The Case For Gay Marriage

[HuckleB]

The case for gay marriage -- It rests on equality, liberty and even society
Feb 26th 2004
From The Economist print edition
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2459758



"SO AT last it is official: George Bush is in favour of unequal rights, big-government intrusiveness and federal power rather than devolution to the states. That is the implication of his announcement this week that he will support efforts to pass a constitutional amendment in America banning gay marriage. Some have sought to explain this action away simply as cynical politics, an effort to motivate his core conservative supporters to turn out to vote for him in November or to put his likely “Massachusetts liberal” opponent, John Kerry, in an awkward spot. Yet to call for a constitutional amendment is such a difficult, drastic and draconian move that cynicism is too weak an explanation. No, it must be worse than that: Mr Bush must actually believe in what he is doing.

...

The case for allowing gays to marry begins with equality, pure and simple. Why should one set of loving, consenting adults be denied a right that other such adults have and which, if exercised, will do no damage to anyone else? Not just because they have always lacked that right in the past, for sure: until the late 1960s, in some American states it was illegal for black adults to marry white ones, but precious few would defend that ban now on grounds that it was “traditional”. Another argument is rooted in semantics: marriage is the union of a man and a woman, and so cannot be extended to same-sex couples. They may live together and love one another, but cannot, on this argument, be “married”. But that is to dodge the real question—why not?—and to obscure the real nature of marriage, which is a binding commitment, at once legal, social and personal, between two people to take on special obligations to one another. If homosexuals want to make such marital commitments to one another, and to society, then why should they be prevented from doing so while other adults, equivalent in all other ways, are allowed to do so?"

It goes on to talk about how civil unions are not enough.

A great piece. Please read and pass it on.

[lcooksey]

1. Great article, thanks for posting it (eom)

[TopesJunkie]

2. Awesome piece --

[pacifictiger]

3. it seems the only real argument

that appears to hold any water is based purely on a church oriented religious interpretation. But I came across this article the other day that shoots holes in that theory too.
http://www.drizzle.com/~slmndr/salamandir/pubs/irishtimes/opt3.htm