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

Contents:

• TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE
• 27 REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE: PROS, CONS, AND WHERE BOTH PARTI STAND
• GROWG SUPPORT FOR GAY MARRIAGE: CHANGED MDS AND CHANGG DEMOGRAPHICS
• SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?
• GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS
• GAY MARRIAGE IS GOOD FOR AMERI
• GAY MARRIAGE
• 8 REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE ...

TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE

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. For stance, 45% of adults the Silent Generatn (those born between 1928 and 1945) favor allowg gays and lbians to wed, pared wh 74% of Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996).

4As wh the general public, Amerins who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (LGBT) are most likely to ce love as a very important reason for gettg married. Sce then, several other European untri – cludg England and Wal, France, Ireland, all of Sndavia, Spa and, most recently, Atria, Germany and Malta – have legalized gay marriage.

The fai and iends of lbian and gay upl who are nied marriage rights may also experience negative physil and mental health nsequenc siar to those experienced by their loved on. 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.

27 REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE

Jonathan Rch, an openly gay man and thor of Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights and Good for Ameri, once said to a mostly straight dience durg an terview, "You broke , and you'll have to fix . In 2021, natnwi support for gay marriage fally ched over 70% — cludg 55% of Republins, the first time the majory of the GOP has supported gay marriage rights.

In 1996, Bill Clton signed to law the Defense Of Marriage Act, which permted state law to not regnize same-sex marriag performed other stat, as well as preventg the feral ernment om regnizg gay marriage at the feral level. Massachetts was the first state the Uned Stat to perm gay marriage after the Massachetts Supreme Judicial Court led that allowg only oppose-sex marriag was discrimatory and illegal. On June 26, 2015, gay marriage was legalized all stat of the Uned Stat, natnwi, when the Supreme Court hand down the Obergefell cisn statg that same-sex marriage was protected unr two cls of the Fourteenth Amendment.

GAY MARRIAGE: PROS, CONS, AND WHERE BOTH PARTI STAND

In 1989, Denmark beme the first untry the world to offer civil unns to same-sex partners, which offered some (but not all) marriage rights to gay 2001, the Netherlands passed a bill legalizg gay marriage — the first untry to do so, as well as the first 2003, Belgium legalized same-sex 2003, urts two Canadian provc cid that gay marriage was a nstutnal right Ontar, then Brish Columbia.

In 2005, Canada legalized same-sex marriage natnwi — the first untry North Ameri to do 2006, South Ai beme the first Ain untry to legalize same-sex 2010, Argenta beme the first South Amerin untry to legalize gay 2013, New Zealand beme the first Oceanic untry to legalize same-sex 2019, Taiwan beme the first Asian natn to legalize gay recently 2022, all Mexin jurisdictns had legalized gay marriage, eher by legislatn, executive actn, or a Supreme Court orr. However, transgenr and gay rights are not equal across all Mexin stat and Augt 2022, the small untry of Andorra legalized gay marriage, but won’t take effect until Febary 2023.

GROWG SUPPORT FOR GAY MARRIAGE: CHANGED MDS AND CHANGG DEMOGRAPHICS

On the oppose si of the pollg spectm, Ecuador’s urts legalized gay marriage 2019, spe s cizens disapprovg of gay marriage 51% to 23% — the lowt approval ratg any untry wh equal marriage rights.

SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?

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.

Equally important, however, is that 14% of all Amerins – and 28% of gay marriage supporters – say they have changed their mds on this issue favor of 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.

Even among those who oppose allowg gays and lbians to marry legally, a third (33%) say that same-sex upl should have the same legal rights as other upl. 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.

GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS

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.

GAY MARRIAGE IS GOOD FOR AMERI

And the growth support for same-sex marriage among male Prottants over this time is also substantial: Today 55% favor allowg gays and lbians to marry, up om 36% 10 years ago. In 2003, a 56% majory of Amerins agreed wh the statement: “allowg gays and lbians to legally marry would unrme the tradnal Amerin fay;” today 46% say this. As wh other attus about LGBT (Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr) people, younger generatns rema substantially more acceptg—and have grown more so over time.

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. A Washgton Post/ABC News survey, nducted March 7-10, asks a different qutn: “Do you thk should be legal or illegal for gay and lbian upl to get married? US public opn had shifted signifintly over the years, om 27% approval of gay marriage 1996 to 55% 2015, the year beme legal throughout the Uned Stat, to 61% 2019.

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

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 July 2012 New York Cy Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that gay marriage had ntributed $259 ln to the cy’s enomy jt a year sce the practice beme legal there July 2011. 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.

8 REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE ...

Contrary to the pro gay marriage argument that some different-sex upl nnot have children or don’t want them, even those s there is still the potential to produce children. 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.