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

Contents:

• THE TOP 10 ARGUMENTS AGAST GAY MARRIAGE: ALL RECEIVE FAILG GRAS!
• THE MOST EFFECTIVE ARGUMENT AGAST GAY RIGHTS
• THE PEOPLE WHO OPPOSE THE GAY MARRIAGE LAW
• ARGUMENTS FOR GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS
• THE BT ARGUMENT AGAST GAY MARRIAGE
• THERE'S NO REAL CASE AGAST GAY MARRIAGE

THE TOP 10 ARGUMENTS AGAST GAY MARRIAGE: ALL RECEIVE FAILG GRAS!

Gay rights advot and others say that gay and lbian people want to get married for the same reasons that straight people do – they want to be rg, stable relatnships, they want to build a life and even start a fay wh someone else.

Some people favor of gay marriage have argued for a “go-slow” approach, acknowledgg that we’re largely unknown terrory and that a majory of Amerins are not yet fortable wh same-sex marriage. And if the urts ultimately say, “Marriage mt be allowed between anybody and anybody, ” the gay rights advot are not gog to say, “Well, you’ve gone too far.

I don’t thk there is an issue that is a tougher issue for people to stand up agast Amerin culture today than this one, both om the standpot of the mastream media and the popular culture nmng you for your – they n e all sorts of words to scribe you – tolerant, bigot, homophobe, hater. The Massachetts Supreme Judicial Court igned a natnwi bate late 2003 when led that the state mt allow gay and lbian upl to marry.

THE MOST EFFECTIVE ARGUMENT AGAST GAY RIGHTS

Almost overnight, same-sex marriage beme a major natnal issue, ptg relig and social nservativ agast gay-rights advot and their alli.

In addn, Florida will hold a referendum durg the November 2008 electn on a state nstutnal amendment that would prohib gay marriage. Supporters of same-sex marriage ntend that gay and lbian upl should be treated no differently than their heterosexual unterparts and that they should be able to marry like anyone else. They pot out, for stance, that homosexual upl who have been together for years often fd themselv whout the basic rights and privileg that are currently enjoyed by heterosexual upl who legally marry — om the sharg of health and pensn benefs to hospal visatn rights.

THE PEOPLE WHO OPPOSE THE GAY MARRIAGE LAW

Allowg gay and lbian upl to wed, they argue, will radilly refe marriage and further weaken at a time when the stutn is already ep trouble due to high divorce rat and the signifint number of out-of-wedlock births. Moreover, they predict, givg gay upl the right to marry will ultimately lead to grantg people polygamo and other nontradnal relatnships the right to marry as well. The Catholic Church and evangelil Christian groups have played a leadg role public opposn to gay marriage, while male Prottant church and other relig groups wrtle wh whether to orda gay clergy and perform same-sex marriage ceremoni.

ARGUMENTS FOR GAY MARRIAGE

Ined, the ordatn and marriage of gay persons has been a growg wedge between the socially liberal and nservative wgs of the Epispal and Prbyterian church, leadg some nservative ngregatns and even whole dc to break away om their natnal church. Acrdg to an Augt 2007 survey by the Pew Fom on Relign & Public Life and the Pew Rearch Center for the People & the Prs, 55% of Amerins oppose gay marriage, wh 36% favorg . A majory of black Prottants (64%) and Lato Catholics (52%)3 also oppose gay marriage, as do plurali of whe, non-Hispanic Catholics (49%) and whe male Prottants (47%).

However, a 2006 Pew survey found that sizable majori of whe male Prottants (66%), Catholics (63%) and those whout a relig affiliatn (78%) favor allowg homosexual upl to enter to civil unns that grant most of the legal rights of marriage whout the tle. As wh gay marriage, whe evangelils (66%), black Prottants (62%) and equent church attenrs (60%) stand out for their opposn to civil unns. Gay Amerins have been llg for the right to marry, or at least to create more formalized relatnships, sce the 1960s, but same-sex marriage has only emerged as a natnal issue the last 15 years.

The spark that started the bate me om Hawaii 1993 when the state’s Supreme Court led that an existg law banng same-sex marriage would be unnstutnal unls the state ernment uld show that had a pellg reason for discrimatg agast gay and lbian upl. Even though this cisn did not immediately lead to the legalizatn of gay marriage the state (the se was sent back to a lower urt for further nsiratn), did spark a natnwi backlash. Amid wispread efforts many stat to prevent same-sex marriage, there was at least one notable victory for gay-rights advot durg this perd.

GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS

In 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court led that gay and lbian upl are entled to all of the rights and protectns associated wh marriage. Although the bate over gay marriage for a while seemed to fa om the public eye, the issue was sudnly and dramatilly tapulted back to the headl November 2003 when the hight state urt Massachetts led that the state’s nstutn guaranteed gay and lbian upl the right to marry. To beg wh, all the marriage licens issued to gay upl outsi of Massachetts were later nullified sce none of the mayors and other officials volved had the thory to grant marriage licens to same-sex upl.

Gay-marriage opponents had better luck at the state level, where voters 13 stat passed referenda 2004 amendg their nstutns to prohib same-sex marriage.

Oh, which 2004 was holdg a referendum on a nstutnal ban on gay marriage, was the state that ultimately gave Print Bh the electoral vot he need to beat Sen.

THE BT ARGUMENT AGAST GAY MARRIAGE

Ined, the last two years, a number of top urts more socially liberal stat –New York, Washgton state and Maryland — have rejected arguments favor of gay unns. Th Massachetts remas the only state that allows same-sex marriage; more than 10, 000 gay and lbian upl have married there sce 2004. Meanwhile, opponents are lookg to the November 2008 electn, seekg to have nstutnal gay-marriage bans placed on the ballot as many as 10 stat, cludg Arizona and Indiana.

Relig Groups’ Official Posns on Gay MarriageA breakdown of 17 major relig groups’ views on gay marriage and the ordatn of gay clergy. In an email terview, she wrote, “It is queer liberatn, not homonormative marriage that will e radil chang to how we form, live, and fd joy our fai and muni. And as of this week, seems that we are now enterg a perd, both polilly and possibly socially, which the good news for gay rights will likely be unrmed and undone a ln ways large and have been worryg about a great gay rights backlash on-and-off for the past few years, of urse.

THERE'S NO REAL CASE AGAST GAY MARRIAGE

A Tea Party favore, Bev is perhaps bt known outsi the state for his arnt support of Kim Davis, the Rowan County Clerk who famoly nied marriage licens to gay upl her ral district. ”Further to the south Hoton, voters undid the Hoton Equal Rights Ordance, a municipal law that sought to protect gay and transgenr people om discrimatn. )You n roll your ey and thk to yourself that, the grand scheme of gay rights, the bathroom thg is a rather fe pot—although ’s worth notg what any third grar will tell you, which is that public bathrooms and locker rooms tend to be a bully’s natural habat.

Sometim the bate on gay marriage has been polarised, stg those who supported the measure as the right-thkg and those who opposed as irratnal and guilty of tac homophobia.

The law to allow gay marriage passed quickly and there are those who still feel they have not had a proper chance to air their ncerns. The relig scepticThere are relig people who oppose gay marriage primarily out of a fear that one day equaly laws will force a church, mosque or temple to host a ceremony.