Where Christian church, other religns stand on gay marriage | Pew Rearch Center

Contents:

• SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?
• WHERE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, OTHER RELIGNS STAND ON GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS

SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?

The Natnal Relig Learship Roundtable, which supported the multi-fah event on the steps of the San Francis Cy Hall scribed above, is nvened by the Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force.

Equal Employment Opportuny Commissn, se the movement for same-sex marriage an opportuny “to make the se for” the “normative moral equivalence” of “gay and heterosexual sex”—an argument, Profsor Feldblum observ, “that is hardly ever heard polil circl. Rutgers Law Profsor Carlos Ball believ that the stggle for “societal acceptance” of same-sex relatnships entails a “ontal attack” on the “eply held views of many Amerins regardg the (im)moraly of homosexualy.

[30] The thors, who clu Profsors Feldblum and Ball, believe that “current advot for gay rights are not really engagg their opponents unls they are engaged wh the moral nature of their opponents’ views and arguments. 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.

WHERE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, OTHER RELIGNS STAND ON GAY MARRIAGE

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. 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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS

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. 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.

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.