mawage

-
So I've really struggled with the same-sex marriage debate; no argument really held water. I've been thinking, though, and since I have a platform for such thoughts, here they are.

All men/women should be equal before the law in their beliefs. It is in their actions that they are judged, especially when those actions interact with others’ actions. In gay marriage, I think the most vulnerable group is any children adopted by the gay couple. Actually, children are likely to be the most vulnerable group in any type of marriage, but the difference in the gay marriage argument is that in placing children with gay couples, the government is actively allowing a social experiment work out its conclusions on subjects who probably had little input in their participation. Wherever possible, children should be raised by a father and mother figure, because gender does carry essential, God-given roles.  By allowing gay couple adoption, or (to bring other social issues in), single parent adoption, the government is denying the most stable, beneficial home environment for children. Of course that’s true of divorce, too, but I don’t agree with divorce as it is applied either. Nor am I saying that all heterosexual marriages are ideal incubators of child development. What I'm saying is that I don't want the government to force adoption agencies to accept gay adoptive parents, especially if the gay parent environment is against the beliefs of said agencies.

Marriage definition: I have the hardest time with this argument. Call things what you will; that doesn’t change what they are. So I don’t think I care if gay couples say they are married; it doesn’t change my perception, and I don’t know if it changes their perception either. The group who would have a changed perspective is the government and other authoritative institutions, as changing the definition of marriage changes what resources/benefits/whatever-you-want-to-call-it are available to gay couples: insurance policies, will policies, visitation policies at hospitals,  etc. I actually don’t particularly mind if gay couples have these resources.What I care about is the implication of the government needing to intervene. The state has no right to interfere in relationships except for the benefit of vulnerable groups, aka children.Yay for small government.
As a bonus, I found an article that gives the clearest discussion I've heard so far on the definition of marriage and its implications on government and society (yes, really, it's an intelligent discussion): 
There are some points that this guy makes that I don't particularly agree with, but as I said, the clearest argument I've heard so far.
Comments welcome.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dogsledding: Guest Post

-
Image
 Happy Birthday to Mark, and he wrote this post.  One of the benefits of traveling to snowy northern Norway is that there are a plethora of winter activities to do.   Besides the usual skiing/snowboarding, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling, there are also things more unique to Tromsø, such as reindeer sleigh rides and dogsledding.   We went dogsledding twice during our Norway travels.   This is the story of the first of those adventures.   The dogsledding company of our first experience is located at the Tromsø Golf Club, the northernmost 18-hole golf course in the world.  Buried in snow in the winter, it becomes the perfect place for an amazing dogsledding experience.  The dogsledding company runs shuttle busses from Tromsø city center to the dogsledding camp.  It takes about an hour to get there and the views along the way are spectacular. The noise on arrival was also spectacular.   They have well over 100 dogs there and they all want to talk to each other at full volume. The dogs
Read more

RATS! A Guest Column

-
Image
  On May 10, we began the move into our new apartment.  It is in the same building as our old apartment.  In fact, it is just down the hall on the same floor.  Our lease renewal was coming up on our old apartment and the rent on our old apartment was going up significantly.  If we were going to pay a bunch more for our old apartment, why not get a bigger and refurbished apartment for slightly more than what our new rent was going to be?  The new apartment would still be a one-bedroom, but would have a study and would also have a half-bath by the front door.  The big draw for us is the study, which is too small to be considered a second bedroom but will be big enough to have a crib [because SPOILER! pregnant].  The half-bath is unnecessary (except for if we have guests over who want to use the bathroom without going through our bedroom, but we almost never have guests) and is actually a hindrance as it takes away from kitchen space. Our lease on the old apartment did not run out until t
Read more

Thoughts on Pregnancy

-
Image
 I have hit the 6-month mark in gestation. I'd like to say that means I'm two-thirds of the way done, but actually, * psych! * pregnancy is 10 months, not 9. I don't know why we say pregnancy is 9 months; maybe it averages in all the preemies. So far, I have to say first trimester is the worst. Constant nausea, and too early to tell people why you feel terrible. Mark likes to point out that I never threw up, but nausea is terrible all on its own, so I didn't find that comforting. Second trimester has less nausea, but also less energy. Like, I was running 2-3 miles a day up until 2nd trimester. Now I'm running 1 mile a couple times a week, but as of this week I think even that is going to stop because the 2 times I ran this week left me with such pain in my pelvic area--and that's even with a belly band thing to try to support the extra tummy weight--that changing positions hurt all day. Also, I'm not a fan of the nighttime leg cramps. These are charley-horse
Read more