Gay Marriage: Is It Perhaps Moral to Oppose It Independent of Religion?

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Vivi22

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Logiclul said:
2) Less expected income for the state per year
It is not my problem if the governments tax code is poorly written, and doesn't achieve it's desired goals due to changes in what society views as acceptable. The government can either change or carry on as is. And the miniscule difference in income as a result of providing tax credits to a small percentage of the population should not be a factor in deciding whether or not something is moral. Besides, any tax benefits specifically afforded married couples with the intention of having people marry and reproduce will not be afforded to single parents or unmarried parents who separate, so on the average I fail to see how the government loses anything here. More like pays out some money they may not otherwise want to, while not paying out money (tax credits) that they probably should.

Logiclul said:
3) Less population (ergo power) for the nation
Presuming that gay couples will never reproduce regardless of whether they ever get married (which is a valid assumption for all but those who are deep in the closet), there is no lost population. You can't have less people being born by these couples if they were never going to be born anyway. This also ignores the fact that being in a stable, long term relationship, which marriage can at least be an indicator of, may make it easier for gay couples to adopt any of the thousands of children who are put up for adoption or are in foster care, and provide them with a decent upbringing so they become productive members of society. I see no downside here.

In the end though, I don't see why any negative considerations for the state should be part of an examination of the morality of legalizing gay marriage. The state is there to serve the people, not the other way around, and there is absolutely no valid reason to afford rights to one group and not another when doing so doesn't cause any direct harm to anyone.
 

ultimateownage

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I don't see what's wrong with having a partnership instead. Why would homosexuals want to have their relationship 'bound' by something that's often associated with a (in my opinion) inherently homophobic religion?
Also, most of what the OP said has been pulled out of their arse. Children =/= instant profit for the country. Gays will not turn straight just because people don't like it, and straights will not turn gay just because they can get married. Making their relationship official or not changes nothing, except making the gay community happier.

*EDIT*
Actually, I'm curious. I've never thought to check myself, but what are the legal differences between a Marriage and a Partnership in UK law?
 

Jodah

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Heres the thing, if legalizing gay marriage actually turned people gay then you would have a point. Since the majority of humans are, and will remain, heterosexual there is absolutely zero chance of a reduction in procreation rates.
 

Something Amyss

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Dags90 said:
Gay and bisexual teens are also more likely to have children than their heterosexual peers.[footnote]http://www.blogher.com/frame.php?url=http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/2008/mr-08-165.html[/footnote]

If I had a nickle for every gay person I met who had a kid before they came out, I might be able to have a go at a cheap arcade game.
Hmmm...Honestly didn't know that.

Kopikatsu said:
I didn't say it was true, just that there are people trying to find a non-religious reason for opposing gay marriage.
Operating under the flawed assumption that there is no religious motivation, yes.

Of course, most (and I only say most because I can't demonstrate to 100% perfection that it isn't all) of these studies come from Christian universities, christian funded groups, and christian funded scientists with something specific to prove and will "prove" so even if they have to skew the reports.

This is why you tend to not find these studies in peer-reviewed journals or really much of anything besides ideological sites and reposts.

They're not really trying to find a non-religious reason so much as trying to prove their preconceived notions to the world. That it is considered science is, generally speaking, a joke.
 

Terminal Blue

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ultimateownage said:
I don't see what's wrong with having a partnership instead. Why would homosexuals want to have their relationship 'bound' by something that's often associated with a (in my opinion) inherently homophobic religion?
Meh.. I personally feel the same. However, as Valksy once said (I miss Valksy, we used to post on all the dumb threads about homosexuality together), it doesn't really matter whether or why any of us wants to get married, it matters that we have the choice.

Many opposite-sex couples also find the idea of marriage questionable, and they're still given the choice to do it. In fact, in my country, the Anglican church legally has to marry them for free regardless of religious beliefs (unless that's changed in the last few years).
 

masticina

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Your points fail

Gay people married into hetero marriages isn't a "solution" .. those marriages are shams. And fall apart in the worst cases there are children already. Yeah children that have to deal with a divorce.

Gay people being able to marry will well let them be with the person they love. It won't change how long they are married. It isn't as if their marriages are less capable withstanding then hetero. To make it worse if you really want to fix marriages.. the biggest groups that have the highest divorces.. are religious.

Gay people very probably won't do it worse then heteros.

That and yes how about adoption. IVF, a baby by a female friend of the family etc... there are allot of options here. Not every lesbian ends up with 3 cats or every gay guy ends up with Fluffy the Poodle!

So far I haven't heard ANY good point against gay marriage. It just isn't there..

All there is are many ways to say "Well I don't like it." You don't have to like it. If Bob and Jack want to marry how does it effects you? It doesn't!
 

Something Amyss

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Thanatus1992 said:
Your faith that well-reasoned arguments backed up by fact will change the mind of a bigot warms my heart. It reminds me of a young and innocent me, before I learned how to use the internet, now I can experience the concentrated idiocy of the planet whenever I want to.
I remember my days of innocence, back until that fateful day I went on Youtube, looked up "Springtime for Hitler," and actually read the comments.

