Listening to some of the arguments for and against "gay marriage" I found it very difficult to keep a cool head. What is the problem, here? What is the real issue? What is the concern, the threat, the fear, the trepidation in allowing same-sex couples to wed? I kept listening trying to hear a real, concrete reason from the opposition. Here are the only two arguments I heard over and over again:
1. Marriage is intended to support procreation and
2. There isn't enough "Scientific evidence" "Data" or "History" to show what effect same-sex marriage will have on our society.
Okay, let's just take a breath and look at #1. Marriage is intended to support procreation.
I think that some good responses came from those fighting inside the Supreme Court for Equality for Same-Sex couples when they brought up the question about infertile couples and couples getting married over 50- should they not be allowed to get married because they can't naturally conceive children? I think that is a good rebuttal and one, at least from my perspective, that was not able to be counter-argued. But, that said, I personally find so much more wrong with that argument. They are arguing that marriage is more about having biological children than about two adults wanting to create a legally recognized union or about two adults wanting to create a legally recognized union and creating a family with children of varying DNA.
Why are we still so concerned about making sure people are getting married to procreate? Yes, I think the more family a child can have the better. But when I look at the world what I do NOT see is a world that needs MORE children! There are so, so, so many children that don't have ANY family. The world's resources are being depleted, people are dying of hunger and dehydration. Children are falling between the cracks of a fallible and often failing system- they are growing up never having been taught love. How a person can bring a new child into this world is not something that I can understand- I mean, of course, I understand it in a primitive desire kind of way, I understand the primal urge born in us from a time when our survival depended on it, but not the capacity to make an intelligent decision today with the perspective of our current world in mind. Maybe these people arguing this "marriage for procreation" should take a better look around and realize that we do not have a procreation problem in this country. If anything, I would argue that we have an overpopulation problem- especially when you look at the rate of increase in population and it's predicted continual rise and what that means for our resources.
Now let's look at that second point about there not being enough "Scientific evidence" "Data" or "History" to show what effect same-sex marriage will have on our society. That Meme that was going around Facebook about what will happen if a same-sex couple gets married kept popping into my head when they mentioned this argument. They said, you know, that "traditional" marriage has been around for thousands of years and that "gay" marriage has only been around since, what 2001- beginning in the Netherlands? Of course they can't foresee the future, but they can hypothesize, they can list out potential outcomes. For example, if a same-sex couple marries… then what? Seriously, then what? Give me ONE example of how allowing same-sex couples to marry ends in devastating debauchery for our society? Because I only see the benefits.
When same-sex couples ARE allowed to marry that means that over time more and more people will come to accept it as the norm, will begin to see gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered kids as normal, will allow those kids to live with in a world without fear of being themselves, will allow two loving adults to adopt a child that may otherwise have never known what a family was, will SAVE the lives of kids who may feel their only options are suicide or running away. I see nothing but a world improved.
"Tradition" is NOT A GOOD ENOUGH REASON to keep doing something and, with all my heart, the day cannot come soon enough for equality to earn its meaning in our country and truly protect the basic human rights of all who dare to love, who dare to stand by someone for better or worse, in sickness and in health as long as they both shall live.
1. Marriage is intended to support procreation and
2. There isn't enough "Scientific evidence" "Data" or "History" to show what effect same-sex marriage will have on our society.
Okay, let's just take a breath and look at #1. Marriage is intended to support procreation.
I think that some good responses came from those fighting inside the Supreme Court for Equality for Same-Sex couples when they brought up the question about infertile couples and couples getting married over 50- should they not be allowed to get married because they can't naturally conceive children? I think that is a good rebuttal and one, at least from my perspective, that was not able to be counter-argued. But, that said, I personally find so much more wrong with that argument. They are arguing that marriage is more about having biological children than about two adults wanting to create a legally recognized union or about two adults wanting to create a legally recognized union and creating a family with children of varying DNA.
Why are we still so concerned about making sure people are getting married to procreate? Yes, I think the more family a child can have the better. But when I look at the world what I do NOT see is a world that needs MORE children! There are so, so, so many children that don't have ANY family. The world's resources are being depleted, people are dying of hunger and dehydration. Children are falling between the cracks of a fallible and often failing system- they are growing up never having been taught love. How a person can bring a new child into this world is not something that I can understand- I mean, of course, I understand it in a primitive desire kind of way, I understand the primal urge born in us from a time when our survival depended on it, but not the capacity to make an intelligent decision today with the perspective of our current world in mind. Maybe these people arguing this "marriage for procreation" should take a better look around and realize that we do not have a procreation problem in this country. If anything, I would argue that we have an overpopulation problem- especially when you look at the rate of increase in population and it's predicted continual rise and what that means for our resources.
Now let's look at that second point about there not being enough "Scientific evidence" "Data" or "History" to show what effect same-sex marriage will have on our society. That Meme that was going around Facebook about what will happen if a same-sex couple gets married kept popping into my head when they mentioned this argument. They said, you know, that "traditional" marriage has been around for thousands of years and that "gay" marriage has only been around since, what 2001- beginning in the Netherlands? Of course they can't foresee the future, but they can hypothesize, they can list out potential outcomes. For example, if a same-sex couple marries… then what? Seriously, then what? Give me ONE example of how allowing same-sex couples to marry ends in devastating debauchery for our society? Because I only see the benefits.
When same-sex couples ARE allowed to marry that means that over time more and more people will come to accept it as the norm, will begin to see gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered kids as normal, will allow those kids to live with in a world without fear of being themselves, will allow two loving adults to adopt a child that may otherwise have never known what a family was, will SAVE the lives of kids who may feel their only options are suicide or running away. I see nothing but a world improved.
"Tradition" is NOT A GOOD ENOUGH REASON to keep doing something and, with all my heart, the day cannot come soon enough for equality to earn its meaning in our country and truly protect the basic human rights of all who dare to love, who dare to stand by someone for better or worse, in sickness and in health as long as they both shall live.
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