'Conviction is more dangerous to truth than lies!'
--Nietzsche
Those with passionate conviction are generally not prone to an evenhanded assessment of things. By that I mean the impassioned intensity of conviction clouds one's critical faculties.
As for the matter at hand, same-sex marriages should be allowed. To ban or not permit them seems like obtrusive governmental intereference w/ individual liberties to me...the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...don't like anyone's particular spin on any of those rights? Tough shit.
I fail to see how recognizing the rights of one class of citizens infringes on anyone else's rights. If so, which rights are being violated or stressed?
I haven't read the entire thread (so this may have been posted) but here are some counter arguments to my position:
Top twelve reasons homosexual marriage should not be legal:
1. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control.
2. Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. Infertile couples and old people can???t legally get married because the world needs more children.
3. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
4. Straight marriage will be less meaningful, since Britney Spears??? 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.
5. Heterosexual marriage has been around a long time and hasn???t changed at all; women are property, blacks can???t marry whites, and divorce is illegal.
6. Gay marriage should be decided by people not the courts, because the majority-elected legislatures, not courts, have historically protected the rights of the minorities.
7. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That???s why we have only one religion in America.
8. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
9. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
10. Children can never suceed without a male and a female role model at home. That???s why single parents are forbidden to raise children.
11. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven???t adapted to cars or longer lifespans.
12. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because a ???seperate but equal??? institution is always constitutional. Seperate schools for African-Americans worked just as well as seperate marriages for gays and lesbians will.
Source
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/writing/2004/02/top_twelve_reas.html
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