Gay Marriage - Page 8 - OG Myth-Weavers

Notices


Worldly Talk

Civil discussion and debate on real world events and issues.


Gay Marriage

 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Little_Rudo View Post
I just really feel the whole 'marriage = sacred union' issue falls down to proper nouns. Effectively, there are two forms of 'marriage' being talked about:
  • A religious covenant held between two (or more) people.
  • A status recognized by the government that confers benefits such as filing joint tax returns and special rules for distribution of property upon death.

Personally, I wish we'd use different terminology for one to make things more clear. Say, two adults who wish to be recognized as spouses by the government enter a civil union, conferring on them the same legal benefits currently allotted to married couples. No ceremony necessary. If two adults want to have a religious ceremony to recognize their union, that's a matter between them and their respective church. No legal obligation required. I'd much rather see the split be between 'legal benefits' and 'religious rite', than giving a different term based on the genders of the couple.
All religions are free to pick another name if they don't like it to be called the same.

I do not support the idea of religious marriage without legal marriage. In Belgium, it is e.g. forbidden to marry in church before you marry for the law. The reason for this is to (try to) ensure equality. In some religions, one partner is inherently dominant over the other. A legal framework protects the other partner. It also avoids polygamy.

Now on the issue of marriage between more than two partners. I believe that in a marriage, all partners should always be equal. In my opinion, equality is only possible between two individuals. In a group of three, inequality is, in my opinion, almost
I don't really have anything to back it up, though.
unavoidable. The typical examples of polygamy certainly support this view.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wippit Guud View Post
I find it a bit petty that a lot of people who are against gay marriage is because they are obsessed with 'owning' the word marriage. Does the word matter that much?
Yeah, it's almost entirely on the word. The concept of a civil union is much more popular than "marriage" even if the legal framework made them identical.

FWIW though I notice most of the opposition dropping as the tactics of the pro-marriage crowd change. When it was on suing people for discrimination and taking lawsuits through the court system people were afraid of having it shoved down their throats and having their own rights to oppose it in their own lives trampled on. A not entirely unwarranted fear. When the tactic became acceptance and changing cultural attitudes to make it a positive thing the attitudes start shifting immensely.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bbender View Post
It also avoids polygamy.

Now on the issue of marriage between more than two partners. I believe that in a marriage, all partners should always be equal. In my opinion, equality is only possible between two individuals. In a group of three, inequality is, in my opinion, almost
I don't really have anything to back it up, though.
unavoidable. The typical examples of polygamy certainly support this view.
The typical examples of polygamy are not inherent to polygamy. You don't have anything to back up your opinion because, as far as I'm aware, there isn't anything of any substance that would do so.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MonkWren View Post
Unfortunately, this seems to be an issue where you can't simply "cut once" - marriage has been through many different definitions throughout the millenia, and will like see further redefinitions.
That would be why you measure twice before you cut the legal documents.




 

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Last Database Backup 2024-03-19 08:26:00am local time
Myth-Weavers Status