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

Contents:

• LOTS OF PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE THK GAY SEX IS IMMORAL
• GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS
• GAY MARRIAGE IS IMMORAL, VATIN SAYS
• SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?
• WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A SEEMGLY FAKE DOCUMENT A GAY RIGHTS CASE
• THE DEHUMANIZG CAMPAIGN TO DEPICT GAY PEOPLE AS IMMORAL DEVIANTS
• GAY MARRIAGE
• PART 2: GAY MARRIAGE
• HOW GAY MARRIAGE HARMS PEOPLE

LOTS OF PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE THK GAY SEX IS IMMORAL

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. 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.

Attus on LGBTQ issu have shifted durg the last RtersCalifornia, Illois, New York: three stat where gay marriage is or will bee legal wh the next six months—and three stat where ls than half of people see gay sex as "morally acceptable, " timat suggt.

Fewer people believe that gay marriage vlat their relig beliefs now, but of those who do still thk that, some seem to have cid that their relig beliefs shouldn't terme who n get this topic, there were big differenc among var relig groups. There's an abundance of gay televisn and movie characters now, but even more importantly, 65 percent of those surveyed reported havg a close iend or fay member who's gay, as opposed to jt 22 percent who reported the same 2003. Between 14 and 17 percent of Millennials who are no longer relig say that attus toward LGBTQ issu had a very or somewhat important effect on their cisn to qu gog to church or most pellg evince to support the age argument is this: Nearly 70 percent of Millennials support same-sex marriage, but only 56 percent thk gay sex is morally acceptable.

GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS

The twenty- and thirtysomethgs who grew up wh Will and Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy have e of polil age, and as gay marriage hs more and more ballot box and urtrooms the g months, this generatn will have a strong fluence over who liv happily ever after. 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.

ROME — The Vatin on Thursday vigoroly nmned gay marriage and urged lawmakers around the world -- Catholic and non-Catholic alike -- to fend the “mon good” of society by fightg the legalizatn of same-sex to halt what se as an alarmg trend, the Vatin sgled out policians to jo the stggle to prerve tradnal marriag between men and women and the “sancty” of the fay.

Homosexual relatnships are immoral and viant, and only tradnal marriag n fulfill God’s plan for the reproductn of the human race, the Vatin said a 12-page set of guil signed by Pope John Pl document was drafted earlier this year by the Congregatn for the Doctre of the Fah -- the body that polic adherence to relig l and philosophy -- and released Thursday as a unter to the spread of legal regnn of gay marriage Europe and Canada and mov to w regnn the Uned and lbian anizatns rpond angrily to the Vatin’s posn. In Europe, the Netherlands and Belgium regnize gay marriage, several more acknowledge civil unns wh basic rights, and Bra is nsirg siar Vatin said Thursday that Catholic policians, pecially, are obliged by moral duty to vote agast bills that grant stat to homosexual unns and to lobby publicly agast such polil lears regardls of their relign who are “mted to promotg and fendg the mon good of society” should follow su, add. “Legal regnn of homosexual unns, or placg them on the same level as marriage, would mean not only the approval of viant behavr, wh the nsequence of makg a mol prent-day society, but would also obscure basic valu which belong to the mon herance of humany, ” the document said.

GAY MARRIAGE IS IMMORAL, VATIN SAYS

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.

SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?

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. 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.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A SEEMGLY FAKE DOCUMENT A GAY RIGHTS CASE

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]. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTA supposed requt for a webse for a same-sex weddg played a mor role a major clash between ee speech and gay rights at the Supreme Supreme Court led last week that a Colorado graphic signer has the right to refe to create webs for same-sex Jiang for The New York TimAfter the Supreme Court led last week that a Colorado graphic signer has the right to refe to create webs for same-sex marriag, crics of the cisn raised qutns about a form clud urt papers the se that appeared to show that a gay uple had sought the servic of the signer, Lorie man who supposedly submted the form said he was unaware of s existence until a reporter for The New Republic lled him.

Rather, his piece is fascatg for the peek provis to the post-Obergefell anti-gay battle plan: a retreat om arguments agast judicial terventn—which were pretext to beg wh—and a renewed effort to persua Amerins that gay people are fundamentally immoral bee they have gay sex. The survey of publics 39 untri fds 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.

Attus about homosexualy have been fairly stable recent years, except South Korea, the Uned Stat and Canada, where the percentage sayg homosexualy should be accepted by society has grown by at least ten percentage pots sce 2007. Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. ” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups.

THE DEHUMANIZG CAMPAIGN TO DEPICT GAY PEOPLE AS IMMORAL DEVIANTS

Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk beg the first openly gay man elected to public office the untry 1977—the fight for gay marriage ma ltle headway for many years. In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners. C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch.

That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S. Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v.

GAY MARRIAGE

Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire.

Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007. For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal.

Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000. Morn velopments Attus toward homosexualy are generally flux, partially as a rult of creased polil activism (see gay rights movement) and efforts by homosexuals to be seen not as aberrant personali but as differg om “normal” dividuals only their sexual orientatn.

PART 2: GAY MARRIAGE

The nflictg views of homosexualy—as a variant but normal human sexual behavur on one hand, and as psychologilly viant behavur on the other—rema prent most societi the 21st century, but they have been largely rolved ( the profsnal sense) most veloped untri. The Ksey report of 1948, for example, found that 30 percent of adult Amerin mal among Ksey’s subjects had engaged some homosexual activy and that 10 percent reported that their sexual practice had been exclively homosexual for a perd of at least three years between the ag of 16 and 55. After the 1969 Stonewall rts, which New York Cy policemen raid a gay bar and met wh staed ristance, many homosexuals were embolned to intify themselv as gay men or lbians to iends, to relativ, and even to the public at large.

HOW GAY MARRIAGE HARMS PEOPLE

In rponse to their activism, many jurisdictns enacted laws banng discrimatn agast homosexuals, and an creasg number of employers Ameri and European untri agreed to offer “domtic partner” benefs siar to the health re, life surance and, some s, pensn benefs available to heterosexual married upl. In one such stance, Albania repealed s sodomy statut 1995, and gay upl Amsterdam 2001 were legally married unr the same laws that ern heterosexual marriage (rather than unr laws that allowed them to “register” or form “domtic” partnerships).

However, most shared wh gay men the sire to have a secure place the world muny at large, unchallenged by the fear of vlence, the stggle for equal treatment unr the law, the attempt to silence, and any other form of civil behavur that impos send-class article was most recently revised and updated by Alison Eldridge.

Asked an open-end format their ma reason for opposg gay marriage, more than a quarter of opponents (28%) explicly ce the view that homosexualy is immoral, a s, or nsistent wh biblil teachg, and another 17% say the ia simply is nflict wh their relig beliefs. By a 54% to 37% marg, most agree that gay and lbian upl n be as good parents as heterosexual upl, and by 80% to 13% the vast majory say that society should not put any rtrictns on sex between nsentg adults the privacy of their own home.