Gay Marriage

[omgx3]

I personally feel that there are two factors that are hindering the legal recognition of gay marriage, religion and the feeling of "that's not right." However, much of the debate over the legality of gay marriage has to do with how a marriage is defined. Is it between a man and a woman or can it extend to a man and a man or a woman and a woman? The problem with re-definining the legal definition of a marriage is that then, people would be allowed to marry animals or inanimate objects if such a scope was widened. Personally, I don't oppose gay marriage, but there should be a separate "category" or some other label other than the term "marriage" so that both sides will be happy.

So are you against it? For it? Discuss.

[RichardGv]

• I'm unaware of any negative impact allowing homosexual marriages could cause. (Well, except the religious ones.) Some may argue that homosexual marriage could make population aging severer, yet disallowing homosexual marriage has little direct effect over people's sexual orientation and thoughts, anyway. Thus I believe they should be allowed.
  
• People discriminates against the sexual orientation itself and the behaviors more than against the expression "homosexual marriage". It's unlikely that offering a new name for it would change things much.
  
• Marriage is more important in terms of the moral standard instead of the laws. The restrictions over couples after getting married is enforced more through the public opinion, not through the laws, since in the laws in most countries, betraying one's husband/wife does not lead to severe punishments, unless the family is terribly rich, and the couple consider money an important factor. Renaming "marriage" for homosexual marriages, however, may lead to reduction of the effects of the moral restrictions, as with the hundreds of years of practice the moral standard about marriages has been closed tied to the word "marriage", therefore it could be a better idea to retain the word. Also, keeping the word does give the homosexual people some feelings of indifferences.
  

[Zach]

Gay marriage is, in my opinion, not all that different from the marriage between a man and a woman. Gay people are people too, and if they do love a member of their same gender, then they should be allowed to spend their lives together in something legally recognized as a marriage.
I never understood the argument that allowing homosexuals to marry would be the same thing as allowing people to marry animals or inanimate objects. Animals are not people. Inanimate objects are not people. Homosexuals are people, and as such, they deserve to be able to spend their lives with another person and to be recognized as married.
Using a different label other than marriage is kind of demeaning to homosexuals if you ask me. They deserve for their relationships to be considered just as important as ours, and giving them a label other than "married" might make it seem like we don't consider their relationships as important.

[Dante]

I don't see why homosexual marriage shouldn't be allowed. At all. Specially not if the reasons are religious ones. Humanity has advanced by becoming less dependent on religion. I don't see why we should ignore religion for everything BUT use it as a reason to not allow homosexuals to marry. It's really stupid, I believe.

Plus, some religious people don't even know why they dislike homosexuals, they just do because their holy book says so. I know this, as I have spoken with some of these people... some even think that homosexuality is some sort of mental illness... it's pure f*cking nonsense.

[ErrorCode]

It all really comes down to the people in powers' acceptance of the whole thing. It doesn't matter what we think if you think about it. Politicians can go back and forth all day, swearing they've got the Americans' interest in mind, but they know they're the ones making the rules in the long run.

[gamingmaster42]

Personally I have nothing against gay marriage. It doesn't harm regular marriage in any way. Some people say that gay people want to get married just for the financial benefits but I really doubt that.
And what I also think is that homosexuals are people...just like you and me. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is just as bad as it is based on race, etc.

[Cecil15]

Well, because it is not accepted by Christian and the law, I myself is against it too. Pardon me, but I think it is immoral for the same gender to have a relationship with each other. Where will the relationship go anyway? They can't have kids who'll take care of them when they get old. And most men still resorts to marrying a woman even if he had been in a relationship with a gay. I believe that same sex relationships wouldn't last long so, what for?

[RichardGv]

Well, because it is not accepted by Christian and the law, I myself is against it too. Pardon me, but I think it is immoral for the same gender to have a relationship with each other. Where will the relationship go anyway? They can't have kids who'll take care of them when they get old. And most men still resorts to marrying a woman even if he had been in a relationship with a gay. I believe that same sex relationships wouldn't last long so, what for?

• About the Christianity, I have nothing to say. :S
  
• About homosexuality being immoral: I believe the standard for deciding whether a kind of behavior is immoral is if it affects others' rights or freedom. (Of course, this is disputable.) Homosexual marriages don't seem to affect others in any sense. It cannot be really considered as an immoral behavior just like suicide is not that much immoral, too.
  
• About not having children:
  • Nowadays humans are no longer the most important source of productivity. Most of modern production works are performed by machines, including agricultural productions, which used to be the sphere where most human labors are required. Actually, the countries and regions with highest birth rate in the world, mostly the African countries, are the poorest on the planet, while the richest have almost the lowest birth rate and population density. (This does not prove, however, that low birth rate is beneficial for increasing productivity.)
    
  • To where has adoption gone?
    
• About "who will take care of them" when they have no children:
  • We payed much taxes in all our lives, and where are the social insurances? And the retirement pensions?
    
  • Many family, particularly in developed countries, don't have children. So, most of them go begging on the street when they get old?
    
• About people resorting to heterosexual marriages:
  • They resort because many people like you exist. They become the homosexuals' parents, friends, colleagues, neighbors, political leaders, and just the people that laugh around.
    
  • Many people are not exclusively homosexual, but bisexual. Kinsey Reports states that 11.6% of white males (ages 20–35) were given a rating of 3 (about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response) throughout their adult lives, while only 10% of American males surveyed were "more or less exclusively homosexual for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55" (in the 5 to 6 range).
    
• About "same sex relationships wouldn't last long":
  • It is indeed true that homosexual marriages may last shorter on average, I believe, since the God did not create a man to be suitable to live with another man, in personalities and abilities. However that does not justify that homosexual marriages should not be allowed, since... Who have said that a marriage has to last long?
    
  • Take a look at the divorce rate in U.S. right now. "One data set based on age of the bride indicates that the (divorce) rate is 48% for people under 18, 40% for ages 18–19, 29% for 20-24, and 24% for 25 and older." Do heterosexual marriages actually last for long? Well, homosexuality or heterosexuality is not really the dominate factor in the duration of a marriage.
    

[clauemi]

Okay I don't want to start a religion war or anything but this is just my belief. I don't think it matters what anyone thinks or whether you believe in God or not. God does not give a choice, he commands gay is not acceptable. Even if gay's don't believe in God, just because they choose to ignore him that does not mean he ignores them so therefore his laws still apply. Being gay is something that humanity invented just like any other trend and I think it will eventually be forgotten just like everything else is.

Don't mean to make anyone mad, just putting in my two cents.

[Vanilla]

I basically agree with most of what Richard wrote.

I have nothing against gays and their right to marriage. Heck, they might even be a societal bonus, considering they can't have biological children of their own, and hence some of the poor orphan kids might actually get a home and a family who love them.

Okay I don't want to start a religion war or anything but this is just my belief. I don't think it matters what anyone thinks or whether you believe in God or not. God does not give a choice, he commands gay is not acceptable. Even if gay's don't believe in God, just because they choose to ignore him that does not mean he ignores them so therefore his laws still apply. Being gay is something that humanity invented just like any other trend and I think it will eventually be forgotten just like everything else is.

Don't mean to make anyone mad, just putting in my two cents.

The laws only apply if god exists, and as a side-note, homo- and bisexual behavior have been reported for animals as well.