Judas Iscariot said:
No its not. Hate may have nothing to do with it. For some it may be tradition. It may have to do with their religious beliefs. It could even come down to their choice of language. After all during prop 8 many said they would happily support civil unions with all the rights and responsibilities of marriage but will not support the use of the term marriage.
Besides, we do not allow child marriages, inter family marriages or polygamy either so it is clearly not a right but a privilege.
AgentNein said:
TWO CONSENTING ADULTS. Fucking A. This is the fundamental difference between gay marriage, and fucking child marriages or interfamily marriages (which have that nasty habit of leading to inbreeding; children with a much higher chance of being born with birth defects, depending on the strength of the relation of the parents). It's positively stupid of you to equate these things. Again: TWO CONSENTING ADULTS.
STOP.
Now, let's think about this logically for a moment, shall we?
Marriage was originally a contract between two FAMILIES, joining a MAN and a WOMAN together for LIFE, often with a DOWRY involved. The MAN and WOMAN were the same RACE and RELIGION or else they were not allowed to be married. LOVE matches, where we marry for love, are NEW. So are interracial marriages, interfaith marriages, and DIVORCE.
Marriage is an evolving tradition. Some people don't like and resist change; that's ok. Some people rush to embrace everything new, and that's also ok.
My mom is not a homophobe (we have my gay cousin living with us and she loves him and accepts him just the way he is, as she does with other gay family members/friends) however she doesn't believe in gay marriage. It's not that she wants to deny them equal rights, it's that change scares her and makes her feel insecure so she clings to "tradition" until she feels better. She does however strongly support civil unions.
I'm bi, pro gay rights, and a member of the local gay community and I'm not even sure what the point of gay marriage is other than to say "we can have it too, b*tches"... Many of my gay friends don't even WANT the marriage option. They'd prefer something gay-exclusive, so they can be reverse marriage-snobs. That said, there are enough who want it and I'd like to see it allowed here in Australia, but my personal beliefs are only being added to this discussion to ensure I'm not the next one accused of latent homophobia. (Which would be amusing. I'd be prejudiced against myself...)
Now, in regards to TWO CONSENTING ADULTS. Remember that the age of majority has traditionally been lower than 21. In some cultures it was as low as 11/12, when the girl started her monthly cycles. Ergo "Child Marriages" have a different meaning in other times, places and cultures than they do for you, so who are you to deny someone in another part of the world the validity of their marriage?! Interfamily marriages are also traditional (ie Noble families, and small communities); the chance of the offspring having birth defects is still fairly low, and often not evident for a few generations.
As for polygamy, if everyone consents then what is the harm? Again, culture, time, place all play into this.
MARRIAGE IS NOT A STATIC INSTITUTION. IT REFLECTS CHANGING SOCIETAL ATTITUDES AS WELL AS PREVAILING CULTURAL TRENDS.
In 50 years this discussion will seem stupid. Don't get caught up in your interpretation of the world; point your side out nicely, allow the other person to point out theirs, then compare to see what points of similarity you have, and where you views differ. ASK WHY instead of assuming the other person is stupid. You might actually learn something, and being open to the world is preventing the "narrow-mindedness" and "ignorance" you're both decrying while deploying.