Gay marriage

I will change this format to see what happens. Also you plagerized many of your arguments (or part of them) from here: http://www.balancedpolitics.org...R1: Religion Is htat a reason to ban gay marriage? NO! Also why? Because america is not a theocracy:Theocracy is derived from the two Greek words Qeo/j(Theos) meaning "God" and kra/tein (cratein) meaning "to rule." The Reverend Rod Parsley, a champion of theocracy, or what he calls a "christocracy," told his congregation at the World Harvest Church, located just outside Columbus, Ohio, "Theocracy means God is in control, and you are not." [1]"True, people of faith have always tried to bring their interpretation of the Bible to bear on American laws and morals ... it's the American way, encouraged and protected by the First Amendment. But what is unique today is that the radical religious right has succeeded in taking over one of America's great political parties. The country is not yet a theocracy" [1]the most prominent Baptist minister in New England, observed that when "church and state are separate, the effects are happy, and they do not at all interfere with each other: but where they have been confounded together, no tongue nor pen can fully describe the mischiefs that have ensued." [2]So relegion can't technically be a reason to ban marriage. The church has no say in marriage:Obviously, in the same-sex marriage debate, the church feels a strong need to have the civil law reflect the church’s teachings. [3]Implies they have no say now, but wan't some.R2: legalizing marriage would weaken the insitution“As conservatives tirelessly and rightly point out, marriage is society’s most fundamental institution. To bar any class of people from marrying as they choose is an extraordinary deprivation. When not so long ago it was illegal in parts of America for blacks to marry whites, no one could claim that this was a trivial disenfranchisement… To outweigh such a serious claim it is not enough to say that gay marriage might lead to bad things. Bad things happened as a result of legalizing contraception, but that did not make it the wrong thing to do. Besides, it seems doubtful that extending marriage to say, another 3 or 5 percent of the population would have anything like the effects that no-fault divorce has had, to say nothing of contraception. By now, the “traditional” understanding of marriage has been sullied in all kinds of ways. It is hard to think of a bigger affront to tradition for instance, than allowing married women to own property independently of their husbands or allowing them to charge their husbands with rape. Surely it is unfair to say that marriage may be reformed for the sake of anyone and everyone except homosexuals, who must respect the dictates of tradition.” [3]No. Allowing committed gay and lesbian couples to get married does not change the meaning of marriage. It simply allows same-sex couples to marry the person they love, to establish and protect a family, and to make a lifetime commitment in the same way other couples are able to. [4]Allowing it would do NOTHINGR3: family valuesExcluding same-sex couples from marriage harms children by denying them and their parents the support that would come to their families through the freedom to marry. Studies have proven that children of lesbian or gay parents are as well-adjusted as those of non-gay parents. [4]Also you say "traditional" marriage. The definiton changes over time. Polygamy used to be normal and 100 kids was ok, not it not. So technically your argument is fear of new things. Marriag estrengthens family:"Gay and lesbian couples want to get married to make a lifetime commitment to the person they love and to protect their families. Marriage says "we are family" in a way that no other word does. Marriage is one of the few times where people make a public promise of love and responsibility for each other and ask our friends and family to hold us accountable. Gay and lesbian couples have hopes and dreams like finding that special someone to grow old with and standing in front of friends and family to make a lifetime commitment." [5] SO it helps the family. R4: slippery slopeThe slippery slope fallacy occurs when someone claims that an apparently harmless action is likely to result in a chain reaction of events (the "slippery slope") leading up to a harmful consequence, when, in fact, the chain reaction of events is very unlikely to occur. [6]So:1. as stated slippery slope fallacies rarely occur2. places with gay marriage have NOT legslized what you have said. This argument works in theory, but in practice doesn't work.R5: Gay healthThose studies on the live longer/shorter and The other deiseses are possibly false [7]Also a reason for their lower life expectancy is because their bullied. Lets look at suicide:Gay, lesbian and bisexual teens are five times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual counterparts, but a supportive environment in their schools and communities can make a difference, new research suggests. [8]SO their enviroment, if you live in conservative areas you are more deppressed. So it is not their fault they die young. Suicide and deppression = enviroemntal problems.Also the study you site is flawed in ways. Obituaries in gay community newspapers do not provide a representative sampling of the community. This is evident in the fact that only only 2% of the Cameron group's obituaries were for lesbians. [9]There are just not enough gays to have an accurite study. Also since gay marriage (as proved above) helps gay health it woudl help let them live longer. A reason they die young is because they h no marriage, allowing them to marry = they are healthier and the live longer, so allowing it would make this argument irrelant. Now marriage makes them more healthy just more proof): Columbia University researchers surveyed the demand for medical and mental health care from 1,211 gay men registered with a particular health clinic in the 12 months prior to the legalization of same-sex marriage and the 12 months afterward. There was a 13% drop in clinic visits after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage. [10]That means it makes them more healthy.out of room.http://www.theocracywatch.org... [1]http://www.theocracywatch.org... [2]Jonathan Rauch, author of Demosclerosis : The Silent Killer of American Government May 1996. [“For Better or For Worse?” in Same-Sex Marriage: A Reader, Pro and Con ed. by Andrew Sullivan, Vintage Books, New York, 1997] [3]http://www.freedomtomarry.org... [4]http://articles.mcall.com... [5]http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu... [6]http://wthrockmorton.com... [7]http://www.livescience.com... [8]http://psychology.ucdavis.edu... [9]http://www.advocate.com... [10]