Marriage is not an appropriate title for same sex unions

Posted by: donallan on: 19 August 2011

In: Education | Religion | Social Issues
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I invite serious comment on this blog

Without knowing anything about me some people call me homophobic because I oppose same sex marriage. As a believer in free speech they can call me what they like though more years ago than I care to remember, I gave up the childish game of name-calling.

That said let me add a few more details to those who still play this childish game: I am blind to people’s colour, ethnicity, and sexual make up. So as the name callers now have this information I invite them to create a new name for me.

But one last piece of information: before they start creating a new name, let em advise them that I am agnostic and my opposition to same sex marriage is based on historical evidence that, even in pre Judeo Christian societies, marriages were seen as special contracts between heterosexual males and females, that age and circumstance permitting, could create children. Because of their importance, society called them marriage contracts, a title still observed, even in the world’s least sophisticated societies. And so children are born.

However, children’ s real genetic make up is often is not determined until later when different genders arise with sexual needs that can only be met by others of the same gender. The result: humanity becomes a complicated mix of heterosexuals – male and female- homosexuals, lesbians and people of other gender. This mixture of genders often causes complications in society for the individuals concerned and their families.

One such complication is that some, but not all, homosexuals, lesbians and people of other genders, claim they are being denied their human rights because Australian law says people of the same sex cannot marry.

I can only say I have never thought of “Marriage” as a human right although it has become a “rite.” Marriage for me has always been a contract that millenniums ago, came to be recognised as the title created by society for heterosexuals joined in unions that would be responsible for human regeneration.

Speaking as an individual, I believe all human beings are equal, but different – and not just sexually. But believing all people are equal canot hide either the differences or the scientific fact that no laws can ever make non – heterosexuals genetically the same as heterosexuals. By the same token, it was society that created the title marriage, not a God of religion.

Sadly at times, the difference between the different groups leads to discrimination that must be eradicated for the benefit of society To do this I believe that education programmes that help teach people to be blind to the colour, ethnicity and sexual make up, should start as early in childhood as possible.

And also as a means of reducing discrimination, same sex couples wishing to contract with each other should rejoice and celebrate their difference with heterosexuals, rather than both groups engage in hostilities that are anything but a tribute to humanity. And a word to heterosexual couples: not only would they do well to remind themselves that it isn’t a crime not to be able to be a father or mother but remember also that often heterosexual couples are discriminated against if they don’t bear children.

But if only to show my own human frailty I get irritated hearing two women in a relationship speaking of pregnancy as if it was a right and that it had occurred without male assistance. And I am irritated further when their demeanour suggests the expected child has been conceived only as a case of keeping up with the Jones’s or a show maternal capacity. This, for me, further serves to illustrate why Marriage is not a title that should be conferred on same-sex couples.

Nor is the previous paragraph an example of my misogyny (indeed I am a philogynist) it is but the means of re-inforcing why the push for marriage between two people of the same sex should be resisted.

And the same applies to men because two men in a homosexual relationship cannot conceive a child. In their case too, it illustrates why the relationship doesn’t deserve the title marriage.