Same-sex marriage, good/bad? For school

First, I do not want to offend anyone with this and Mike has ok'd this, everybody on here is good about things like this. For school I have to do a debate whether same-sex marriage should be legal in all US states. Again I do not want to offend anyone, I just want to know whether you think it should be legal or not and why. Please include why as I'm looking for as many reasons why it should be legal as it should not. If your not in the US please tell me your view any way. Please no arguing, I just want to know your view. Any debating/arguing about it will be deleted. Please let me know

Thanks

Austin

 

OK, I guess I'll start... I'm just old fashioned, and I am opposed to legalizing it. I have no problem with civil unions, but my personal opinion is marrage is sacred. I have no other real reason; this is just my personal opinion.

 

thanks JI'm

 

I think it should be allowed because love is love no matter the gender combination. If someone loves someone that much, they should be able to marry.

 

I think that a wedding (the religious ceremony) and the state of marriage (the legal bond between two people) should be two entirely separate things. This is the way that other countries that have a true separation of church and state (unlike the lip-service that we pay to it) do things. In this way, each church has the right to say whether or not they will perform a wedding for a same-sex couple. However, marriage (the legal bond), is only held by the government, and is available to any couple that is old enough.
I believe this because the only reason I have ever heard to ban same-sex marriage is "Because God doesn't want same-sex marriage" or some variation of it. Since this is based on religion, this is not an acceptable reason to ban same-sex marriage.

 

I do not think it should be legal. My basis comes from religious beliefs. And while this is a free country, not one based on religious ideals of one faith, it is up to us as citizens to vote and decide. I have the view of "I don't agree with you, but I will not mock or harass you about your beliefs"

 

To be honest with you all but, I don't care what same-sex couples do, as long as it is in the privicy of their own home. An example, two guys walking down the street holding hands(that's fine), but they switch from hands to rearends(not fine). That is just my opinion.
Tom

 

I agree with sirdarksol

 

Who am I to judge? What effect does it have on me? And lastly - what ever happened to separation of church and state? In short - I have no problem with it.

 

I think it should be legal.  Sharing a gender should not prevent two people from being able to marry.   I see marriage as a loving commitment between two people, and I don't feel that there is any reason for that commitment to have to involve two people of the opposite gender.  A very close friend I used to have is gay, and he had such a wonderful relationship with his boyfriend...yet, they couldn't get married.  Meanwhile, I was engaged to be married (we broke up before that happened though).  Since I was a girl with a guy, I had the option to get married...but since he was a guy with a guy, they didn't have the option.    I hear of heterosexual couples jumping into marriage after only knowing each other for a month...or even less than that!  But you could have a homosexual couple who have been together for years and years, and they can't get married?  It just seems sillly.

 

Thanks guys, keep them coming.

 

I remember in grade 9, I did a debate about same-sex marriages, but for the life of me, I can't remember where I saved it. I will see if it is at school tomorrow for you. I know I got >90% on it so you don't have to worry(about 75% was for the actual writing and about 25% was for the actual talking).
Tom

 

Thanks, that would be nice. My partner and I have the key points we have to argue but were trying to figure out what the other team might argue and I'd like to get a good grade on this and try and get an A in the class for the semester, it would really help my g.p.a. We are debating against same-sex marriage.

 

I'll try my best to find it.
Tom

 

I will probably be put in the old fogey section, but I must align myself with the ones who say that it should not be legalized. While I believe in the rights of individuals to have the right to share in the economic and tax advantages of their relationship this is not marriage. This should also apply to anyone who shares in a household, such as a couple simply living together. The bills are the same as a married couple and it is wrong in my opinion to differentiate and make it only legal to recognize this in a married couple for tax purposes.

But when it comes to the religious state spoken of as marriage, I truly believe that it is a state that is meant to be a bond between a man and a woman. It is meant to be a prelude to the beginning of a family and while there are some same-sex couples trying to adopt children to set up a family situation, I do not now, nor do I ever think I can see this as what my Creator meant to be the way families were to be formed.

I too am not trying to offend anyone and will say that I have good friends who are living in a same-sex relationship and I would not give them up in my life for anything. I respect them tremendously and believe they are doing what they think is best for them. They understand my position and we have agreed to disagree. This does not mean we cannot live in the same world and that we cannot love the same things and even share an evening with friends. It just means that there is an area in their lives that I have made a conscious choice to be no part of and they respect my decision without it ending our friendship.

