A Good Debate on Gay Marriage

Thanks again to InVinoVeritas! I will present my case at this time--I apologize if it is a bit rushed. "The principle of the equality of human beings is not a description of alleged actual equality among humans; it is a prescription of how we should treat humans." - Peter Singer FRAMEWORK Gay Marriage - a marriage between two people of the same biological gender Should - expresses desirability or rightness Permit - to allow, to make legal Note 1: This resolution is specifically concerning the U.S. and what should be occuring therein. Note 2: This resolution is not concerned about how the U.S. should go about making gay marriage legal; rather, it is concerned with the more abstrct question of "should" it be legal. PRO's CASE -- Polling -- The government, as a representative body of the people, should reflect in legislation the views of the American populace. Multiple credible polls all concur that more American support gay marriage than oppose it. [1, 2, 3] The consistancy of these polls' findings only further serve to emphasize the fact that our elected officials should be moving to support the legality and permissibility of gay marriage in the U.S., because it is their duty as our representative to do so. In some studies, as much as 58% of Americans have bee found to support gay marriage rights. [3, 4] -- Libertarian Paradigm -- It is also important to point out here that gay marriage poses no active harm to any one else. Gay individuals getting married does not endanger you or your neighbors, nor does it serve any government benefit to deny gay couples marriage rights. It seems like an inappropriate use of government coercion, therefore, to prevent these loving couples from exercising their autonomy and getting married. -- Equality -- 1. Civil Unions are an unequal substitute for marriage "The institution of civil marriage confers a social status and important legal benefits, rights, and privileges. ... Same-sex couples are denied equal access to civil marriage. ... Same-sex couples who enter into a civil union are denied equal access to all the benefits, rights, and privileges provided by federal law to married couples ... The benefits, rights, and privileges associated with domestic partnerships are not universally available, are not equal to those associated with marriage, and are rarely portable." [4] We can also look to the Supreme Court's striking down of DOMA as unduly descriminatory and unequal to see that the highest Court in the U.S. conquers that there should be a more equal footing here. [4, 5] Hollingsowrht v. Perry further bolstered this legal precedent, finding also that there was no legally relevant difference between a gay and straight couple. [6] 2. Legal Right and Equality Moreover, the legally-binding ICCPR guarantees all citizens of parties to the treaty equal rights (Article 5.) Article 23 guarantees the right of mean and women to marry--it says nothing about whether they must marry the opposite gender, only that both parties must consent. [7] -- History -- "The results of more than a century of anthropological research on households, kinship relationships, and families, across cultures and through time, provide no support whatsoever for the view that either civilization or viable social orders depend upon marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution. Rather, anthropological research supports the conclusion that a vast array of family types, including families built upon same-sex partnerships, can contribute to stable and humane societies." [4] SOURCES 1 - http://www.pollingreport.com... 2 - http://features.pewforum.org... 3 - http://www.washingtonpost.com... 4 - http://en.wikipedia.org... 5 - http://www.reuters.com...; 6 - http://en.wikipedia.org... 7 - http://www.ohchr.org... I thank Con, and must again apologize for my rushed response. I am at a debate tournament out of state, and am paying my hotel some usurious fee for interent access so as to avoid a forfeit of this round. I would appreciate it if Con would keep his arguments equally brief to even things out--though I acknowledge that Con is by no means obligated to do so. Thanks!