Should Gay Marriage Be Legal? 6 Pros and Cons

gay marriage discussion

Gay marriage is a unn that is characterized by the jog together between spo of siar sex and which is acknowledged legally like the vows of a nventnal marriage.

Contents:

GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS

The ntroversy igned by the Massachetts High Court lg allowg gay and lbian upl to marry ntu to rage state urts and legislatur as well as church across the natn. * gay marriage discussion *

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. 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.

HOW TO HAVE A DISCSN ON GAY MARRIAGE

Courts and legislators a number of untri, cludg the Uned Stat, have legalized gay marriage recent years. Dpe s legal stat, people disagree on whether or not gay marriage should be legal. A discsn on gay... * gay marriage discussion *

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. 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.

CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS COULD REMOVE IT NEXT YEAR

Proponents ntend that gay marriage bans are discrimatory and unnstutnal, opponents ague that marriage is primarily for procreatn. * gay marriage discussion *

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.

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 tent was two-fold: first to ve stunts to dialogue wh people different om themselv; send, to work to elimate, whatever small way I uld, homophobic attus on our mp and our muny.

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. Scholars and the general public beme creasgly terted the issue durg the late 20th century, a perd when attus toward homosexualy and laws regulatg homosexual behavur were liberalized, particularly wtern Europe and the Uned issue of same-sex marriage equently sparked emotnal and polil clash between supporters and opponents.

HISTORY OF GAY MARRIAGE

Relig and secular expectatns of marriage and sexualy Over time the historil and tradnal cultur origally rerd by the lik of Bachofen and Man slowly succumbed to the homogenizatn imposed by lonialism. In other s, the cultural homogeney supported by the domant relign did not rult the applitn of doctre to the civic realm but may nohels have fostered a smoother seri of discsns among the cizenry: Belgium and Spa had legalized same-sex marriage, for stance, spe official opposn om their predomant relig stutn, the Roman Catholic Church. Most of the world religns have at some pots their histori opposed same-sex marriage for one or more of the followg stated reasons: homosexual acts vlate natural law or dive tentns and are therefore immoral; passag sacred texts nmn homosexual acts; and relig tradn regniz only the marriage of one man and one woman as valid.

Even those of who have ethil objectns to homosexual practice should be able to regnize the posive dimensns of a mment between two persons for mutual support, provisn, and pannship. What is beg sought civil partnerships, and even more sistently same-sex marriage, is the public affirmatn and celebratn of homosexual sex, as terchangeable wh maral sex between a man and woman. To make civil partnerships ntgent upon homosexual sex or to offer same-sex marriag would be unjtly discrimatory agast those who serve the same social goods apart om sexual relatns.

The ncern unrlyg this qutn is that we don’t, through a nstant bracketg of the qutn of the moraly of homosexual practice, end up abandong the historic Christian nvictn that homosexual practice is ntrary to dive will and human nature. While I want to make clear that my arguments agast same-sex marriage do not typilly pend upon opposn to homosexual practice, I am prepared to give an explanatn for why I am also opposed to that when people ask me. The strength of the scriptural se agast homosexual practice do not, however, rt upon prohibns of homosexual practice so much as upon s posive teachg about the appropriate ntext, nature, and ends of human sexual behavur.

SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?

The mon nservative Christian way of reasong on the subject of same-sex marriage begs wh the dive mands agast homosexual practice and works om those to the illegimacy of same-sex marriage. In this rpect, Christians opposed to homosexual practice and same-sex marriage reason much the same directn as those who support homosexual practice and same-sex marriage: both reason om sexualy/sexual practice to marriage.

When the Scriptur speak of homosexual relatns as an ‘abomatn’, is agast this background that is speakg: is seen as a vlatn, perversn, and dishonourg of some of the most important dimensns of human existence and a distortg of the very image of God. This is why, Scripture, homosexual practice falls the same tegory that we would put somethg like the creatn of a human-animal hybrid – is regard as a moral monstrosy, a s agast human nature self.

Incintally, is tertg to observe that, a culture where sex is very firmly oriented towards ends that exceed mere sexual pleasure, homosexualy and masturbatn don’t even appear on the cultural radar. For someone who is naturally predisposed to homoerotic sire (and, while I don’t thk that is sufficient as an explanatn, seems clear to me that homosexualy has a blogil ponent), remag chaste our society would be an credibly difficult task, while remag chaste others would be nsirably easier.

GAY MARRIAG LEGALY DISCSN

While I believe that a strong se agast same-sex marriage n be ma whout the above pots – and that we are wiser to prent such a manner – I also believe that my ments above illtrate the difficulty that a full and rich cultural unrstandg and practice of marriage has wh homosexual practice. Men (who equently had wiv) kissg, livg together, sharg the same bed, enterg to ep vows of iendship, and havg profoundly emotnal bonds are mon many societi prr to and outsi of morn Wt culture (there are referenc to all of the thgs the Bible), right alongsi strong nmnatns of homosexual terurse.

We should further regnize that there were no ‘heterosexuals’ or ‘homosexuals’ the eras which the r were practised, only homosexual acts and , marriage, other kship bonds, and suatns of their absence. On acunt of the differenc between male and female enomi of sire – spe areas of nsirable overlap – heterosexual relatnships will be faced wh the task of fg a plementary of sire to a gree that homosexual relatnships will not.

The rult is to prs for homogeney of sire, phg the terrori of male and female sire to the regns of their overlap, abandong the more adventuro traversal of sexual difference as a relic of unenlightened thought, and nyg the gree to which the other sex remas a mystery to . The big elephant the room when talkg about the difference between homosexual sex and heterosexual sex is that homosexual sex is sterile by s very nature: heterosexual sex is not.

GAY MARRIAGE AND THE BIBLE

There is already a movement this directn heterosexual relatnships (which is one reason for the weakeng of marriage bonds), but pg sexual difference and the fact of reproductn is a stggle for heterosexual relatnships: for homosexual relatnships sexual difference and reproductn were never issu the first place. They ually are stanc of spoe-sharg among brothers, rather than unns which volve both homosexual and heterosexual practice, let alone which prent them as posssg pary their signifince.

For example, attributg the belief that people “should be able to marry anyone they love” to supporters of gay marriage orr to monstrate that, by the same logic, they should also support ctuo or btial marriage giv rise to the straw man fallacy. That is bee most people who support gay marriage do not actually believe that a person should be able to marry any person or beg he lov but stead believe that the kd of love that upl a homosexual relatnship experience has much mon wh the kd of love that upl experience a heterosexual relatnship and ltle mon wh ctuo or btial relatnships. For example, sayg to someone that eher you support gay marriage or you are a bigot giv rise to a false dilemma bee there is a third optn: you n fd arguments opposn to gay marriage om natural law scholars, [6].

Tell them that is irrelevant to the topic, as 's hypothetil and not based realy any way, and that gay people have existed throughout history, and bisexual and transgenr people also exist. This rapid evolutn has spired both sis to fight harr as those favor ga new hope and momentum while those opposed dig 1996, only 27% of Amerins favored gay marriage acrdg to Gallup. Thirteen stat and DC have legalized gay marriage while was victor at the ballot box for the first time 2012, when voters, rather than urts or legislatur, Mae, Maryland and Washgton legalized the practice.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY MARRIAGE DISCUSSION

History of Gay Marriage .

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