Gay marriage does not affect straight couples. It only allows gay couples the same privileges. This would be a non-issue if the government did not
involve itself in marriage in the first place and gave some rights only to married couples. Prop 8 is a huge mistake; it accepts the separate but
equal mentality that has never served our nation well. And for what?
Let us examine the arguments against gay marriage,
Religion-
Why in a secular nation should anyone be held accountable to someone else’s belief system? This is the worst. Prop 8 was driven by scare tactics
involving children and religious bias. Our constitution makes it clear laws and amendments can not be made that favor a religion, yet religion is the
only solid argument against gay marriage. The others are created by the religious right to excuse their opposition.
It would destroy our country and morality-
It has yet to do so in several countries. Including Scandinavian countries where civil unions and marriage has been legal among same-sex couples for
years. Anyway this is poor reasoning because gay couples in general have not been proven to have an adverse affect on society what so ever, to assume
marriages would with no basis is unfounded.
Taxes cuts awarded to straight couples because they raise families should not be awarded to gay couples-
1. Gay couples raise families as well. I think the statistic is at 44% now?
2. There are many married people in our country who do not nor do they wish to have children. The simplest solution is to not give the tax breaks to
those who do not have children or abolish them altogether, duh.
It will change the tradition of marriage-
The tradition of marriage has been changed through out our history, this is why women are not men’s property and blacks can marry whites. Our
current tradition is an already tampered version of marriage, so there is no reason why we should not change it again to include gay couples;
especially since it does not affect straight couples in any way.
If you think a majority possibly being against gay marriage makes denying this right to people okay you are DEAD WRONG. The majority has been for
segregation and slavery in our country previously, this does not make something constitutional. This is why this issue should not be put to a vote, if
the integration of schools was put to a vote we may still be educationally segregated, it is our politicians responsibility to see through our nations
bigotry and injustice.
Also it can not be ignored that our countries health system has declared that homosexuality is not a choice, that “ex-gay” methods fail, and that
to be a healthy, fully function adult one must accept their sexuality. Also it has been concluded that children raised by homosexuals are at no
disadvantage. What is wrong with this country? It’s infuriating. (The American Psychological Association www.apa.org/)
Addressing other arguments made against and for gay marriage:
(NOTE: I did not write these counter arguments, this is from the site www.bidstrup.com... by Scott Bidstrup)
Marriages are for procreation and ensuring the continuation of the species. The proponents of this argument are really hard pressed to explain, if
that's the case, why infertile couples are allowed to marry. I, for one, would love to be there when the proponent of such an argument is to explain
to his post-menopausal mother or impotent father that since they cannot procreate, they must now surrender their wedding rings and sleep in separate
bedrooms.
Granting gays the right to marry is a "special" right. Since ninety percent of the population already have the right to marry the informed,
consenting adult of their choice, and would even consider that right a fundamental, constitutionally protected right, since when does extending it to
the remaining ten percent constitute a "special" right to that remaining ten percent? As Justice Kennedy observed in his opinion overturning
Colorado's infamous Amendment 2 (Roemer vs. Evans), many gay and lesbian Americans are, under current law, denied civil rights protections that
others either don't need or assume that everyone else along with themselves, already have. The problem with all that special rights talk is that it
proceeds from that very assumption, that because of all the civil rights laws in this country that everyone is already equal, so therefore any rights
gay people are being granted must therefore be special. That is most assuredly not the case, especially regarding marriage and all the legal
protections that go along with it.
Why This Is A Serious Civil Rights Issue
When gay people say that this is a civil rights issue, we are referring to matters of civil justice, which often can be quite serious - and can have
life-damaging, even life-threatening consequences.
-we cannot make medical decisions for our partners in an emergency.Instead, the hospitals are usually forced by state laws to go to the families who
may have been estranged from us for decades, who are often hostile to us, and can and frequently do, totally ignore our wishes regarding the treatment
of our partners.If a hostile family wishes to exclude us from the hospital room, they may legally do so in most states. It is even not uncommon for
hostile families to make decisions based on their hostility -- with results consciously intended to be as inimical to the interests of the patient as
possible! Is this fair?
-Upon death, in many cases, even very carefully drawn wills and durable powers of attorney have proven to not be enough if a family wishes to
challenge a will, overturn a custody decision, or exclude us from a funeral or deny us the right to visit a partner's hospital bed or grave. As
survivors, estranged families can, in nearly all states, even sieze a real estate property that a gay couple may have been buying together for many
years, quickly sell it at the largest possible loss, and stick the surviving partner with all the remaining mortgage obligations on a property that
partner no longer owns, leaving him out on the street, penniless. There are hundreds of examples of this, even in many cases where the gay couple had
been extremely careful to do everything right under current law, in a determined effort to protect their rights. Is this fair?
-If our partners are arrested, we can be compelled to testify against them or provide evidence against them, which legally married couples are not
forced to do.
-These are all civil rights issues that have nothing whatsoever to do with the ecclesiastical origins of marriage; they are matters that have become
enshrined in state laws by legislation or court precedent over the years in many ways that exclude us from the rights that legally married couples
enjoy and even consider their constitutional right. This is why we say it is very much a serious civil rights issue; it has nothing to do with who
performs the ceremony, whether it is performed in a church or courthouse or the local country club, or whether an announcement about it is accepted
for publication in the local newspaper.