To this day, I rage at the fact that so many people DIDN'T GET IT!
 

WonderWillard

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You may make some valid points OP, but unfortunately, this an extremely liberal forum, so hardly anyone here is going to agree with you.
 

masticina

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Zachary Amaranth said:
Thanatus1992 said:
Your faith that well-reasoned arguments backed up by fact will change the mind of a bigot warms my heart. It reminds me of a young and innocent me, before I learned how to use the internet, now I can experience the concentrated idiocy of the planet whenever I want to.
I remember my days of innocence, back until that fateful day I went on Youtube, looked up "Springtime for Hitler," and actually read the comments.

To this day, I rage at the fact that so many people DIDN'T GET IT!
Such a nice movie indeed

Brilliant on so many things.. and funny to boot yes even the swastika dancing scene. Yes the biggest evils are worth laughing about. Pointing at and saying "You are such a weird thing"

And religious people who want to use their holy books to limit basic human rights.. well they deserve to be laughed at!
 

MaxwellEdison

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By that logic, sterile couples and those who just don't want kids shouldn't be allowed to marry. Neither should those with disabilities or injuries that prevent them from doing so.

This is pretty much the shittiest argument against gay marriage, and that's saying something, as the rest of them hinge upon the existence of a being I don't even believe in.
 

Suikun

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Jodah said:
Heres the thing, if legalizing gay marriage actually turned people gay then you would have a point. Since the majority of humans are, and will remain, heterosexual there is absolutely zero chance of a reduction in procreation rates.
I can actually explain this pretty well, and it's fairly simple.

I speak for myself and many of my friends when I say that us gay folk don't really give a damn about the whole religious side of marriage (union in the eyes of God and such); that's often just icing on the cake if anything.

The issue (as it was with Don't Ask Don't Tell, as well) is that there is legal ramifications also in the system. If there was some sort of document that gave the -exact same benefits as marriage, without the religious connotation- (hmm.... I think I read something on one of these once... what were they called again? *sarcasm*) that was open to both straight and gay couples that was considered the norm (i.e. just signing the wedding document and doing whatever ceremony the couple would like) I don't think anybody would complain.

Unfortunately since we (the USA) were formed by religious folk back when The Church had quite a bit more power than it does today, and thus religions played a big role in politics because they were much more universal at the time, we have the unfortunate link between the religious side of Marriage (the union of the couple in the eyes of God until death do they part) versus the legal side of Marriage (taxes, hospital visiting, etc).

To echo what just about everyone else has said in this thread already: The argument is well constructed (at least it's not preaching Leviticus, which also says that women on their periods should be kicked out of their homes, just sayin') in that it looks like it's an -actual- logical inquiry and I applaud the OP for such. Poorly researched and the reasoning isn't there, but it's much better than the alternatives I've heard.
 

ThrobbingEgo

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ultimateownage said:
I don't see what's wrong with having a partnership instead. Why would homosexuals want to have their relationship 'bound' by something that's often associated with a (in my opinion) inherently homophobic religion?
1. There are gay Christians, Jews, Muslims.
2. Marriage isn't exclusive to Christianity, Judaism, or Islam.

That said, I'm a straight atheist who thinks all marriage should be unofficial and that laws should protect or benefit a the couple (or group) or that couple (or even group's) children - whether born or adopted to them. If there are going to be laws that are supposed to have utility to children and legal protection to adults, lets fix them so they only serve that utility and not value judgements based on a chosen lifestyle.

And that's never going to happen because it's going to piss everyone off.
 

sinterklaas

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Marriage has legal benefits and therefore two consenting adults should be able to marry. Excluding any combination of people would be discrimination.

It's that simple.

And no, marriage is not a religious term. It may have been but it is no longer. When people say marriage they simply mean a legal binding between two people.
 

EuZic

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grrr stop giving attention to threads like this. they really don't deserve it.

I am using incredibly well organised arguments so that I can produce abominamble feces on your computer screen while feeling quite pleased with myself. Why ? Because if I use serious words like byproduct, ergo and ethics I surely must be right.

Story as old as the internet, my friend.
 

Something Amyss

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masticina said:
Such a nice movie indeed

Brilliant on so many things.. and funny to boot yes even the swastika dancing scene. Yes the biggest evils are worth laughing about. Pointing at and saying "You are such a weird thing"

And religious people who want to use their holy books to limit basic human rights.. well they deserve to be laughed at!
Well, not to mention it was intended to be tasteless. The whole goal was to find a play so horrific that it would close opening night.

And in that context, it was GLORIOUS.

Early on, a lot of Youtubers treated it like a love letter to the Third Reich. And they may still...I learned a long time ago not to read Youtube comments. It's...Saddening.
 

Conza

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Logiclul said:
Marriage is the legal act of connecting two people as a unit, and typically leading to them living their lives together. A common byproduct is children, which is the real goal here. For the human race to go on, for the country to grow and become more powerful, people need to procreate. This is where gay marriage comes into play.

