I think it is more complex than one would admit. If the marriage between gays and dykes is authorized then the sense of marriage has no more meaning but of course everyone sees that matter differently.
The concept of 'marriage' loses it's "meaning" because more people embrace it?
Also imagine how would feel a child if all the other of his class camarades learn that he has two fathers or two mothers. He will feel ashamed and he will be insulted by his class comorades.
Yes, it's the fault of the gay parents. Not the fault of the kids doing the insulting in the first place.
Who is victimizing the criminals now?
You can give the same judicial,social and vote rights to gays and dykes, there is no problem with that. But I am all against for authorizing them to adopt children and/or having their mariage being made legal.
georges - I love ya man but you have to see the contradiction in this statement.
People are equal because they are people. Restricting rights based on sexual preference is just as morally abhorrent as restricting rights based on race or gender.
Indeed, hence why many would break such a law. It's one of the reasons why it cannot be enforced. Perhaps I should've been a bit more clear; I'm not just talking about the practical police work to get the job done, but get people to be content with it. But if you manage to create a working, fair system to ensure that only people who is capable of raising a child is allowed to have one, then I'd support it. The problem is of course how to create and maintain such a system.
Actually, the "law" is already circumvented. I know lots of lesbian (and two gay) couples who adopt children. They don't adopt as a couple, ofcourse. One partner is the legal guardian.
It is possible to do with adoption, however. If a child will be harmed in any way from being raised by homosexual parents, whether this is the fault of the parents or the reaction from the rest of the world, then gay people shouldn't be allowed to adopt (though this may vary from area to area depending on how liberal the community is). I am not yet convinced that society is ready to deal with it, but I'd like to stress that it has fairly little to do with homosexuality and I'd say the same thing about any factor that can negatively influence the well-being of the child. It is of course likely that harmful factors will be overlooked in the screening, but that is no reason to ignore one of the more explicit ones just because it's not PC.
Society wasn't ready to accept inter-racial marriage. Society wasn't ready to accept de-segregation.
So on and so forth. There have been many things society has not been "ready to accept" - but that should become an excuse to willfully discriminate.
If I say that "Catholics shouldn't be brought up in Calvinist Protestant" homes, or "Black kids shouldn't be adopted by White couples" - I'd sound just as demeaning and silly.
By the way: Since when did 'adoption' and 'marriage' become priviledges granted by society or the State?
actually, when i was doing sociology i read that majority of kids wouldn't be gay if there parents were a gay couple... Instead they would be the opposite, and feel oddly or even in extreme cases hate gays.
And my problem with gays adopting kids is NOT because they will turn out gay, its because (and ive said this a few times now) kids need a mother and a father figure.
And yes, there are "kids with no parents" or "kids living in the streets" etc, and yes that is a problem, but its not like people are ignoring it. There are charities trying to help. You can't use this as a defense in the gays-adopting-kids arguement.
Dave, seriously - Sociology is nice - but it isn't an exact science.
We're discussing morality here. Why should gays have to be discrininated against - what makes them anymore or anyless capable of raising children or maintaining families than heterosexuals?
i simple terms: If your a boy, you need to look up to your father for advice on what it is to be a man, and you need your mother to learn of the opposite of man - woman. (all aspects of each)
And if your a girl its the other way around.
Just is just not true at all
There is
much more on this subject ( i did sociology for 2 years, and "family" was a topic for about 7 months ) but to be honest i can't be bothered to go digging about, and the majority of it i forgot anyways
I've been "practising" sociology in various forms for well over 10 years - and the simplest thing I can tell you is that while parents can be role models for children - children don't learn everything from them. Nor do they form concrete opinions on esoteric ideas such as "what it means to be a gentleman or lady" from either parent. You're also ignoring the hundreds of stable kids from single parent homes.
And last but not least - it still doesn't answer the moral question: If all humans are equal, why do we let some raise families and some not?
For the record - I don't understand homosexuality. I grew up in a pretty homophobic environment and my time in the Army only reinforced it.
What society deems "acceptable" or not has gone through cycles and is forever changing. When I was growing up, it was acceptable to lynch a black man simply because he was a black man. During my Father's generation, society forbade people of different races from co-habitation and marriage. My grandfathers fought on opposite sides of the American Civil War.
"Tradition" alone is never a good measure - it was "traditional" to own slaves. It was "traditional" to treat women like chattel. It was "traditional" to work children in coal mines.
I realise that all humans are equal. All humans have the right to form contracts (marriage). If we object to how gays raise children - it isn't much of a leap for anyone else to argue against single parents from raising children, or polygamous men from raising children or inter-racial couples from raising children etc.
I don't think I like or agree with homosexuality. But my liking or agreement has nothing to do with anything. I don't choose to discrininate simply because I disagree with a lifestyle.
I'll also admit to a selfish desire - for all I know, my son or daughter could turn out to be homosexuals - do I deny them their rights to marriage and raising a family simply because they love someone of the same gender?
cheers,
