Gay marriage should be legally allowed

Dann continues to argue his opinions about whether the comparison between gay rights and civil rights is a correct one (while still giving no argument as to why he believes this; just that it is "apples and oranges". He gives his opinions about whether the discrimination of homosexuals in this case is even a bad thing. He gives his opinion as to the motivations of every gay person in their pursuit or marriage equality. These are all irrelevant to the debate and although I'd be glad to discuss these things in another debate it's beyond the scope of this one. Hence why I will not be addressing them here. "What negative effects will there be? Whether you like it or not, and rightly or wrongly, gays are looked at differently. Gays are often a laughing stock. The word gay is a byword for rubbish, lame, crap. What does this indicate? This wont change." I must make this comparison again even if my opponent doesn't find it valid. The same could be said of minorities before they were given the same rights. Has it gone away? No. Has it gotten better? Absolutely. I'd posit these legal and social divisions exacerbate and legitimize the prejudices against racial minorities and gays. Prejudice will never go away; I'm not arguing that. But it would start to falter as more acceptance raises. It's already happening. Acceptance of gays[1] and gay marriage[2] has risen as the movement has become more vocal in the last couple of decades. This counts against Dann's argument that legalization will somehow create more division. I'm not arguing that the correlation equals causation but I am saying that his argument does show up in the data. The data seems to disagree with his assessment of the issue. "They are putting their adopted children at risk." Does Dann suppose the blame of the risk lies on the gay couples for having a family or those who seek to harm the family? I'll make the dreaded comparison again of Black couples having children or mixed race couples having children. Is the onus of risk on those who chose to have a family or those who look(ed) to harm the family? "Black people gained civil rights, as they should…. One might even argue that the black community have fared even WORSE since they gained their civil rights in America." The argument has been made by my opponent that a major reason why gay marriage should stay illegal is that more harm to them and society as a whole will come if gays are afforded the same rights. Dann then says it can be argued that these negative effects have happened to the Black community and yet believes that they should have received their rights (among them marrying who they'd like). What justification then is there for denying these rights to gays? "'Dann argues that the discrimination isn't as bad for homosexuals and therefor(e) there is no discrimination' Not only does your sentence here contradict itself (how can I be arguing that the discrimination isn't as bad AND that there is no discrimination? Arguing that the discrimination isnt as bad carries with it an overt acknowledgement of discrimination)" Here I was positing that Dann was arguing that there is less discrimination (his actual argument, which he didn't seem to understand he was making) but concluding that there is no discrimination. This was to point out his logic fallacy in coming to a false conclusion based on incomplete data; I was not making my own fallacy. "'They wont be driven to the sea but they will get over it or die off leaving society to progress' This. This is naive." Once again I've made no argument that prejudice will go away; only that it will shrink and that it's influence on society will dissipate. I've offered my reasoning on this. Although, again, I must point out that even if I were incorrect here they Dann has not yet met his burden of proof. Which is what he needs to due in order to win. "Homophobia is inherent in most peoples psyches." Dann has offered no source of evidence for this claim. "There will be an increase in homophobic attacks due to the ubiquity of homosexuals and homosexual causes." Dann gives no reasoning or authoritative source of evidence for this claim. (To be clear he doesn't need to give hard evidence for a hypothetical. He only need to give a source from a proper authority on the matter) "yet the LGBT community is never satisfied unless they are in the limelight, playing the victim. Perhaps that is why they tend to gravitate towards theatre. They love the drama." This is bias and prejudice. Not an argument in favor of your position. "By disallowing gay marriage you are indirectly defusing a potentially very hostile reaction to the LGBT community at large. You are doing the community itself a favour." I will urge my opponent to back this up with sources and evidence in the final reply. I also urge those who vote to check the veracity of those sources as I will not be able to reply. "I would like to point out that naive is not an insult and that my opponent has taken unnecessary umbrage." I will leave this to the voters. "I would also like to point out that, should one see fit to deduct me points for typos, then one also must deduct points from my opponent for spelling errors (some consistent) and using the wrong words entirely etc." Fair enough, I agree. I will try to make it easy for my opponent to stay on track in his final reply by listing all that is needed for him to win this debate: 1. Offer evidence and sources of information for the belief that homophobia is inherent. 2. Offer evidence and sources that more harm will come to the gay community if gay marriage is legalized (maybe look at data from countries and states where it is legal) 3. Conclude as to why, if all the above is true, this means the gay community should continue to be discriminated against What would be unnecessary: 1. Ranting about how bad some are in the LGBT community 2. Speculating about the motivations of the LGBT community 3. Making more claims without evidence Final word to the voters. Please carefully consider whether or not my opponent met the burden of proof. Be fair to him and myself in your assessment. [1] http://www.gallup.com... [2] http://www.gallup.com...