Defense of Marriage

[BlueHair]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

Why would anyone want to deny a child growing up in a home without both a father and a mother?

I'm not sure having both is important. It might be, but it might not be. I'd like to hear some arguments on both sides. Gender roles have changed so much in my lifetime that I think an argument could be made that the sex organs that parents have aren't that important.

[YOhio]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

Is it bad to have two loving moms? two loving dads? I have no idea, either way.

Technically, John Stamos and Bob Sagat tried it and failed miserably. No child should be subjected to that crap.

Paul Reiser and the other guy were way better parents than Danny, Uncle Jessie and Joey.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092410/

[minn_stat]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I'm still waiting for a convincing argument of how it weakens marriage.

Are you arguing that fewer heterosexuals will be willing to get married if gays can marry?

Conservatives say it will weaken marriage, as if it is obvious, and never explain HOW it will weaken marriage.

Let me turn this around. I'm still waiting for a convincing argument as to why we should allow homosexuals to marry.

[Tex]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

Is it bad to have two loving moms? two loving dads? I have no idea, either way.

Technically, John Stamos and Bob Sagat tried it and failed miserably. No child should be subjected to that crap.

LOL.

Originally Posted by minn_stat

Let me turn this around. I'm still waiting for a convincing argument as to why we should allow homosexuals to marry.

Because they want to. Duh.

[minn_stat]

Originally Posted by Tex

Because they want to. Duh.

A lot of people don't want them to. In fact, enough to have prevented them, at least for the most part so far.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by minn_stat

A lot of people don't want them to. In fact, enough to have prevented them, at least for the most part so far.

This is quite compelling.

What's your take on pre-Civil Rights Act America and the will of the majority?

[minn_stat]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

This is quite compelling.

What's your take on pre-Civil Rights Act America and the will of the majority?

About as compelling as the post I was responding to.

We live in a country where the will of the majority rules, unless it abridges one of the rights enumerated within the constitution. Do you think it should be otherwise?

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by minn_stat

About as compelling as the post I was responding to.

We live in a country where the will of the majority rules, unless it abridges one of the rights enumerated within the constitution. Do you think it should be otherwise?

I imagine that if I lived in the 40s and 50s, I would have been all for putting blacks at the back of the bus. That was the will of the majority. I guess you are saying that this practice is a good one.

[MikeWaters]

an argument for gay marriage would be that married gays are better contributors to society than non-married gays, on the principle that committed legal relationships contribute to the social good.

[minn_stat]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

I imagine that if I lived in the 40s and 50s, I would have been all for putting blacks at the back of the bus. That was the will of the majority. I guess you are saying that this practice is a good one.

Such repartee, such wit. I can't possibly respond to such brilliant logic, you've reduced me to a quivering idiot.

I tried to outline the foundations of what I thought was a valid viewpoint on a controversial and difficult topic. Do I get honest, thinking critique?

From TripletDaddy and Seattle Ute and BlueHair, I basically get...
You are a bigot
Homophobe
Your words are just PR
Scaremongerer
You must not be secure in your marriage
Bigot
Just a bunch of empty rhetoric
Homophobe
Where is your argument?

Impressive, to say the least. (To your credit, YOhio, Venkman, and KiteRider, you had some valid feedback and comments.)

When I lived in the Metro DC area in 2nd grade, my mom likes to tell the story of how I came home from school one day crying because everyone was being mean to another little boy at the school. I ended up befriending him. My mom tells me it took quite a while for her to figure out that the problem was that the new boy was part of the first black family in the neighborhood, and apparently the neighborhood was quite up in arms about this encroachment into their nice neighborhood.

In the spring of 1980, when I was walking home from high school, I came across a group of kids bullying an Iranian kid who went to our school. (This was in the middle of the Iranian hostage crisis.) Although I'm pretty small, I managed to shame the kids into leaving him alone, and then walked home with him to make sure they left him alone. I became his friend as well, and found his viewpoint on the crisis pretty interesting, even though it was largely in disagreement with mine.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, a muslim single mom moved into the new home directly behind ours. Her daughter regularly played with our kids, and I worked with the YM president in organizing a group to put in her sod. I did much of the mowing of her lawn for several summers, and we had several very interesting discussions on religion during this time.

In my current neighborhood, my next door neighbor is a single mom who happens to be black, and I've similarly spent quite a bit of time helping her with her yard care. My kids play fine with her nine year old boy.

The point is, you don't know me, you know next to nothing about me. I've tried to be patient with your idiocy, but frankly, I've got more interesting things to do with my time than listen to you call me names. I've never put a person on "ignore"; feel privileged that you will be the first. Oh sorry, I did put Bernards on ignore when he showed up a while ago, so you won't even be the first.