It is the year 2016, United States of America, land of the free, etc. The country is well over 200 years old now and humans as an “evolved” species have been around for thousands of years (even by the non-Darwinian evolutionary Ken Hahm time table, it’s a few thousand). We have gotten over the hump on many a battle for civil rights over the years; though sadly these battles are still being fought in many parts of the country but, for the most part, most of us conduct ourselves in a relatively educated and “evolved” fashion when it comes to dealing with each other and seemingly routine things are of issue, one is gay marriage; just plain old “marriage” to the rest of us reasonably evolved humans.
“Gay Marriage” is a really a simple concept- two people who happen to be of the same sex, love each other, or want to establish their relationship on more formal and legal grounds, want to marry. Easy peasey. Get a license, say the “I do”, kiss kiss, party, and done. Another happy couple joins the ranks of wedded bliss. And it’s just like any other marriage in this modern age.
I honestly don’t see what the issue is. What is your argument against ?
“It violates the sanctity of marriage” – How exactly ? Marriage in this day and age is both a religious union to some and a legal one for everyone. As long as they get a license, that “sanctity” is observed from a legal standpoint. Is it the “religious union” issue? We have freedom of religion here in the US, and a lot of religions to choose from; or not to choose from, so that may or may not apply to every marriage. I got married and it was not a religious service as I am non-religious so..does that make my union any less of a marriage ? I got the license and as far as the law was concerned I was legally bound to another. Did I miss out on the sanctity that many refer to ? Was that on the bridal registry and I missed it ? Crap.
To be fair this is also a country where a rule prohibiting family members from marrying is on the books, and that isn’t in every state (ref here)- is that the sanctity you are referring to? So we’ll let family members marry but not two unrelated people..? Or are you more of the arranged marriage persuasion ? Many cultures still practice this and the goal of the marriage is usually not love but rather status or some other non-love/religious related motivation. Is that sanctity rooted in ye old history ? Kings and queens, princes and princesses were wed, under “god” in “holy matrimony” for political or some other gain throughout history. Royal families brokering peace or a land/power grab was fairly standard; and yes many were even christian and sponsored or endorsed by bishops and/or popes depending whom was being wed together.
How about procreation? If the main purpose is to pump out offspring then why were there roughly 415,000 children in foster care in 2014 or 702,000 children in this country who were victims of abuse or maltreatment. (source with ref links from there) By all means let’s keep breeding because we are doing such a bang up job of taking care of those fruits of our blessed union and clearly we need more. It is the divine covenant of marriage after all. Gay marriage just barely became legal so those numbers can’t be blamed on gay marriages (never mind the obvious physiological constraints on childbirth). That’s all the result of heterosexual relations and god abiding unions.
Maybe it’s the low divorce rate of your standard run of the mill hetero marriage..? Or the fidelity..? (ashley madison leak info- here) Here are some numbers for marriages/divorces – click here . Just to put it out there, neither the infidelity or divorce issue has anything to do with gay marriage.
I’ll stop there because the rest of the arguments are religious in nature or based on junk science in my humble opinion. But I will say this, your religious beliefs are great, for you, your marriage, etc,. If what somebody else does in their lives, like getting married, has an adverse effect on you or your marriage, then your marriage or you have a problem. That really isn’t anybody else’s responsibility, just like what somebody else is doing their private lives isn’t yours. If you are right with your god then let it stop there. (other sources of argument against..link…link.) A good procon .
Here are some questions I think the people who oppose gay marriage need to ask themselves:
How, specifically, does it effect you ? Not your feelings, your perceived slight, or injustice to your god, but you, as a human being, how are you impacted by it directly?
Two people you don’t know, never meet, maybe see them on the street in a public park or on a drive through the city but are otherwise complete strangers to you decide to get married, does it have any impact or effect on you or your life ?
You decide you want to get married and somebody you don’t know, probably will never know, never meet, or ever interact with says you can’t and fights to make sure you can’t, how do you feel ? What would you do about it ?
Civil liberties are personal guarantees and freedoms that the government cannot abridge, either by law or by judicial interpretation without due process. They are basic rights and freedoms that are guaranteed — either explicitly identified in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, or interpreted through the years by courts and lawmakers. Discrimination has been on the books for a long time and is a big no-no. I do not have the right to deny somebody else a civil liberty because I don’t like what they do. If I don’t like gay marriage then I guess I won’t be marrying somebody of the same sex. My dis-like for whatever reason does not in any way give me the right to deny you the option of getting married. Say I don’t like hispanics, or blacks, or asians, or canadians. Then I am well within my rights not to have those people in my personal life. It does not give me the right to deny them any rights as a human being. I am not allowed by law to discriminate against them. Two people of the same sex want to have sex, I am not ok with that. I guess I shouldn’t have sex with somebody of the same sex. It does not give me the right to tell them they can’t do that. It doesn’t matter if my religion damns them to hell or condemns them to burn for eternity, that is their problem with their maker, not mine.
Good governance starts with self governance. I may not like your religion, the way you dress, who you are shacking up with, how you play golf, your particular skin tone, the music you listen to, the food you eat, but none of those things gives me the right to tell you that you can’t do anything or deny you basic liberties I enjoy as a human and citizen on this planet.
End of story.