Gay Marriage: Theologil and Moral Arguments - Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Contents:

• SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?
• HOW MY VIEW ON GAY MARRIAGE CHANGED
• TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS
• GROWG SUPPORT FOR GAY MARRIAGE: CHANGED MDS AND CHANGG DEMOGRAPHICS
• SUPREME COURT RULG ON GAY MARRIAGE CHANGED PERCEPTN OF NORMS, DPE STABLE PERSONAL BELIEFS
• HOW OUR OPNS ON GAY MARRIAGE HAVE CHANGED
• GAY MARRIAGE IS GOOD FOR AMERI
• GAY MARRIAGE, RELIGN AND THE COURT
• MY OPN ON GAY MARRIAGE
• THE EFFECT OF A SUPREME COURT DECISN REGARDG GAY MARRIAGE ON SOCIAL NORMS AND PERSONAL ATTUS

SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?

They thk more posively about them, and they often change their views towards gay marriage or other And that's not the only reason people have changed their mds on gay marriage, but 's the biggt one. BAUNACH: Well, to be hont I don't know if is the biggt, but is an important one, and I don't thk we'd be where we are right now if we didn't have so many gay men and lbians and bisexuals and everybody else out of the closet who are makg themselv known to the people that they've always known, to their fay, their iends, their -workers. BAUNACH: For example the people who live urban areas, people who have more tn, people who are Democrats, people who are not Evangelil Prottants, they tend to be more supportive of gay And are there racial divisns?

HOW MY VIEW ON GAY MARRIAGE CHANGED

Ain-Amerins are ls supportive of gay marriage, although like most groups their support has grown over time, jt not as much as many other And as you look at the charts, and the are provid by the Pew people, the people who survey public opn, seems to be right. We see this every day that people are sayg, well, gee, once I got to know so-and-so, or once I had a gay son or a lbian dghter or once I jt thought more about I changed my And thought more about . BAUNACH: It do, and that's part of the succs of the gay rights movement is that the gay rights movement has been able to ame this issue terms of a civil right, and when people start thkg about that way, when they don't thk about on a moral issue, but they thk about on an equaly issue, a civil rights issue, they tend to agree wh this And where do you see this gog?

TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE

It Jt bee you were workg at a florist shop, everybody assumed you were Well, actually turned out - I found out a ltle b later that he had a b of a reputatn around town as a homosexual. Maybe he was wonrg how I felt about and didn't know if would be fortable to be workg wh somebody who had a problem wh his homosexualy or, you know, of urse I didn't bee jt really opened my ey to this ia. It may be very important to their polil inty as a nservative, or may be very important to them a relig inty, if they're an evangelil prottant, or if they belong to another group, another relig affiliatn that disapprov of gay marriage.

My bt iend sce childhood me out to me when we were high school, and fundamentally changed my view of gay and lbian llege, I have met several people the gay muny and have e to embrace marriage equaly as a ccial part of equal treatment for all people.

And people thk - seeg homosexualy as beg immoral has also gone way down, that more and more people see homosexualy as a gay rights issue, like we talked about prevly, but also not as a moraly issue. The vast majory of scientific studi that have directly pared lbian and gay parents wh heterosexual parents have nsistently shown that the same-sex upl are as f and pable parents as heterosexual upl, and that their children are jt as psychologilly healthy and well adjted. Proponents of legal gay marriage ntend that gay marriage bans are discrimatory and unnstutnal, and that same-sex upl should have accs to all the benefs enjoyed by different-sex upl.

GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS

On July 25, 2014 Miami-Da County Circu Court Judge Sarah Zabel led Florida’s gay marriage ban unnstutnal and stated that the ban “serv only to hurt, to discrimate, to prive same-sex upl and their fai of equal digny, to label and treat them as send-class cizens, and to em them unworthy of participatn one of the fundamental stutns of our society. The Amerin Psychologil Associatn, Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, and others nclud that legal gay marriage giv upl “accs to the social support that already facilat and strengthens heterosexual marriag, wh all of the psychologil and physil health benefs associated wh that support.

