On April 1st, 2001, the Netherlands became the first nation in human history to legalize same-sex marriage. Years later, in 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court likewise declared marriage a fundamental right protected by the Constitution. President Barack Obama, in a speech at the Rose Garden, declared "love is love" as he celebrated the ruling as "a victory for America." And most Americans seem to agree. A gallop poll suggests that approximately 88% of democrats and nearly 50% of Republicans support gay marriage. So it seems the debate is over. But should it be? In 2007, an Assumptionist priest by the name of Barry Bercier wrote in his book, Skies of Babylon, that if traditional marriage were re-defined to include same sex couples, "the result would be nothing less than the end of the world of man." Sound dramatic? Well -- what is marriage? If marriage were merely a proclamation of love, and if the fundamental purpose of marriage were to reward people who love each other, then gay marriage should be legal. But society does not give certain legal rights, financial benefits and tax breaks to people simply because they fall in love. At least, until two decades ago, that's not how it worked. Barry Bercier defines marriage as "the public and legal recognition of the pre-political duality of the sexes and the significance of the duality for human beings and the social and political order." In other words, marriage -- traditional marriage as it existed across every civilization for nearly all of human history, is the recognition of a unique relationship that pre-exists law and human constructs. That is, the institution of marriage - from Mesopotamia, to Egypt, China, Rome and every Western nation until 2001 -- recognized the duality of the sexes through law because the duality is the nucleus from which life emerges. The relationship between male and female -- man and woman -- whether you are gay, straight, black, white, bisexual, asexual, rich or poor, is our beginning; our source. For every human being, the duality of the sexes is our 'sine qua non' -- without it, life would not exist.

میشه لطفا یه نفر به پاپ لئو بگه که جمهوری اسلامی در دو ماه گذشته حداقل ۴۲۰۰۰ معترض بی‌گناه و کاملا غیرمسلح رو کشته، و اینکه رژیم بمب هسته‌ای داشته باشه مطلقا غیرقابل قبوله؟ از توجه شما به این موضوع متشکرم. آمریکا برگشته است. I just love his crystal clear language specially for those who needs direct talk. What about you?

isn’t it the 40 since ali khaminai died?

I feel like it's clear now that air-strikes alone don't change regimes. Furthermore, the west isn't necessarily interested in regime change. Their interests are curbing the regime's regional and nuclear ambitions. That's where I feel our interests dirverge, because I ranians don't care about that. We want the regime gone. So maybe isntead of looking to the west to change the regime for us, Iranians in Iran and abroad should work together to think of a way to sabotage this regime from within. This way, we can also avoid being deligitmized as puppets of the west.

In death he had nowhere to be but inside a church 😂 Ali Khamenei's 40th death ceremony was held in the presence of representatives of the Armenian community and Seyyed Abbas Salehi, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, in the St. Sarkis Church of Tehran. Regime media have published pictures of this ceremony in which Armenian clerics are present at the headquarters of the Armenian Caliphate in Tehran, next to government officials. This ceremony was held in the Armenian Church located on Karim Khan Zand Street. As an Iranian Armenian, I must emphasize that the Armenian clerics in Iran are one and the same with the regime. In fact, we call them آخوند ارمنی which means the Armenian mullahs. The regular Armenians such as my family and thousands others live under a theocracy within a theocracy. Namely the Armenian caliphate that works in accordance with the islamic republic. For 47 years these Armenian christian clerics have been a mouthpiece for the regime, specifically a main pawn of the part of the propaganda that claims "we treat christians well in Iran".