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June 17, 2008

Comments

X. Trapnel

Hrmm. I'm not sure 'keep gays out of wedlock to keep women in the kitchen!' is really such an advance in the debate, if I may be forgiven the glibness.

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I had great difficulty following your arguments in this post. Perhaps my difficulties are my own fault - maybe I lack powerful reading comprehension skills or my mind is just not that sharp or educated? I must admit that I am not well read on these issues. You claim to have offered two non-biogted arguments against gay marriage, and I found those arguments difficult to decipher in the post. Your last paragraph, in particular, was most puzzling - Are you implying that the understanding of marriage "as a stage in life that everyone is expected to achieve" is going to change to "marriage is a choice and not everyone is expected to marry" simply because of legalizing gay marriage? I find that statement quite vague. First, one might ask why set up a dicotomy between choice and expectation? Secondly, I do not see why it would be such a tragedy that if idea of marriage "as a stage in life that everyone is expected to achieve" were no longer held by a large part of the population. Thirdly, I'm not convinced that a large part of the population holds to this belief even now. I suspect that, even before there was a single gay marriage performed in the world, many people held the belief that "marriage is a choice and not everyone is expected to marry". One 2,000 year old institution that holds the view that 'marriage is a choice and not everyone is expected to marry' is the Catholic Church. In fact, I suspect that a marriage that was not freely chosen by the spouses is actually grounds for an annulment these days. So, I really disagree that allowing for gay marriages will cause a large part of the population to suddenly think of marriage as choice, not expected of everyone. A large part of the population already thinks that way. The view that marriage is a choice and that marriage is not meant for everyone has already been around for a long time, and allowing for gay marriages has not suddenly put it into people's minds.

blahblah

maybe it is about the gender roles... but most gays i know don't play those antiquated roles. most straights i know don't seem to either for that matter. Its pretty much just religious folks or older people that seem to buy into the whole role thing. it was interesting in gender studies class years ago but people are people and unless your calling a haircut or tight clothing a gender role its a ludicrous argument.

rate my body

i think they shoud let gays marry. if they want to be gay thats fine with me.

Stephen R.

I'm pretty Hobbesian.. I think that the reason that many gay (males) don't accept more traditional social morals (especially concerning sex) is that they feel that those morals aren't for their flourishing and in fact are antagonistic against them intrinsically. (And they/we throw the baby out with the bathwater; rebelling against the mores which say we can't be sexual at all leads to excess and nonchalance about being irresponsible.)

One of my acquaintances told me he doesn't wear condoms because "that's just puritanism"... Which is silly.

I personally think that growing social acceptance of gay marriages would lead to more gay people getting monogamous.

Interesting post.

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Many people when they get married have this silly idea that their spouse will cater to their every whim and that they will continually be swept off their feet. But this notion is a misconception and totally false.

Julie Pannell

Damn I am old and doesnt anybody see through the bullshit. It is simply about sex. Are our morals and choices in regards to orientation and sex going to change if homosexuality is accepted? Do we accept our children may have a choice in their sexual orientation? If we accept homosexuality as a social norm will it lead to creating a bi-sexual society? These are the type questions that need to be discussed.

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