A 2010 analysis found that after their stat had banned gay marriage, gay, lbian and bisexual people suffered a 37% crease mood disorrs, a 42% crease alhol-e disorrs, and a 248% crease generalized anxiety disorrs. In 2012, the Williams Instute at the Universy of California at Los Angel (UCLA) found that the first five years after Massachetts legalized gay marriage 2004, same-sex weddg expendur (such as venue rental, weddg k, etc.

2016 printial ndidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fra stated that civil unns are aquate as an equivalent to marriage: “Benefs are beg btowed to gay upl [ civil unns]… I believe we need to rpect those who believe that the word marriage has a spirual foundatn… Why n’t we rpect and tolerate that while at the same time sayg ernment nnot btow benefs unequally. Court papers filed July 2014 by attorneys fendg Arizona’s gay marriage ban stated that “the State regulat marriage for the primary purpose of channelg potentially procreative sexual relatnships to endurg unns for the sake of jog children to both their mother and their father… Same-sex upl n never provi a child wh both her blogil mother and her blogil father. Lee Badgett, PhD, Director of the Center for Public Policy and Admistratn at the Universy of Massachetts at Amherst, stated that for many gay activists “marriage means adoptg heterosexual forms of fay and givg up distctively gay fay forms and perhaps even gay and lbian culture.

GROWG SUPPORT FOR GAY MARRIAGE: CHANGED MDS AND CHANGG DEMOGRAPHICS

Pla Ettelbrick, JD, Profsor of Law and Women’s Studi, wrote 1989, “Marriage ns ntrary to two of the primary goals of the lbian and gay movement: the affirmatn of gay inty and culture and the validatn of many forms of relatnships. LGBT activist llective Agast Equaly stated, “Gay marriage ap hetero privilege… [and] creas enomic equaly by perpetuatg a system which ems married begs more worthy of the basics like health re and enomic rights. Queer activist Anrs Zanichkowsky stated June 2013 that the then mpaign for gay marriage “tentnally and malicly eras and exclus so many queer people and cultur, particularly trans and genr non-nformg people, poor queer people, and queer people non-tradnal fai… marriage thks non-married people are viant and not tly servg of civil rights.

In Islamic tradn, several hadhs (passag attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) nmn gay and lbian relatnships, cludg the saygs “When a man mounts another man, the throne of God shak, ” and “Sihaq [lbian sex] of women is za [illegimate sexual terurse]. Matt Barber, Associate Dean for Onle Programs at Liberty Universy School of Law, stated, “Every dividual engaged the homosexual liftyle, who has adopted a homosexual inty, they know, tuively, that what they’re dog is immoral, unnatural, and self-stctive, yet they thirst for that affirmatn.

SUPREME COURT RULG ON GAY MARRIAGE CHANGED PERCEPTN OF NORMS, DPE STABLE PERSONAL BELIEFS

A 2003 set of guil signed by Pope John Pl II stated: “There are absolutely no grounds for nsirg homosexual unns to be any way siar or even remotely analogo to God’s plan for marriage and fay… Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go agast the natural moral law. On May 17, 2004, the first legal gay marriage the Uned Stat was performed Cambridge, MA between Tanya McCloskey, a massage therapist, and Marcia Kadish, an employment manager at an engeerg firm. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTOp-Ed ContributorJune 22, 2012IN my 2007 book, “The Future of Marriage, ” and my 2010 urt ttimony ncerng Proposn 8, the California ballot iative that fed marriage as between a man and a woman, I took a stand agast gay marriage.

HOW OUR OPNS ON GAY MARRIAGE HAVE CHANGED

For this and other reasons, gay marriage has bee a signifint ntributor to marriage’s ntug stutnalizatn, by which I mean marriage’s steady transformatn both law and ctom om a stctured stutn wh clear public purpos to the state’s licensg of private relatnships that are privately fed. Can we discs whether both gays and straight people should thk twice before nyg children born through artificial reproductive technology the right to know and be known by their blogil parents?

Put simply, a number of natns have wnsed “sea chang” public opn about gay other strikg feature is the wi variatn across natns public opn about gay rights and gay marriage, as well as related attus about gay men, lbians, and homosexualy (see Table 1).

