obligatory same-sex marriage post

[arethinn]

I was reading an article in the paper this morning about the same-sex marriages going on in Portland and how people are starting to rally in New York. They included some quotes from more socially conservative folks as to why they opposed the idea. None of them made any sense to me.

"It makes a mockery of God's plan and the Christian values at the foundation of this country." (I'm manglephrasing there - it was more clearly a reference to revolutionary/founding times) Sorry, just factually wrong. The Framers were not Christians the way you are. What you're saying is you want your values there. As for "God's plan", like every tribe and people doesn't say this about themselves? And when they conflict - which one is really "God's plan"? (Well, yours, of course!) So "manifest destiny" and the decimation of Native tribes was a good thing? *boggle*

"If anyone can get married, then what does that do to marriage?" Not a damned thing, as far as I can tell. I really don't get how people who want to "preserve marriage" can be opposed to having more of it. I'd wager it would even drive the overall divorce rate down for a while, as the same-sex couples getting married would be the ones who were really serious about it and had already been living their lives this way for years. (Then, of course, we'd be back to normal with people getting married when they really oughtn't and getting divorced a year later - but I don't think that's going to happen any more with gays than with any other people.)

"What moral message does it send to our children?" Gee, I dunno, that peaceful co-existence is a good thing?

Comments

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

That's nothing, I was just reading a statement by a christian professor in the Netherlands. They have gay marriage there, and he argues that the fact that the gay marriage rate has fallen since gay marriage was introduced proves it was unneeded. Uhh, frankly I would have thought it would be common sense that initially there would be a burst of gay marriage as long-standing couples choose to get married now that they can, which would then fall off to a marriage rate approximating that of heterosexual couples (proportionally).

[razorjak.livejournal.com]

"What moral message does it send to our children?" Gee, I dunno, that peaceful co-existence is a good thing?

We're god-fearing christians little missy! We don't want any of that hippy PEACE hooey you liberals try to infect our children with.

[soundwave106.livejournal.com]

Gay marriage I feel is going to become like interracial marriage was in the 1960s. Only the hardcore conservative nuts care about interracial marriage nowadays.

The only arguments I see putting out against gay marriage are some combination of either: 1) religion (but religion should be kept out of government, right?); 2) "decline of social values" (if anything, gay marriage will strengthen "social values" by discouraging homosexual hedonism); and 3) homophobia.

None are very solid as far as arguments go.