Are You for Gay Marriage?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I’m for gay civil unions and completely indifferent on gay marriage.</p>

<p>Marriage itself is strictly a function of the religious institution which endorses it. As such, the ‘sanctity’ of marriage should be defined and preserved by the church or mosque or whatever for which it is relevant. If Christianity opposes gay marriage, so be it. </p>

<p>However, homosexuals SHOULD be afforded the same rights as any heterosexual couple (hospital visitation, finance, inheritance, etc.) under civil unions, which is strictly a function of the state. And for the state to take a moral stance that deviates from its declared respect for ‘equality for all’ would be hypocritical. </p>

<p>Really, it comes down to a matter of definition. Marriage is fundamentally defined by the religious institution. Gay couples should have the exact same rights as do heterosexual couples – the only difference being the label of ‘marriage’, which is really inconsequential given the more important benefits of civil unions.</p>

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<p>@pierre </p>

<p>I like the posts that you’ve made. I’m not religious, nor is my family, but I like your views. Religious beliefs and gay marriage is not something I usually talk about with my buddies or family; so it was nice to read all of this about the topic. I never really talked about gay marriage before and I’m okay with homosexuals and them getting married. But I’m not sure about changing DADT. I serve in the military and although I’m a reservist; I’m pretty sure discontinuing DADT is going to bring in a lot of problems. Some of the things I can think about are people being uncomfortable with openly gay people when it comes to living arrangements, showering, and everything else. </p>

<p>I read something about combat MOS’s. When I was on my overseas deployment it is true that women weren’t ALLOWED to fulfill any combat positions. Some women still did but they weren’t supposed to and I guess it comes down to the officers in charge when it comes to that issue. Gay men are still men so I don’t see any changes being made to a (if you’re gay, you can’t hold a combat MOS) scenario.</p>

<p>I also read something about adoption. I don’t know I’m still on the fence with that one. I don’t mind people getting married but a couple adopting a child is another issue. Maybe someone can convince me either way?</p>

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<p>@cabhax, it’s tough for me. I became a christian 1 year ago so all of a sudden I feel that society is telling me one thing while my pastors and christian friends are telling me another. I’m still struggling every day with what position I should take on controversial issues that does not compromise the very foundations of what I believe in.</p>

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<p>“I also read something about adoption. I don’t know I’m still on the fence with that one. I don’t mind people getting married but a couple adopting a child is another issue.”</p>

<p>I think there was some research done recently where the conclusion was that the children of lesbian women were as well-adjusted as their heterosexually-raised peers. I’m not sure about men though.</p>

<p>EDIT: <a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/07/lesbian.children.adjustment/index.html[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/07/lesbian.children.adjustment/index.html&lt;/a&gt; there is an article about it. Of course the conclusions of the study have been seen as questionable, but it’s something.</p>

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<p>Plenty of little ****s get raised in a traditional household.</p>

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<p>^^I actually heard that a gay couple raises their son/daughter better than a heterosexual one…</p>

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<p>and @Northstarmom,r0kang3l, east89…</p>

<p>I didn’t mean to offend anyone.Why are you even comparing racial rights to gay rights??! They’re two very different things. I guess you could blame my thinking behind this probably because of the fact that I’m Muslim, and I grew up in a Muslim country for most of my life where homosexuality is HIGHLY frowned upon (it’s haram). Yes, gay marriage isn’t going to hurt anyone in the long run, but how can a gay couple even have children??! (not counting adoption) so, what’s the point? I don’t see why everyone is over complicating it to make it seem OK. It’s so stupid to fight over. But, people can do whatever the hell they want—I’m not going to stop them and it’s not going to affect me so whatever. I really don’t give a ****</p>

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<p>That study is a start. The locations were in Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, and California. I wonder what studies would have been gained if they did research on a southern family. </p>

<p>I don’t think that just because they were lesbians that means that they are going to show less power exertion. There’s a lot children that grow up on healthy parenting in heterosexual household. </p>

<p>I also wonder that if the sexual orientation of the children growing up in that kind of household was influenced in anyway because most of our earlier years is influenced by observational learning.</p>

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<p>This raises a very interesting question: is marriage a civil right?</p>

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<p>^^ Agreed. I wonder what people will be debating about in the future…</p>

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<p>You didn’t offend me at all. I just saw huge flaws in your approach. In response to the quoted section, you do realize that a lot of people don’t marry to rear children, right? Moreover, many married couples opt to never have children. Once we come to that realization, your point becomes moot. The “point” is that they’d like to share the same union that heterosexuals share with the one they love.</p>

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<p>According to the Supreme Court, marriage is a “fundamental right.” The question is whether this applies to gay marriage.</p>

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<p>What’s the point? Tax benefits, hospital visitation rights, insurance details, etc.</p>

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<p>I think that marriage (in the past) has primarily been a proxy for supporting children. Nowadays, with large numbers of single parents (and double-income-no-kids couples), marriage does not serve this purpose very well. I would be happy with any changes to the legal marriage system if it served children. Otherwise, people who truly love other would not let a silly thing like marriage get in the way. Gay marriage by itself does not serve children, but perhaps it is a step in the right direction to decouple the marriage=children meme.</p>

<p>As for “love” being a purpose, I am very very dubious. Why should the government support “love”?</p>

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<p>Yes, I fully support it.</p>

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<p>^They can tax the f* oughta them. Just kidding, that’s wrong.</p>

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<p>This is why I’m moving to Spain; they don’t have this problem :D</p>

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<p>So using this point you’re also saying that a couple that is sterile by genetic defect or disease shouldn’t get married because there’s no point?</p>

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<p>I’m not going to listen to any arguments, because I am a God-fearing Christian woman and this is just what I [url=<a href=“Facebook Public Group | Facebook”>Facebook Public Group | Facebook]believe[/url</a>], and if you commie pot-smoking fetus-killing damned yankees don’t like it, y’all can kiss my real American ass:</p>

<ul>
<li>Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.</li>
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<p>-Gay culture is a new fad created by the liberal media to undermine long-standing traditions. We know this is true because gay sex did not exist in ancient Greece and Rome.</p>

<p>-There are plenty of straight families looking to adopt, and every unwanted child already has a loving family. This is why foster care does not exist.</p>

<p>-Conservatives know best how to create strong families. That is why it is not true that Texas and Mississippi have the highest teen birthrates, and Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire have the lowest. This is a myth spread by the liberal media.</p>

<p>-Marriage is a religious institution, defined by churches. This is why atheists do not marry. Christians also never get a divorce.</p>

<p>-Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why our society has no single parents.</p>

<p>-Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.</p>

<p>-Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.</p>

<p>-Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.</p>

<p>-Gay marriage should be decided by the people and their elected representatives, not the courts. The framers checked the courts, which represent mainstream public opinion, with legislatures created to protect the rights of minorities from the tyranny of the majority. Interference by courts in this matter is inappropriate, just as it has been every time the courts have tried to hold back legislatures pushing for civil rights.</p>

<p>-Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.</p>

<p>-Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because “separate but equal” institutions are a good way to satisfy the demands of uppity minority groups.</p>

<p>-Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.</p>

<p>-Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.</p>

<p>-Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.</p>

<p>-Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.</p>

<p>-METEORS and VOLCANOES.</p>

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<p>^[sarcasm]Yup, hell why not just kill them? They can’t have children anyway.[/sarcasm]</p>