Lookg at the natnal level, a 2013 survey of 16 “veloped” natns found that support for full regnn of gay marriage was >75% Swen, Norway, and Spa but <30% South Korea, Japan, and Poland (Ipsos, 2013). A 2013 survey of 39 natns found “broad acceptance of homosexualy North Ameri, the European Unn, and much of Lat Ameri, but equally wispread rejectn predomantly Mlim natns and Ai, as well as parts of Asia and Rsia” (Pew Rearch Global Attus Project, 2013).

GAY MARRIAGE IS GOOD FOR AMERI

Table 1Public opn about gay marriage and homosexualy selected natns NatnSame-sex upl should be allowed to legally marry (%) (Ipsos, 2013)Society should accept homosexualy (%) (Pew Rearch, 2013)Swena 81 – Norwaya 78 – Spaa 76 88 Belgiuma 67 – Germany 67 87 Canadaa 63 80 Atralia 54 79 Francea 51 77 Braa 55 76 Italy 48 74 Argentaa 48 74 Philipp – 73 Mexib – 61 Brazila – 60 Uned Statb 42 60 Hungary 30 – Japan 24 54 Venezuela – 51 Poland 21 42 South Korea 26 39 South Aia – 32 Cha – 21 Rsia – 16 Turkey – 9 Malaysia – 9 Kenya – 8 Indonia – 3 Egypt – 3 Pakistan – 2 Nigeria – 1 NatnSame-sex upl should be allowed to legally marry (%) (Ipsos, 2013)Society should accept homosexualy (%) (Pew Rearch, 2013)Swena 81 – Norwaya 78 – Spaa 76 88 Belgiuma 67 – Germany 67 87 Canadaa 63 80 Atralia 54 79 Francea 51 77 Braa 55 76 Italy 48 74 Argentaa 48 74 Philipp – 73 Mexib – 61 Brazila – 60 Uned Statb 42 60 Hungary 30 – Japan 24 54 Venezuela – 51 Poland 21 42 South Korea 26 39 South Aia – 32 Cha – 21 Rsia – 16 Turkey – 9 Malaysia – 9 Kenya – 8 Indonia – 3 Egypt – 3 Pakistan – 2 Nigeria – 1 Not. ”aAs of June 1, 2014, provid legal regnn for gay marriage all of June 1, 2014, provid legal regnn for gay marriage some 1Public opn about gay marriage and homosexualy selected natns NatnSame-sex upl should be allowed to legally marry (%) (Ipsos, 2013)Society should accept homosexualy (%) (Pew Rearch, 2013)Swena 81 – Norwaya 78 – Spaa 76 88 Belgiuma 67 – Germany 67 87 Canadaa 63 80 Atralia 54 79 Francea 51 77 Braa 55 76 Italy 48 74 Argentaa 48 74 Philipp – 73 Mexib – 61 Brazila – 60 Uned Statb 42 60 Hungary 30 – Japan 24 54 Venezuela – 51 Poland 21 42 South Korea 26 39 South Aia – 32 Cha – 21 Rsia – 16 Turkey – 9 Malaysia – 9 Kenya – 8 Indonia – 3 Egypt – 3 Pakistan – 2 Nigeria – 1 NatnSame-sex upl should be allowed to legally marry (%) (Ipsos, 2013)Society should accept homosexualy (%) (Pew Rearch, 2013)Swena 81 – Norwaya 78 – Spaa 76 88 Belgiuma 67 – Germany 67 87 Canadaa 63 80 Atralia 54 79 Francea 51 77 Braa 55 76 Italy 48 74 Argentaa 48 74 Philipp – 73 Mexib – 61 Brazila – 60 Uned Statb 42 60 Hungary 30 – Japan 24 54 Venezuela – 51 Poland 21 42 South Korea 26 39 South Aia – 32 Cha – 21 Rsia – 16 Turkey – 9 Malaysia – 9 Kenya – 8 Indonia – 3 Egypt – 3 Pakistan – 2 Nigeria – 1 Not. At the dividual level, public opn about gay rights not only reflects broad human, polil, and relig valu (Brewer, 2008; Fzgerald, Wstone, & Prtage, this issue) but may also shape other polil attus and behavrs, cludg voter turnout and vote choice, unr some circumstanc (Campbell & Monson, 2008; Lewis, 2005).

