Gay Marriage should not be allowed in the United States

1) Democracy,....our country is not ran [sic] like that. --> Dear Alex Hanson, "All men are created equal." Sincerely, The Signers of the D.o.I 2) If you pass... polygamy, incest, and other sexual abnormalities. --> First and foremost, I find it slightly offensive to consider being homosexual a sexual abnormality, that's a half - step away from it being a "disease. This is a tired, tired argument, it is so tired that it is basically useless. * Pedophilia : A child does not have the mental capacity to marry an adult, therefore it does not happen. * Bestiality : Animals are not covered in our Constitution, therefore that one would be obsolete. * What my opponent is escaping here is that we want what everyone else wants, the ability to marry a partner. Not a dog, not a child, and not multiple partners; a single partner. 3) Diminishing the value of marriage. --> When the national divorce rate is somewhere between 43 and 51 percent[8], I believe that homosexual marriage could only help at this point. I would like to point out that most divorce/separation statistics my opponent could pull out of the hat would be slightly incorrect, seeing as if there is no marriage rate, a divorce rate seems a little far - fetched. 4)Morals.... --> My opponent has yet to show me any. 5) Family...Institution of marriage --> I'm a product of a single - parent family, you paint it out to be this horrible experience, are you Ann Coulter [9]? Babies are going to be born out of wedlock anyways, a guy is going to shtup his girlfriend, the girlfriend is going to get pregnant, and the boyfriend is not going to want the baby, so the boyfriend will leave, BOOM, single parenthood. You make it sound like all of the things that **may or may not** effect these gay couples doesn't already effect the straight ones. By the way, Scandinavian countries and United States are worlds apart. 5.5) Single parent marital rights... --> What are you talking about? If a single person is unmarried they should have the right to remarry, which they do. 6) Need of marriage. --> Then, why do you need marriage. Marriage is a human right first and foremost, and the benefits that come with it are ultimately beneficial. If you have a gay partner and you and that partner are unmarried and you fall ill, they are not allowed in the hospital. You cannot file joint tax returns, I mean really, the list goes on. 7)Sex - ed systems... --> Homosexuality and Tolerance are covered in high school sex - ed curricula, this point is unnecessary. 8) Civil Unions... --> Civil unions do not provide the same benefits as marriage. Same - sex marriage would be normal marriage with two people of the same - sex which would guarantee the rights. If you became gay tomorrow and then grew up, you would not be allowed to marry your partner, if you were as fortunate to find one. It is different, you do not allow homosexual people to marry each other. I didn't say only pro - gay marriage folk can vote, doesn't it seem a little ridiculous to you that the main demographic that this issue affects often has no say? I love the quotes, so ignorantly patronizing. You can't put the rights of these people in the hands of people who have no care to advocate for them, that is unfair. Christian values.... You mean those people who murdered Matthew Shepard, pass out crazy literature and so on and so forth? I respect Christian values, I do not respect ignorance. There's a separation of church and state for a reason. Religion, blah, blah, religion.... a) You said you wouldn't go into religion. b) When elected officials take the oath of office they place their hand on the bible and swear to uphold the Constitution, not the other way around. "What does not having it..." It deprives them of having the same legal and social benefits of the straight community. Do you really want to go into shallow arguments? I gave you a source for that statistic. You have the right to marry. I do not. You will have the right to file taxes jointly. I most likely, will not. "Equal rights..." Tell me how denying a group of people a simple, fundamental right does not impede equal rights. Smoking marijuana is not illegal for everyone across the board --> California etc., see decriminalization. However, that is a baseless conjecture and doesn't even remotely tie into the argument at hand. The reason you want to deny gay marriage is because your parents have preached against it your entire life, nothing more. It is not like you personally have something to lose or gain. Could my opponent please read my source table? Common sense would dictate that if the majority was against segregation schools would have been desegregated way before the the later 1900s. After all, it is the rule of the people. Civil unions do not hold the same benefits as marriage. My opponent has failed to provide a moral reason and has just kept going on and on about how it is the same. It simply is not. My opponent dictated that he would not go into religion however, he did and went as far as to cite Mormons in his source table. Thanks to Alex Hanson for this debate, I'm sorry if he felt I was being hostile... If you think equality should be enjoyed by all, vote CON, or whoever you think did a better job. Just pointing out that according to the table, Massachusetts has one of the lowest rates of divorce. Massachusetts is home to John Kerry, the Kennedys and gay marriage... I think it goes something to the effect of, who is the kettle to call the pot black? Sources: [8] - http://www.divorcereform.org...