which it exists. There are all kinds of people here and they all have a place and a role to play. I am one of them and so are you. I am okay with you being who you are, even when I'm not thrilled with what that is. I promise not to try to hide you, fix you or get rid of you. I also won't waste any time telling you or others that you should change your beliefs. Demanding that strangers change their beliefs is a pretty unavailing endeavor.

We need to follow the guidelines on appropriate content, but those guidelines are meant to control the quality of questions and answers. They do not exist as weapons for the purpose of excluding unwanted classes of people from participating, silencing opinions we don't want heard, or lashing out at people that we don't like. To so abuse whatever power one might have would be a horrible stain on one's character.

Sorry: I do not have a Wikimail account. I understand people are sending me messages there, but I don't know where those messages are going. I assume they go to the same place where text messages sent to my rotary home phone wind up. Please just use my message board. I know it's not private, but why would you be telling me something others shouldn't see?

My name is John and I live in Brooklyn (New York, USA) with my husband, a Mexican-American. I am currently supervisor of the Same-Sex Marriage category. I have experience with the issues surrounding same-sex marriage, since I was party to a civil union for ten years before getting a same-sex divorce, after which I married my second husband.

This category has both questions of fact and questions of opinion. Both types have their own difficulties. The facts are rapidly changing, but have only one correct answer. Opinions fall generally into two camps and I am committed to allowing respondents on both sides of the issue put up their best answer and keep it there. I believe that nobody's opinion should be deleted just because others don't agree with it.

Same-sex marriage is about marriage, not about sex. It's not about whether your junior high school classmate is gay, or about how to meet someone or the mechanics of lovemaking. It's about same-sex couples getting married, staying married and getting divorced. It's about legal issues such couples face, including recognition of their marriage, name changes, tax implications, employer benefits, immigration, societal acceptance and discrimination. Questions about people's beliefs and opinions also do belong here. Offensive or suggestive language does not.

John