One of the aforementned featur of public opn about gay rights—namely, the rapid transformatns support that have unfold some natns—provis opportuni for examg the dynamics of policy opns.

Fzgerald, Wstone, and Prtage extend rearch on such differenc by ttg whether the attus that migrants om Eastern Europe to Wtern Europe hold toward gay men and lbians reflect an acculturatn studi the special issue ntribute to our knowledge about how mography, social ntact, and media n shape public opn about gay rights along wh related attus. L, L, and Loper tt the effects of both terpersonal and imaged ntact on public opn about gay men, lbians, and an antidiscrimatn law Hong Kong (where the visibily of gay men and lbians public life has creased dramatilly), while Panchapakan, Li, and Ho analyze how levels of attentn to tradnal news and Inter news are related to public opn Sgapore (where gay and lbian ntent is censored tradnal media).

GAY MARRIAGE, RELIGN AND THE COURT

Homosexualy is a normal part of adult sexualy; gay men and lbians posss the same potential and sire for staed lovg and lastg relatnships as heterosexuals, cludg lovg and parentg children. What has grown is a much greater acceptance of gays and lbians our culture, as well as the social and enomic eedom for gays and lbians to emerge om the closet that has nfed them for so many generatns. The recent addn of same sex mment ceremoni the Sunday New York Tim weddg and engagement announcements and the populary of shows as "Will and Grace" and "Queer Eye…" dite a shift our culture's attu toward gays and lbians.

My purpose today is not to support or fend gay and lbian marriag—ed, many gays and lbians do not want to marry—but simply suggt a theologil approach that might open up the possibily for greater Christian acceptance of, and eccliastil approval for, same sex unns. Catholic sistence: one n uphold the digny of homosexual people while not upholdg their right-to-marry; no unjt discrimatn towards homosexuals is acceptable; they mt be treated wh rpect, and their rights fend.

A new natnal survey fds that much of the shift is attributable to the arrival of a large hort of young adults – the Millennial generatn – who are far more open to gay rights than prev generatns.

MY OPN ON GAY MARRIAGE

In 2003, as the bate over same-sex marriage tensified and Massachetts beme the first state to allow same-sex marriage, a 56% majory of Amerins felt that allowg gays and lbians to marry would unrme the tradnal Amerin fay, while 39% disagreed. Other trends have shown siar movement sce 2003: The percentage sayg same-sex upl n be as good parents as heterosexual upl has risen 10 pots (to 64%) and there has been a parable crease the percentage sayg that general homosexualy should be accepted, rather than disuraged, by society. The partisan and mographic differenc opns about societal acceptance of homosexualy are mirrored attus related to same-sex marriage, cludg whether would nflict wh people’s relig beliefs and unrme the tradnal fay.

Generatnal differenc about homosexualy largely mirror attus about same-sex marriage, wh about three-quarters of Millennials (75%) and 62% of Gen Xers now sayg homosexualy should be accepted.

While about two-thirds of both Democrats (66%) and pennts (65%) now say homosexualy should be accepted, reflectg signifint shifts towards greater acceptance among the groups, Republin attus are largely unchanged om 2003 (38% of Republins say homosexualy should be accepted, 54% say should be disuraged). Notably, whe male Prottants are the only relig group that has changed substantially on this qutn: In 2003 a 58% majory said gay marriage would go agast their relig beliefs; jt 44% say this today.

THE EFFECT OF A SUPREME COURT DECISN REGARDG GAY MARRIAGE ON SOCIAL NORMS AND PERSONAL ATTUS

Although majori across all tnal groups say gay and lbian upl should be entled to the same rights, support for this posn creas wh tn: 76% of llege graduat agree wh the statement, pared wh 69% of those wh some llege experience and 58% of those who have not attend llege. Hodg lg, cementg to law a new fn of marriage, one that clud same-sex the urt’s lg, public acceptance of gay marriage has ntued to grow Ameri, even among Republins, many of whom vehemently opposed Obergefell.