http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/01/07/archbishop-j-peter-sartain-is-a-bigot Comments On: Archbishop J. Peter Sartain Is a Bigot by Dominic Holden en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:45:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
Here are reasons to oppose same-sex marriage besides hatred.

The male/female relationship is unique among all possible kinds of relationships in that it holds a great gift and mystery - the ability to produce another human life. The complementarity of the man and the woman is necessary for this, and indeed is necessary for the proper raising of a child. Both mother and father contribute in different ways to the child's good as statistics bear out. Children who live with their biological mother and father simply do better than those who live in other family arrangements. ( yes, yes, I know that some studies show that children do ok with same-sex parents and some no doubt do, but the studies shown thus far are flawed - mostly white upper middle class lesbians, small size etc. And same sex unions cannot of their nature produce offspring). Civil marriage exists not so much that men and women can stand up and publicly announce their affections for one another, but so that the offspring which can naturally be expected to arise from the union of a man and a woman might have a stable home - which will benefit all of society. It is because male/female unions lead to future citizens, and because stable male/female unions lead to better citizens, that we support marriage with significant tax breaks and privileges. Some couples who marry will never have children - elderly ones most obviously - and yet these couples still mirror the pattern which society wishes to condone and support. Same sex couple simply don't fit the criteria - they are something else altogether and although they no doubt sometimes provide loving homes for offspring, they cannot not mirror the ideal model (any more than say, a mother and a daughter who provide a loving home for the daughter's child). I
The unique capacity to bear children while not made use of in every heterosexual union, is nevertheless fundamental to the reasons that civil marriage exists. We may grace same-sex unions with the name "marriage" because we feel sorry for those involved but we cannot make equal what is fundamentally different.


Posted by tortoiseshell]]> Wed, 01 May 2013 18:25:56 -0700 The Stranger Posted by dan.stevenson]]> Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:33:38 -0800 The Stranger Posted by yes. and a hypocrite.]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 13:01:10 -0800 The Stranger Posted by jeffy]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:41:12 -0800 The Stranger Posted by emor]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:28:33 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Pope Peabrain]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 11:28:34 -0800 The Stranger Posted by sarah70]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:56:59 -0800 The Stranger
I think the Catholic "I'm not a bigot!" line would be easier to swallow if the Church could get behind the idea of other gay rights, like anti discrimination bills regarding housing, employment, etc.

As it happens, the theology for this sort of thing is already in place. The Catechism talks about welcoming individual gay people with love and understanding and respecting their human dignity. The Church just isn't implementing it, which I think is a missed opportunity.
Posted by Corydon]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:52:06 -0800 The Stranger Posted by sperifera]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:41:52 -0800 The Stranger Posted by pfffter]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:34:40 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Kinison]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:20:29 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Joe Szilagyi]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:14:40 -0800 The Stranger
And those are the three possibilities I've observed in the opponents of marriage equality: ordinary and well-meaning people who are steeped in a bigoted tradition; vicious people motivated by baser impulses to dominate and exclude; and deeply stupid people who can't really articulate a coherent thought.
Posted by Meat Weapon]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:03:07 -0800 The Stranger Posted by GermanSausage]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 09:45:38 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Max Solomon]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 09:44:17 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Ken Mehlman]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 09:34:21 -0800 The Stranger