Gay Marriage In A Nutshell... (original) (raw)
January 24 2004, 03:44
Well, I decided I would probably break the issue down how I see it. I will save myself the trouble of spending countless hours going back and forth. In short, I choose not to die on this hill. Instead I’ll stroll up, post my banner, and then leave.
Should homosexuals have equal rights to marry?
Yes.
Why?
Because heterosexuals can marry. If two people love each other enough, why should they not be allowed to wed?
But homosexuals cannot create offspring.
Since when has the soul principal of marriage been to create offspring? Plenty of heterosexuals marry and don’t have children. Besides the population is quite high already. It’s not as if the human race is in danger of extinction because there aren’t enough people being born. By all means, don’t have kids! Besides plenty of people are having kids without marrying. Yes, homosexuals can’t produce their own offspring, but many are certainly willing to adopt, and there’s plenty of children available. What’s a better life? One raised in and out of various foster homes and orphanages? A short life starving in a third world nation? Or a life spent in a nurturing, loving environment, with parents who happen to be homosexual?
But a homosexual couple couldn’t raise a child properly. (Not proper environment for child, ect.)
There is no conclusive proof that a child raised in a homosexual family would be any better or worse than a child raised in a heterosexual family. On the other hand there are certainly an enumerable amount of reported child abuse, neglect, murder, sexual abuse, spousal abuse and so on in heterosexual families every year. I won’t claim that it can’t happen in a homosexual family. But, anyone care to guess how many cases of spousal abuse, child abuse ect. happen in homosexual couples? (Whether they have children or not, or are simply together, civil union and so on) I would guess not many. I think people should start paying more attention to the shit that happens in every other household and not worry so much about “those gays”.
I don’t want my tax money supporting that lifestyle.
Since when did you have much control over what the government did with your tax money anyways? The United States sends over 3 billion dollars a year in foreign aid to Israel. 3 billion dollars a year, for what, what invaluable resource does Israel have? The Jewish vote perhaps? I don’t know, but I certainly do know that a large part of terrorism against the US is due to the fact that Israel is #1 on our foreign aid list. And people are still worried about their tax money going to homosexual marriage?
The majority of Americans do not support gay marriage, and the majority rules.
True, the majority of Americans do not support gay marriage, by a margin. A more accurate statement is the nation is more or less split on the issue. Sure you hear the news say, “the majority is against homosexual marriage” but its pretty clear there is a conservative bias surging through the media in this age, just look at the popularity of Fox News. Yeah, I suppose the majority does rule, but a hundred years ago the majority of people thought African Americans were mere cattle and should be treated accordingly. Before that Native Americans were viewed as inhuman savages, and nearly exterminated. The majority ruled then, and since the majority ruled that’s the way it should have been, right? Funny how the majority doesn’t hold that view anymore, so what changed?
People got smarter. With the advent of more technology and better, faster communication, people learn more, today people are more informed. Most people are against gay marriage; at one time most people thought the Earth was flat. Frankly, gay marriage is inevitable, why fight it?
The Bible (or various religion) forbids gay marriage.
The Bible says a lot of things. Personally I think the bible should be used as no more than a tool. A guide for finding personal spirituality, and leading a good decent life. I also think much of the bible is out of date and simply doesn’t apply to modern times. Man wrote the Bible, not God. Furthermore how could a supposedly infinite loving and forgiving God smite that which he/she/it has created? If god created everything, than he/she/it created homosexuality, no? And I'm pretty sure I can apply that to any other religion that does not support homosexuality. Granted those are my personal beliefs, and everybody is entitled to there own.
But lets not forget that little thing called “separation of church and state.”
Gay marriage violates/corrupts/breaks the institution of marriage. People should then be able to marry their dog. Or old men should then be able to marry underage girls, and so on.
What exactly is the “Institution of Marriage”? I already covered the religious aspect of the debate, so lets look at a definition.
“Marriage” \Mar"riage\, n. [OE. mariage, F. mariage.]
1.
a. The legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife.
b. The state of being married; wedlock.
c. A common-law marriage.
d. A union between two persons having the customary but usually not the legal force of marriage: a same-sex marriage.
2. A wedding.
3. A close union: “the most successful marriage of beauty and blood in mainstream comics” (Lloyd Rose).
4. Games. The combination of the king and queen of the same suit, as in pinochle
There’s nothing in there about having children. So that can’t be it. All I see is the joining of two people. And yes I realize the first line says “man and woman”, majority rules remember? Who wrote the book? Traditional marriage (no matter between who) has always and will always be viewed as a bond that should be carried out between two people who are of appropriate age and awareness to consent. People who want to marry their dogs have forgotten to take their daily meds.
So I can’t help but wonder, “why not?” If gays should be denied the right to marry, why not take away their right to own a gun? Why not make separate drinking fountains for homosexuals? Why not deny them the right to a fair trial?
Those issues have nothing to do with marriage.
Perhaps, but would you deny them those rights nonetheless? I’m guessing no. So how can you support a homosexual’s entitlement to every other right and deny them the benefit of marriage? In truth it’s my opinion that you can’t look at the situation as “heterosexual” vs. “homosexual” that’s not too different from “black people” and “white people”. Anyone who is truly patriotic would see it in terms of “Americans” and “Americans”.
I know a lot of what I said has already been said, and in many cases, a hundred times before. That’s fine, in the beginning I said this is my “summary” of the whole debate as I see it. I don’t think I could have presented the ideas and arguments any more clearly. If you have trouble understanding any of it than I don’t think I can help you, but I will try. I responded to every viable argument against homosexual marriage I could think of, but if anybody comes up with more I would honestly like to hear them.