Gay People Should Have Equal Rights As Straight People Regarding Marriage and Adoption

I"m glad to hear that you look at them as equal to heterosexual people, At least we can agree on that base topic and just debate solely on the marriage aspect. I understand what you"re saying regarding the origins of marriage, However it is important to note that ancient marriages had other goals outside of child rearing such as creating arranged family alliances with other families. Arranged alliances often involved young pre-teens/teenagers who had no say in the matter & also often involved family members such as cousins. In some ancient cultures, Men would get wives by kidnapping them. I think it is important as a progressive species to change traditions as we become more educated, Most people in progressive societies would agree it is wrong to arrange our children into marriages, Especially with blood relatives, At such a young age without giving them the choice to marry who they want when they are of age. The decision of marriage has never purely been based on love and while now that is perhaps the most common reason for marriages, There are still many other factors such as tax benefits, Financial reasons, And many other rights that people get when they are legally married such as hospital visits. Unfortunately, The link you provided wouldn"t let me see the content unless I purchased it but I would be interested to read another article. I personally think that a child"s well-being is not dependent on having a married mother and father and more dependent on the quality of parents they have. For example, A married husband and wife who don"t love each other and are constantly fighting in front of the kids, Parents who are too busy to really spend time with their kids, And let"s be honest, Some people are just bad parents, Period. I think that having loving parents who go above and beyond for their children, Will be the best for a child"s well being. I don"t think the sex of the parents holds the most value. The current definition of marriage is a : the state of being united as spouses in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law, B : the mutual relation of married persons : wedlock, C : the institution whereby individuals are joined in a marriage. I don"t think an accurate comparison would be calling a triangle a three sided square, A more accurate comparison would be comparing equilateral triangles with obtuse and acute triangles. They are still triangles, They just differ from each other in some aspects. Changing the definition of marriage is not degrading it, For reasons I mentioned above. Marriage has been degraded mainly be heterosexual people for many decades not just with divorce but with infidelity, Marrying for immigration papers, For money, Etc. In my humble opinion, Most of the gay people I know are actually doing the word marriage a favor. As far as marrying children and animals and plants, Please see the above definition of marriage. Before all else, Marriage has envolved to be a consensual union, As it should be. Children, Plants & animals are not consenting, By either legal or literal terms. This argument is not something you should use in the future because not only is it offensive to gay people, But it is honestly just not an equal comparison. This exact same argument was used during Jim vs. Crow about letting blacks marry whites & it is absolutely no different using it for gay people. Two consenting adults is completely different than children, Plants and animals. As far as polygamous marriages, I"m not sure the reasons why it"s illegal, It"s honestly something I"ve never put much thought into, But centuries ago it was accepted in marriage so it doesn"t really fit your argument. I personally don"t see anything wrong with a polygamous marriage as long as all parties are consenting, But I will admit I haven"t researched it or looked into much so that is an argument for another day. By saying marriage should only be allowed for reproductive reasons, We would be denying many people the rights to marriage. People who are infertile, People who do not want children, People who are old, Etc. Unless you want to only allow people to get "married" who have signed a formal agreement that they will be reproducing, I really don"t think it makes sense or is fair to have to use a different type of "union" for gay people unless you want to do the same for all other people who cannot naturally reproduce and also grant marriages to first cousins and minors in arranged marriage, As that fits the old definition of marriage. Combined with loving someone, There are many reasons to want to get married such as the legal rights and tax breaks granted to married couples.