The government sees a gay marriage as two persons who will not have children but will take benefits which are meant for those who the government believes WILL have children. This is not good financially for the government, and as such is a problem.
I'm sorry, but that's bullshit, and I think you know it. There are plenty of marriages, that I know of, that did not produce children - all normal straight marriages. I don't think that you believe that anyway.

Logiclul said:
So, where should we stand? To support legal gay marriage is to support the following:

1) Happiness for the couple (or rather, more happiness than not legal gay marriage presumably)

2) Less expected income for the state per year

3) Less population (ergo power) for the nation

Now, how do we weigh the happiness of a couple versus the losses which our state will suffer per marriage? Before I do that, I want to say that while those who are gay have already supposedly aided toward 3, and perhaps 2, it is encouraging of the gay culture to support gay marriage legally. So in the long run, legalized gay marriage should lead to more gay persons.
C'mon, you know that's crap as well, 10% of any given population on average, is believed to be homosexual, that number doesn't go up or down depending on how convenient it is. If anything, pure numbers it would go up (more births) based on your model.

Logiclul said:
Anyway, consider the happiness of two gay people who are informally married but not legally married. Are they sad that they are not married legally to where their happiness is less than neutral overall? I think not, but that is a point which is tough to argue. How much more happiness could 'official' marriage possibly bring?
It's less about rights for them, and more about not being discriminated against, they should be afforded the benefits of any two straight people. And if two people were infertile together, but decided to adopt, or not have children at all, or never planned on having children, your system doesn't work. And that happens alot.

Logiclul said:
The loss in income, population, and power is best measured like this:
A google search tells me that there are 307 million persons in the United States currently.
For every 1 million gay couples, there are 2 million gays, and 2 million people which will not procreate.
I recall hearing that about 5% of the nation was openly gay. So, 15.35 million gays are estimated in America (rough rough estimate). Can you see why the government may have problems, why we as people perhaps should have problems, with this many people (remember, legalized marriage would seem to imply the rate at which gays are open will increase) not procreating? This may be a serious (buzzword I know; if you need a more technical proposition, I'd say large) blow to the United States' power and economy.
Ok, while you're above comment on more gay marriages now has context, you're still dead wrong, New York has already legalised it, all the other liberal (synomous for 'moral' I would say) states will shortly follow suit, and then it will become nationally afforded before the end of Obama's second term.

Logiclul said:
Other factors are things such as expected good a baby will do and how much help they would be in the world in terms of national power etc, but that is difficult to figure when making a decision on the matter. It is also not a variable which would seem to carry much weight in the decision as well, as to assume that there would be enough babies which would cause more problems if those who were gay were straight such that our nation faces even greater and steeper problems, is to assume potential collapse of the United States. To assume that would be pointless, as it is not a conclusion worth considering.
Why? It's very much a conclusion worth considering, world population growth is too high, unsustainably high some might say, so why not encourage people not to have children, or better yet, adopt children? Also, think about the productivity of these people who were in happy married relationships, it would have (overall) a greatly positive impact on the economy, because these people would be happier, and thus perform better on average.

Logiclul said:
tl'dr human ethics and morals seem to imply that we should allow gay marriage, however on closer inspection, this may not be the case
No it is the case, and frankly its not something anyone of us can stop. They are a real demographic, that has been abused for hundreds of years, and we're finally giving them the same rights as the rest of us have enjoyed for those centuries, and frankly it is about time.

We should support it since we're just delaying the inevitable, more importantly, because it's the right thing to do, and not think about nickels and dimes, like the impact of their lower tax rates on the revenue of the government, but about how we as a people have moved forward sociologically instead.
 

Something Amyss

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WillN7 said:
You may make some valid points OP, but unfortunately, this an extremely liberal forum, so hardly anyone here is going to agree with you.
I'm curious as to which points are "valid," but won't be agreed with solely because of the forum's "liberal" bias.
 

Belaam

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Zachary Amaranth said:
Dags90 said:
Gay and bisexual teens are also more likely to have children than their heterosexual peers.[footnote]http://www.blogher.com/frame.php?url=http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/2008/mr-08-165.html[/footnote]

If I had a nickle for every gay person I met who had a kid before they came out, I might be able to have a go at a cheap arcade game.
Hmmm...Honestly didn't know that.
Yeah. I was surprised too. I am a high school teacher and when I was getting my credential we looking at a lot of evidence indicating that to be true. The theory seems to be that gay teens either concerned about being outed, or struggling with their sexuality are more likely to engage in risky heterosexual behavior. i.e. "If people find out I'm gay, they'll hate me, so I'll prove I'm not by sleeping around." or "I hear being gay is bad, so to try to counter these weird feelings I'm having, I'm going to 'prove' otherwise by having lots of heterosexual sex."

Regardless of the reason, those who identify as homosexual later in life are statistically far more likely to have had children as teenagers.