gay marraige (2 Viewers)

[cowsushi]

i found an old election bid flyer in a pile of magazines the other day belonging to the christian party outlining their policies for the upcoming election. Their policy on the opposition to gay marraige reminded me that this view was backed by both major parties, labor and liberal. It saddened me greatly that such archaic and narrowminded are still so abundantly prevelant in our society. How does gay marraige possibly affect anyone else, i can see absolutly no negative impact on the rest of society wotsoeva be it ethically, practically etc. I remember howard's speech when the bill was propsed earlier this year when he refuted the policy with a vague "it will erode the institution of marraige". i reckon if anyone feals their marraige instituition being affected by gay marraige it must be pretty damn tenious in the first place and probarly should reconsider their current marital status.

whereas we sit in modern history now and wonder how could anyone possibly support historic sociatal errors such as the white australia policy etc, hopefully sometime in the very near future students will sit in the same course wondering how on earth there was such strong opposition to gay marraige in the supposedly 'lucky country' of australia.....

any thoughts?

 

[Generator]

Old issue.

http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=48376


Edit: I'm not saying that there is no need to discuss the issue, it's just that there is no real need for another thread.

 

[Iron]

Another gay marriage thread - hip hip hooray.

 

[thejosiekiller]

hiphiphorray123 is gay?

 

[neo o]

didn't you know?

 

[lukebennett]

i think the main problem some people see with gay marriage is that it is believed to denigrate marriage which was sacred for both men and women. i think that if it is a problem the government shud just give it another name and not call it marriage. that way it might be less offensive to people who believe this

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Ok that must be like the fourth time I've seen you post that image

is there some sort of conspiracy going on

 

[MoonlightSonata]

im just a little ...um ...troppo round exam time...

why does the criminal law have to be such a mess...cant they just agreed!?

You're troppo? I am sick, with a philosophy essay due tomorrow, plus a meeting tomorrow with the head of the philosophy department over an appeal going back to last semester, plus contracts on thursday which I have yet to do my notes for

plus this site keeps distracting me with its idiosyncracies like that picture

so, if you please

 

[eviltama]

civil union...just call it that...actually gay people should be happy with that because the level of homophobia in society indicates that there is no way the christians are going to give up the word 'marriage' so the love a gay couple can be acknowledged...


be happy with civil union...at leatst u will have property rights and joint title and such...

So if the situation was the other way round it would be perfectly okay for heterosexuals to just 'be happy with civil union'? i don't think so. Christians don't own marriage, and 'gay people' shouldn't have to be happy with anything. We are all equal in our status as human beings, our love is not measured by our sexuality, nor should our legitimacy (relationship-wise or family-wise) be measured in such a way. Half-arsed or nothing isn't the way people should think when discussing their fellow humans, and/or issues relating to basic human rights.

 

[neo o]

So if the situation was the other way round it would be perfectly okay for heterosexuals to just 'be happy with civil union'? i don't think so. Christians don't own marriage, and 'gay people' shouldn't have to be happy with anything. We are all equal in our status as human beings, our love is not measured by our sexuality, nor should our legitimacy (relationship-wise or family-wise) be measured in such a way. Half-arsed or nothing isn't the way people should think when discussing their fellow humans, and/or issues relating to basic human rights.

Marriage isn't a basic human right. Go back to sleep.

 

[cowsushi]

Marriage isn't a basic human right. Go back to sleep.

no but whether ur allowed to partake in it or not says a bloody lot about how the rest of society views and values you...

 

[eviltama]

Marriage isn't a basic human right. Go back to sleep.

Go back and read the UDHR and the ICESCR. It is a basic human right.

 

[eviltama]

you have to face it...they do...and the reality is that we are not equal...christians own the word....

This is reality, and if people didn't fight the reality they lived in we wouldn't be here today. Organised religion can go jump as far as i'm concerned, religion is the domain of the individual not the state or any other. Christians relate to the word as much as anyone else and everyone else is free to attach any meaning to it they like.

 

[eviltama]

i don't see them 'wanting' to let go of it... ever. Especially considering their views on homosexuality. But in time change will happen and the choice will be taken out of their hands.

 

[Xayma]

and before this goes into the wellfare of the children again, like it somehow always does:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996670

Lesbian couples raise well-adjusted teenagers

17:25 15 November 04

NewScientist.com news service


Teenagers raised by lesbian mothers show no developmental differences compared to those brought up by heterosexual parents, according to the first large national study in the US.

Previous research has focused mainly on younger children and found no significant disparities in child welfare between same-sex and heterosexual families.

But few studies have been done on adolescents, who some researchers think may be more prone to - or conscious of - discrimination against their families. Others have speculated whether a teens' own sexuality is affected by that of their parents.

"There's been this debate about whether being raised by single-sex couples is good or bad for children," says Stephen Russell, a sociologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, US. "We would call into question suggestions that growing up with single-sex parents is somehow problematic."


12,000 interviews

Russell and colleagues Charlotte Patterson and Jennifer Wainright at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, US, came to this conclusion after sifting through interviews from 1995 with about 12,000 US teenagers and their families. The teens were part of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the largest and most comprehensive study of the age group in the US.

"This is the best available evidence to date about how adolescent children fare in families with single-sex parents," Russell told New Scientist.

The researchers found 44 teens being raised by two women in a "marriage-like" relationship. Only six teens reported living with two gay men, so male single-sex families were excluded from the study.

Each teen studied was matched with a counterpart from a heterosexual family, who shared the same sex, age, ethnicity, adoption status and family income, among other factors.


Same-sex attractions

The researchers found no differences between the two groups in terms of depression, anxiety, self-esteem and school grades. Exactly the same proportion of both groups also reported having had sex (34%).

But while a previous study suggested children of gay parents were more likely to consider homosexual relationships, this study was unable to provide such information because so few teens reported same-sex attractions and romances.

The single most important predictor of the teens' well being, the study showed, was their relationship with parents - regardless of family type. “What's really important is the quality of the relationship," Russell told New Scientist.

As a result, the authors write that their findings "provide no justification for limitations on child custody or visitation by lesbian mothers" and "do not support the idea that lesbian and gay adults are less likely than others to provide good adoptive or foster homes".

Russell says future studies could see how the same group of teens fared in young adulthood.

Journal reference: Child Development (vol 75, p 1886)


Maggie McKee

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