Review Of Robert Benne's 'Who Cares If Gays Marry?'
In the story by Robert Benne and Gerald Mcdermott “Speaking out: Why Gay Marriage Would Be Harmful”, it asks “How would the legalization of gay marriage harm current and future heterosexual marriages?” In “Who Cares if Gays Marry?” by Gregory Blair, it speaks of Americans being the ones who care the most about gay couples marrying each other.
So going back to the question, “How would the legalization of gay marriage harm current and future heterosexual marriages?” Benne and Mcdormott both believe there are compelling reasons why the gay marriage would be. 1) bad for marriage, 2) bad for children, and 3) bad for society. 1. First the acceptance of gay marriage would be the very definition of marriage itself. In every Western society
marriage has meant the life-long union of a man and women. The ultimate goal for the gay couples is the societal acceptance of gay marriage. 2. Gay marriage will be bad for children. According to an article “Child Trends”, “it clearly demonstrates that family structures matter for children, and the family structure that helps the most is a family headed by two biological parents in low-conflict marriage.” Research has also shown that children raised by homosexuals were more dissatisfied with their own gender, suffer a greater rate of molestation within the family, and have homosexual experiences more often.
Gay marriage will also encourage teens who are unsure of their sexuality to embrace a lifestyle that suffers high rates of suicide, depression, HIV, drug abuse, STDs, and other pathogens. 3) Gay marriage will be bad for society. Society is already having trouble maintaining wholesome stability in marriage and family life. The majority of people define marriage as the life-long union of a man and women. (Benne and Mcdormott, 301-303)
In “Who Cares if Gays Marry?”, Blair says Americans care the most about gays marrying. Opponents claim that gay marriage is against definition, against God and against American values. The “definition” argument is where proponents of this stance would argue that marriage has always been a man and women. This isn’t true because many other cultures have different variations of what constitutes a marriage like Muslims of the Middle East, Asia, North Africa, and several Asian cultures. In some of these cultures their parents pick who their son or daughter is going to marry (arranged marriage).
The second argument is about gays getting married and being against god. This isn’t true because there are Atheists, Agnostics, and those who don’t necessarily believe in a god at all. (Blair 307) These are the people that don’t believe in god. Not all gays believe in god but some do.
According to Blair, Heterosexual marriage began and continued for centuries. Marriage was used for a form of affirm alliances, augment familial wealth and status, and trace inheritance rights. Homosexuals do not have the right to marry because they cannot procreate becomes even more invalid when you consider that if we define “marriage” as only being right for people who can procreate, then infertile men and women, those beyond their child-bearing years, and people who simply choose not to have children should also not be allowed to marry. (Blair 307) Not at man and women couples want to have kids. So why punish the gay couple who actually wants a child.
Some people believe that being homosexual is a sin, some people don’t. Not everyone is going to accept them because they want to marry the same gender. It’s okay for a couple of a man and women who love each other to get married, but not okay for a gay couple who feels the same way towards each other not to get married? Love is love. It’s not a sin to love someone else. So why should it matter for gays to marry?
So going back to the question, “How would the legalization of gay marriage harm current and future heterosexual marriages?” Benne and Mcdormott both believe there are compelling reasons why the gay marriage would be. 1) bad for marriage, 2) bad for children, and 3) bad for society. 1. First the acceptance of gay marriage would be the very definition of marriage itself. In every Western society
marriage has meant the life-long union of a man and women. The ultimate goal for the gay couples is the societal acceptance of gay marriage. 2. Gay marriage will be bad for children. According to an article “Child Trends”, “it clearly demonstrates that family structures matter for children, and the family structure that helps the most is a family headed by two biological parents in low-conflict marriage.” Research has also shown that children raised by homosexuals were more dissatisfied with their own gender, suffer a greater rate of molestation within the family, and have homosexual experiences more often.
Gay marriage will also encourage teens who are unsure of their sexuality to embrace a lifestyle that suffers high rates of suicide, depression, HIV, drug abuse, STDs, and other pathogens. 3) Gay marriage will be bad for society. Society is already having trouble maintaining wholesome stability in marriage and family life. The majority of people define marriage as the life-long union of a man and women. (Benne and Mcdormott, 301-303)
In “Who Cares if Gays Marry?”, Blair says Americans care the most about gays marrying. Opponents claim that gay marriage is against definition, against God and against American values. The “definition” argument is where proponents of this stance would argue that marriage has always been a man and women. This isn’t true because many other cultures have different variations of what constitutes a marriage like Muslims of the Middle East, Asia, North Africa, and several Asian cultures. In some of these cultures their parents pick who their son or daughter is going to marry (arranged marriage).
The second argument is about gays getting married and being against god. This isn’t true because there are Atheists, Agnostics, and those who don’t necessarily believe in a god at all. (Blair 307) These are the people that don’t believe in god. Not all gays believe in god but some do.
According to Blair, Heterosexual marriage began and continued for centuries. Marriage was used for a form of affirm alliances, augment familial wealth and status, and trace inheritance rights. Homosexuals do not have the right to marry because they cannot procreate becomes even more invalid when you consider that if we define “marriage” as only being right for people who can procreate, then infertile men and women, those beyond their child-bearing years, and people who simply choose not to have children should also not be allowed to marry. (Blair 307) Not at man and women couples want to have kids. So why punish the gay couple who actually wants a child.
Some people believe that being homosexual is a sin, some people don’t. Not everyone is going to accept them because they want to marry the same gender. It’s okay for a couple of a man and women who love each other to get married, but not okay for a gay couple who feels the same way towards each other not to get married? Love is love. It’s not a sin to love someone else. So why should it matter for gays to marry?