In response to that, I guess I would have to ask, "How does removing the requirement that civil marriage partners be of opposite sexes make America a bad (or worse) place for anybody? There are thousands of laws that, in practical terms, benefit a relative handful of people. Laws that permit American Indians to harvest and utilize certain natural occurring plants with hallucinogenic properties, for example. Court decisions, too. How did the high court's overturning of state laws prohibiting interracial marriage in the '70s make America a worse place? Most people still marry within their own race, so I guess it would be fair to say that only a "select group" was benefited by that decision.
“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard
"Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak." - Larry McMurtry
kilgram (03-20-2017)
“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard
"Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak." - Larry McMurtry
Clearly? Really? Quite the contrary - I very much respect the Christian "point of view"...which in the present context I am assuming you mean to include a belief that God disapproves of same-sex relations and that therefore his people should abstain from it. I would be the very last person in the world to attempt to force you or anyone else into any sexual act or romantic relationship against your will. And I think that my experience and study of Christianity in its many manifestations does qualify me to say that I do, in fact, understand it to some degree...sufficiently, at any rate, to know that God directs his followers not to sin, and to offer his teachings to others - not to employ the force of civil government to enforce His doctrines on everyone. The law should not be in the business of forcing the general population to adhere to teachings that are purely religious in nature, and I think you will find that the great majority of Christians, regardless of sect or denomination, agree with that sentiment.
I'd say that same-sex marriage benefits "society as a whole" in pretty much the exact way that opposite-sex marriage does: it adds stability to familial relationships - adding, in particular, to a sense of safety and stability in the lives of the children who are brought up in households headed by same-sex couples. Those children grow up to become citizens. As I wrote earlier in this thread, about one in four such households are raising children, and while I haven't seen the statistics on it - and suspect that it might be too soon to be attempting to draw any meaningful conclusions from such numbers as might currently be out there - I would not be at all surprised to learn that the couples with minor children would be the very ones most likely to seek to become married. As I also suggested earlier in this thread, it stands to reason that an individual who grows up in a happy, secure household, but whose parents were legally unable to be married, is far more likely to see formal marriage as unnecessary.
“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard
"Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak." - Larry McMurtry
Gee, I don't know. Perhaps it will give two men a happy home to live in instead of prowling the streets and bars or it will give two women a happy home to live in instead of marrying and making two men miserable.
My main issue is like the culture of Colorado when I moved there in 1965. The culture was simply "mind your own business." If your next-door neighbors were a male/female couple, a male/male couple, a female/female couple was none of my business as long as they were good people and good neighbors. Life's so much better when you live yours and let others live theirs.
Of course, when the California virus arrived bringing Homeowners Associations and gated communities the concept of "mind your own business" disappeared.
Crepitus (03-21-2017)
Too right. I used to live in the suburbs where people were compelled to mind everyone else's business. I hated it. Moved back to the city where people are friendly but mind their own business. I could never live in a "gated community". That's pretty much like living in a condo where everyone decides what anyone can and cannot do on their own property. Homeownership with none of the privileges.
I have neighbors in the city that grow vegetables in the front yard. Nobody cares. In the suburbs, people would be having apoplexy.
In quoting my post, you affirm and agree that you have not been goaded, provoked, emotionally manipulated or otherwise coerced into responding.
"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
Mahatma Gandhi