Word: argumentation
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...adding that gay-rights groups had been braced for a defeat. "It will be very interesting to see how local municipalities that have anti-gay laws pending will deal with the ruling. Will they quietly withdraw them or step up opposition to gay rights." The Court rejected Colorado's argument that anti- discrimination laws give homosexuals special rights, saying it gave them "protections taken for granted by most people either because they already have them or do not need them." The Colorado amendment was approved in 1992 by 53.4 percent of the state's voters, but a state court blocked...
...Yeltsin turned to addressing some problems head on--by blaming others for them. In Russia especially, this is a traditional dodge. Since the czar is always right, the argument goes, any difficulties that arise are the result of unscrupulous or stupid subordinates who undermine him. Take, for example, the failure of the government to pay its civil servants for months at a time. A $10 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund has helped Yeltsin clean up some of the arrears, but the issue remains contentious. The blame for this shameful performance, the President zestily explains in a stump-speech...
From the start, we have had no illusions that Russia could become overnight a fully democratic, stable and prosperous nation or that success is ultimately assured. But that uncertainty is an argument for steadiness--in a policy that has already strengthened America's security and that deserves continued bipartisan support...
...nation as large as Russia, where a loosening of centralized controls could result in anarchy. Anyone who has ever witnessed reform-minded political groups engaged in endless debates about what kind of slogans to use on their campaign posters would certainly come away convinced of the truth of that argument...
None of which means gay marriages are inevitable, only that something is. The running argument between what feels Christian and what the church currently practices actually seems to be approaching climaxes on several fronts at once right now, as the roles of priest and citizen and married couple all struggle to be reborn in harmony. But this time gays will undoubtedly be part of the equation and, if all goes well, part of the harmony...