Sincerely

Rose

 

first of all I don't mean offence to anyone, and i'm not 100% sure on the legalites. just my interpretation and opinions:
i'm in the uk (as the flag shows anyway) so things arre a little dif over here I think. heterosexuals get the choice of marriage in church/religious building or in a hotel (licensed for marriage) or a registry office. it all has the same legal meaning. the tax is not affected anymore by marriage as it used to be. you pay same tax whether married or not. homosexuals can have a civil ceremony. this is usually done in licenced hotels and as far as i'm aware has the same legal benefits as any other wedding. I see marriage as a way of showing your love not only to each other but also to everyone else that this is a permanent arrangement. being girlf/boyf always seems more temporary. also I feel that it makes children feel more secure (I don't know why, my parent got divorced, so that should show me marriage is not always a permanent thing) anyway, it keeps thing simple when you're married for form filling and rights over the children etc etc. anyway, as for homosexual civil ceramonies/marriage I again think this is fine. as someone said earlier, hetero's rush into marriage, get divorced and give us a high divorce rate and tarnish the whole marriage thing when it should be a good thing. ****'s can be just as devoted and loyal and stay together for life and should get the same treatment, thus be given right to marry. I think marriage is more about how committed you are than WHO you are. so long as 2 people go into the marriage for life rather than 2 people marrying for the wrong reasons and divorcing the sex of these people is irrelevant. I also agree that ****'s should be able to adopt. there are kids in dreadful situations suffering abuse and torment which would be much happier in a gay household than where they are. they are just as capable at raising kids as anyone else. people who adopt should be vetted on how good they are with kids, not what sexual orientation they have. so long as they are brought up in a secure and loving home that's gotta be the aim. hope my ramble makes sense! its late and i'm tired . basically......I think everyone should have the same rights, and should be judged on their abilty to maintain life long commitment. so yes I think gays should marry if they're committed enough to each other like anyone else. I think everyone should think long and hard before marrying thus having less divorce and broken homes.
tan

 

I don't know what it is called elsewhere but here if someone is living with someone here for 6 months, you are considered commonwealth marriage. Which is lamins terms is really just saying you don't have enough money to get married but you will still have the same benefits. This might be called something else in other parts.

Oh and atm, I couldn't get access to the library today since early dismissal and no one is allowed in the library then.
Tom

 

Most of the common law marriage stuff I've read specifies that it must be between a man and a woman.

 

Interesting stuff, and well presented. This might not help much but I have no preference either way.

I guess I would lean towards legalise, as indeed (as Tan said) it gets tiring to say bf/gf after 10 years in a relationship. It's nice to show the world you're committed, and it's for real, and I see no reason why homos or heteros would have different rights on that one.

More substantially, I would find it unfair that a person surviving the death of their homosexual partner would not automatically be the life insurance beneficiary, child custody holder, and main heir.

 

More substantially, I would find it unfair that a person surviving the death of their homosexual partner would not automatically be the life insurance beneficiary, child custody holder, and main heir.

exactly! it makes situations like death easier when married. especially of there's no will and has to go through probate. this should apply to everyone whether gay or not.

btw, the uk has commonlaw wife/husband thing, but unsure of the length of time you have to be living together and how it could be proved (in the case of death and inheritance/next of kin issues) so marriage is more concrete. more grey areas with commonlaws. at least a marriage certificate makes it clear and unargueable (if that's even a word?!!)

 

I think that unless you are 'fully' married, then you have to pay inheritance tax if your partner dies. But not sure. Am getting married in a month, so won't have to deal with that hassle! ;D

 

btw, the uk has commonlaw wife/husband thing, but unsure of the length of time you have to be living together and how it could be proved (in the case of death and inheritance/next of kin issues) so marriage is more concrete.

Our laws are almost the exact same since Canada was a colony of Britain.
Tom

 

NO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

its even says in the Holy Bible
its says NO homosexual acts
you must resist it

 

This might be a little late, but I looked everywhere and found out it was actually capital punishment and not same-sex marriage, it was another group that had done that.
Tom

 

I don't think that homosexuality is a choice. Having said that I would think that anyone who wants a life time commitment to another person should be intitled to the benefits of a "marriage". There are so many legal rights that a spouse has as far as life insurance and custody of children and that sort of thing that I find it hard to believe that one would need to fight for that just because the love of their life just happens to be the same sex. My husband however believes that it takes away from the sacredness of heterosexual marriages if "anyone can get married" Obviously we don't see eye to eye. But hey aren't two opinions better than one when it comes to a debate? Good luck on your debate.

 

I don't think it should be allowed.

 

Wow, talk about reviving a thread. This one's 1 month old. I do like it, though. I particularly like the fact that noone got angry although there were some different perspective. Well done once again, FishLore!

 

NO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

its even says in the Holy Bible
its says NO homosexual acts
you must resist it

Tell that to the catholic priests....

 

hI hI hi, or the English gay archbishop!

 

I keep seeing this topic pop up on the new posts list and up until now I haven't bothered to look at it. But now that I have, I might as well voice my opinion on the subject.

It's 2007. If two consenting adults want to get married, let them... regardless of gender. At the risk of offending the religious people on this forum, I just have to say this: In this day and age are you really going to let a book that was written so long ago that they thought the world was flat going to run the lives of every person in the modern world? Basically every argument in opposition of same sex marriages focus on the Bible card or the 'sacredness' of marriage. It's fine if that's what you believe, but how are you going to let your beliefs dictate the lives of others that don't have the same beliefs?


