Poll: Do you support gay marriage?

[Caffiene]

Okay, let me rephrase that
I just believe marriage is the coming together of two people of different gender

Ok, thats your opinion.

I have to say, though, thats not just a rephrasing... thats a completely different reason to what you previously gave. It gives the impression that you were only using the "genetic offspring" as an excuse to hide your true motive.

Id also note that the "this is the way its always been" isnt really true, either... Its generally true for western christian cultures for the past few hundred years. Plenty of other cultures have recognised gay or even transgendered couples as perfectly acceptable, and using their word for the equivalent of marriage (because of course the word "marriage" is only a few hundred years old, and only in english speaking countries)

 

[Kristian Fischer]

I think marriage is an outdated institution, but also one that EVERYONE should have equal rights to. Done.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

No, I don't support gay marriage. Mainly because it doesn't exist.

Marriage does, however, and even though I think it's a hollow institution and an extremely bullshitty idea, due to the joining of church and state through its existence, I support all being allowed the right to marriage, regardless of sexual orientation.

 

[chinangel]

Of course I support it.

I'm gay, and at the moment my country (Finland) only allows civil partnerships for gays, but even if I'd just be able to have that, I'd use the word 'married' to describe my relationship with that person.

Because religious people don't own that word. Some people will say that my mother and her husband aren't really married because they aren't religious and didn't have a church-wedding, but that's their problem, not my mom's.

I've yet to see a decent argument in its oposition

Well, there's the fact that it's Step 3 on the Gay Agenda for world domination.

Step 4 includes highly trained bees and an orbital death-ray.

Bees...my god.

On topic, It'd be rather hypocritical of me to say anything but yes.

 

[Jay Knowles]

personally, I dont support any sort of marriage, it is, as i see it, a religious ceremony, and since i dont subscribe to any particular organised religion i don't see marriage as something i could genuinely stand for. civil unions on the other hand, i'd get behind something like that

 

[Death666Angel]

OPs arguments are pretty flawed.
"it seems illogical to share a term that also is used to mean a completely conflicting and opposite meaning." How come gay marriage and straight marriage are completely conflicting and opposite in meaning? I am married to a wonderful wife who I love completely and I see no difference between my marriage and a marriage between 2 men or 2 women who love each other completely.

Also, you need to brush up on your history lesson. Marriage has been used to mean a lot of things, not just your modern-day view of a loving relationship between a man and a wife.

And lastly, how would allowing gay marriage disturb your life? Would you feel the need to constantly tell people that you are in a straight marriage all of a sudden? If so, could I claim that your bigoted view of marriage offends me, thus allowing me to rant about marriage between ignorant Christians?

Edit: @ Jay Knowled: "personally, I dont support any sort of marriage, it is, as i see it, a religious ceremony"- How so? Are you forced to marry in a church with a pastor or priest where you life? I got married by a states servant in a public building without anyone talking about religion. I am an atheist and am married to a muslim woman. Just because there are religious weddings performed (and all TV weddings seem to be religious), doesn't mean marriage is a religious invention.

 

[TJC]

I just believe marriage is the coming together of two people who can create genetic offspring.

A few questions related to that:

- Would you support a law forcing a marriage of a man and a woman to divorce once the woman reaches menopause?
- Would support a law making so that infertile men or women are prevented from marrying?
- Should couples be forced to undergo a fertility test before marriage?
- Would you support a law to prevent married couples from adopting? (since if they adopt, they will generally produce fewer genetic offspring)

Beautiful. Just... just beautiful.


While I personally can't understand why anyone would voluntarily put his relationship under the oppressive constraints of a social construct (aside from the financial benefits... THOSE I get), I can understand even less why would anyone deny others the right to do so. If they want to get married (and I mean married, not "married"... jesus, guys, that was just plain insulting), they should be able to.

 

[Padwolf]

I support it, everyone has the right to be happy and be with the one they love.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Fomay the Squirrel did a rant about this topic. I agree with that wholeheartedly.


As for me, I can't really think of a single good reason why fundimentalists try so hard to stop gay marriage, even though it won't affect them in a single way if two men or two women get married. Also, I believe that people have the right to be happy (so long as that happiness doesn't come at the expense of lives, obviously, so no murder sprees), and if a gay man or lesbian woman want to marry their partner, I don't have any authority to stop them, and wouldn't even if I did.

Also, one of my favorite quotes from the randomness of facebook:

"Saying someone else's marriage is against your religion is like being mad at someone for eating a jelly donut because you're on a diet."

Oh, and for context, I'm a straight male (and a non-practicing Catholic).

 

[Xanthious]

Gay marriage is really a non issue. Any benefits, outside of matters of finance, can already be procured through readily available means. The issue of visiting your significant other in the hospital can be overcome with a limited medical power of attorney filing. Inheritance can be handled with a simple will. Nobody is stopping anyone from having a ceremony with friends and family. The only difference is the state won't recognize it.

Now the matters where they do not enjoy the same benefits of a traditional couple are almost universally financial ones. It is true that gay couples do not enjoy the same tax breaks as traditional couples. There are also other financial matters like insurance and so forth. However, even in matters of insurance private companies are free to provide insurance for domestic partners if they so choose.

At it's core the issue of gay marriage is a financial matter and not a matter of equal rights. Largely because marriage is not a right. There is no right to marry, people are allowed to marry by the state. Proponents of gay marriage like site The 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law, but even those arguments fall terribly short as gay people are allowed to marry just like everyone else and under the law it states marriage is between a man and a woman in most states.

Personally I don't really care one way or another as it doesn't effect me. I think it's a matter of states' rights. Unfortunately for the proponents of gay marriage most states don't allow it. Is support for gay marriage growing? Yes. However, in the 32 times gay marriage has come up for a vote in a given state it has failed to win even once. That should tell you society as a whole isn't quite there yet.

 

[are.you.the.god.its.me.vader]

On most subjects like this, I just say

"Do what you want, I don't care. Aslong as it doesn't cause harm to children."

 

[Ryan Minns]

Of course I support it! Gays shouldn't be kept from the inevitable sting of divorce and losing every penny to lawyers like us straight folk!

Seriously though, I'm simply all for it

 

[ReservoirAngel]

I'm very much in support of gay marriage, for a number of reasons.

1) I'm gay myself.
2) It literally doesn't affect anyone's lives except the people who are getting married.
3) I'm not a bigoted prick.
4) The arguments against it are probably some of the dumbest arguments I've heard about anything in my entire life.

 

[KingHodor]

What amazes me is how straight people have the gall to think they should have any say in how gay people get to name their partnership.

I mean, shouldn't only those whom it actually affects get to decide in the matter? Hey, since conservatives are always claiming that homosexuality is a choice, maybe they should just go ahead and get gay-married in order to be able more effectively lobby for the protection of the trademark "marriage" from inside the homosexual community.

 

[RyoScar]

Gay people should be able to marry the person they love, simple as that.

What if they love a four-year-old?

That's why I hate that argument.

Of course I mean a fellow consenting adult, there's no need to be pedantic.

 

[Shadowcreed]

I honestly don't care in either way - if you wanna marry a guy when you're a guy then go right ahead and have fun. Hasn't got anything to do with me and it does no harm to anyone else, so what's the problem?

 

[Caffiene]

Gay marriage is really a non issue. Any benefits, outside of matters of finance, can already be procured through readily available means.

It seems like youre assuming we're talking only about the US.

(Im also not sure the hospital visitation can be exactly duplicated through legal arrangements. Ive heard differently from some other sources. Or is it one of the crazy "let the states handle it themselves" things?)