Gay Marriage

[gekko]

Well, it is.  It is marriage without all the religious encumberances.  Let the devotees of a religion be married, and those who do not want the religious baggage have something else.  If the religions want to change to accept homosexuality, then they can offer gay marriages.  So, if the Anglicans, for instance, want to allow gay clergy, gay bishops and sanction gay marriages why should the state interfere with that particular sects beliefs?  But, until homosexuality is commonly accepted by the culture,  a gay marriage by civil union may not be recognized by most churches, and many bigots.  The important distinction is that there should be zero difference in how it is treated by the state.

In other words, marriage by the church vs marriage by the state.

I used to be a believer in the "sperate but equal" stance -- give homosexuals civil unions, with all the benefits of marriage. Just call it something else. Then I realized how foolish that is.

Marriage already defines a rather broad spectrum of "unions," depending on who performs and recognizes the marriage. So here's the question that finally convinced me that "sperate but equal" is simply not enough: if civil unions and marriages are identical in every way except name, what good is a seperate name?

If we're going to allow civil unions to homosexuals while denying them the term "marriage," then the reasons need to be carefully considered. If the reason for said denial is to appeas the religious groups in the states, then you said it nicely in the above quote: Let the devotees of a religion be married, and those who do not want the religious baggage have something else. If, on the other hand, homosexuals get civil unions while, say, atheist heterosexuals get to be married, then we have a problem. Then we're somehow arguing that a heterosexual atheist couple is religious, while a christian homosexual couple is not.

Personally, I'm still waiting for a solid way that allowing homosexual marriages actually harms anyone. I mean, in canada we had some gay marriages passed through a while back. Did anyone actually feel something when the couples said "I do?" I mean, did the temperature go up a few degrees when that law was passed? Did a bunch of "normal" kids a thousand miles away suddenly *pop!* turn gay?

Taking that just a tad further -- I'm curious if those who stand against homosexual marriages also believe all homosexual activity should be outlawed. In other words, is it only being actively married that causes these social harms? If so, how on earth is that possible? If not, I fail to see how it can be OK to allow gays to be gay, and yet not allow them to be married.

gekko