Send all hate mail to my lawyer.

 

hI hI hi, or the English gay archbishop!

And our new pope was a ****.
Tom

 

Very well put sick-lid-boy.....I'm not overly religious, but I do have my beliefs....Having said that, I have a hard time taking these writings word for word where in itself there are multiple versions of several significant events within the bible that were to have happened....

 

hI hI hi, or the English gay archbishop!

And our new pope was a ****.
Tom

Am no fan of the guy, but in his defense, he wasn't a **** but part of the hitlerian youth, and he was absolutely not a consenting adult at the time. Am only sore at him  because I had bet that the belgian cardinal would win!

Oh, and I really don't think all religious people will be against same sex marriage. It's all so personnal, isn't it?

 

Seeing as school is out... what did you get on the project!?

My views:
I am Roman Catholic. That being said... I believe the Church has a right to say that homosexuals can't marry, as does every church. I believe that "marriage" shouldn't even be in the governments language. For heterosexuals and homosexuals, the government should perform civil unions. I may be the only Catholic to say this ;D but I do believe they have all the rights I do! It's not going to ruin the sanctity of marriage, it's not going to ruin families. I think that there are hundreds of gay couples who have been trying to adopt and will make wonderful parents but they get turned down. This will strengthen their cases. So, yeah!

 

hI hI hi, or the English gay archbishop!

And our new pope was a ****.
Tom

Am no fan of the guy, but in his defense, he wasn't a **** but part of the hitlerian youth, and he was absolutely not a consenting adult at the time. Am only sore at him  because I had bet that the belgian cardinal would win!

Oh, and I really don't think all religious people will be against same sex marriage. It's all so personnal, isn't it?

It depends upon the religion...Unitarians don't seem to have a problem with it....They seem to welcome all into their fold. They - as most religions should - are happy to provide a place where no one is judged and can practice their religion as they see fit.

 

Seeing as school is out... what did you get on the project!?

My views:
I am Roman Catholic.  That being said...  I believe the Church has a right to say that homosexuals can't marry, as does every church.  I believe that "marriage" shouldn't even be in the governments language.  For heterosexuals and homosexuals, the government should perform civil unions.  I may be the only Catholic to say this  ;D but I do believe they have all the rights I do!  It's not going to ruin the sanctity of marriage, it's not going to ruin families.  I think that there are hundreds of gay couples who have been trying to adopt and will make wonderful parents but they get turned down.  This will strengthen their cases.  So, yeah!

Wow ya, I actually meant to reply to this before but had to leave the computer and sister deleted my window : I got a low A on the project partly because I didn't do enough research in one part and my friend screwed up after I told him not too. He wanted to bring up that allowing same-sex marriage would lead to polygamy and group marriages and ya, we got torn up for that :-\ really mad about that because we weren't doing that bad. They actually did better than I thought, actually one girl did all the work and told the other two girls what to do. They didn't really bring up any arguments we were hoping they would and our best argument was that it affects the children....and I didn't do enough research on that :-[ So ya we lost but I got a good grade and got a 89 for the quater but did well on the final and got a A for the semester and since it's a honors class it's 5.0 which I'm pretty happy about.

My view since I haven't really voiced it is that it shouldn't be allowed. I'm a christian and I firmly believe it flat out says NO to homosexuality in the bible. That's good enough for me, but I know for those that do not believe what I do that means nothing. Mainly in today's society what I have against it is that it's not good for children and that marriage has been between a man and a woman, why change it now when it is something that has with stood for so long for? It's not proven that it's genetic, and from what I've from what I've gathered from various people the consensus is that it's more environment than anything else, if this is true, which I believe it probably is, then won't we be encouraging homosexuality? Homosexual activists argue homosexuality is OK and that were just not used to it, ok some people aren't that's correct but they also say that we don't give children a choice, ok but then they aren't either if they adopt kids. And when you think of it, I believe if I remember correctly 40% of US children grow up in single parent homes, that will be increased and studies show children do best when they have a mother AND a father. Then again we give children choice, there's homosexual clubs in my school and other schools, they have a choice when their old enough to choose. I don't have anything against homosexuals and don't mind them, just I don't think they should redefine marriage for all of us.

thanks to everybody who isn't argueing about anything here

 

I say no to same-sex marraige, its againts my religion to say yes.

 

Sorry, I have a difficult time believing that children born in a heterosexual environment are somehow then influenced to be gay as young as 10-12 years old without prior exposure to the lifestyle. Ihave an uncle who is gay...No one else in my family is gay....I'm supposed to believe that he was somehow influenced by his home life and surroundings? And that should he adopt children that he'd somehow influence them to be gay? Or would he teach them to be tollerant just as my parents taught me?

I'm a Christian myself and have a difficult time following my catholic upbringing when the very same people who told me that homosexuality is wrong because it says so in the bible are out there themselves molesting young boys and giving in to the very thing they preach to us not to do.

That is hypocrisy in it's finest form.