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Author Topic:   Harm in Homosexuality?
Silent H
Member (Idle past 5848 days)
Posts: 7405
From: satellite of love
Joined: 12-11-2002


Message 293 of 309 (163024)
11-24-2004 6:53 PM
Reply to: Message 292 by happy_atheist
11-24-2004 3:32 PM


The only reason I would ever want to get married is for the legal rights and legal securites it grants.
I guess I should have put quotes on married. I was trying to suggest the segment of gay activists that are not concerned with the rights but actually having the name "marriage" (rather than accepting civil union) and, still more bizarre to me, have it accepted among the religious.
That brings along the other reason why non-christians may want to get married. Humans are a sentimental lot and we seem to like ceremony
Actually this supports exactly what I am talking about. People throw away religious texts and then hang on to the bsb's started by them. Having a marriage ceremony is not ingrained in the human condition, and the way it is conducted (fantasized about/expected) in western culture is pretty much thanks to Judeo-Xian influences.

holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

This message is a reply to:
 Message 292 by happy_atheist, posted 11-24-2004 3:32 PM happy_atheist has not replied

Silent H
Member (Idle past 5848 days)
Posts: 7405
From: satellite of love
Joined: 12-11-2002


Message 297 of 309 (163140)
11-25-2004 5:39 AM
Reply to: Message 294 by berberry
11-24-2004 8:01 PM


Yes it is. What are we supposed to do, open another thread? We've been told in no uncertain terms NOT to do that!
Let's be honest berberry. Take a look at the OP. This thread has nothing to do with gay rights, or the legal aspects surrounding such issues.
Yes we are supposed to open another thread. That's what we were told to do when pedophilia was mentioned in context with how one determines what a sexual "wrong" is.
And in any case, let's say we were allowed free reign, my reference was only to those writing about the subject in the OP. I wasn't trying to criticize you for going off topic, just stating that that post of yours was not something I was referring to. Remember I agreed with the statement in your post.
How so? Do you think that straights would be less promiscuous than gays if they didn't have the force of law to maintain their relationships?
Yes I do, but for cultural reasons surrounding views of women and sex and not because of something inate to heterosexuals.
The concept of monogamy as natural and good, and monogamy as a constraint in marriage, is something stemming from Judeo-Xian value system.
Indeed if you feel monogamy is natural to humans (as many seem to here) then you have totally bought into a bsb of the Xian faith.
I think the reason homosexuals are more promiscuous is that in general most have figured out that pleasure is not bad, sexual pleasure is not bad, and sexual pleasure with more than one partner is not bad. And they don't have the additional constraints regarding women... that they don't really like sex and a long courting process must be involved.
In other cultures where marriage does not mean sexual monogamy (present and history) there is plenty of promiscuity in heteros. It'll be a while before Western, particularly US culture figures out they don't need the baggage of a religion they profess not to believe in.
If they choose to close their minds and believe things simply because of something written in a book from thousands of years ago, they should be prepared to suffer a little bashing.
Have you read the OP? He is asking Xians to explain something. If a thread is started asking Xians to come and explain something about their Xian belief, it is absurd to come in and knock them for stating those explanations.
Essentially that is starting a thread to bring Xians in just to bash them.
All I'm hearing is THAT god forbids homosexuality; I still haven't heard the first logical reason why. Wanna give it a try?
I take it you haven't read any of my posts on the subject?
Instead of just bashing them, for holding a position I don't happen to agree with. I helped discuss their underlying position and the logically credible position it has provided one believes in a God, that it is their God, that the Bible is a book which relates his laws, and in that Bible it does say that homosexuality is wrong.
Given those conditions, God forbidding homosexuality is all a Xian needs to say that it is wrong. And one does not need to prove harm in order to say it is wrong. The harm comes merely from doing wrong.
God may know something we don't, or it may affect God in some way that he simply does not like it (like a bad taste) and if you want to play for him you must abstain (just like all the other proscriptions). He may also realize it will cause some short term harm but be a utilitarian and see that more benefits will come from social cohesion and obedience with the laws, such that benefits outweigh the negatives.
That is all a Xian logically has to appeal to.
To people outside the faith it will look backward. But saying it looks backward does not address the question of the OP, it defies it.

holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

This message is a reply to:
 Message 294 by berberry, posted 11-24-2004 8:01 PM berberry has not replied

Silent H
Member (Idle past 5848 days)
Posts: 7405
From: satellite of love
Joined: 12-11-2002


Message 298 of 309 (163157)
11-25-2004 8:26 AM


rrhaining it in
"Separate but equal." It doesn't work.
Repeat your mantra as much as you like.
Laws reflect society. While there is a long history of marriage being a monetary contract, that isn't why most people get married in this country.
Heheheh... this is very true, but does nothing except support my position. You as a gay person are free to get married anytime you choose, as long as you find and/or invent a religious body to accept gay marriage. The problem only enters the picture once we get to the legal contract to bind rights and responsibilities to the union. The long historical legal definition of marriage (stemming from the traditional religious/legal concept of marriage) is mixed sex.
Thus people who are hung up on semantics and "saving tradition", as much as we may both roll our eyes at such things, have a valid point.
Do gay people love each other the way straight people do? What is different about the relationship between people that is dependent upon the sex of the participants.
This has nothing to do with a legal contract. You are simply trying to make it look like a person who questions your position must hold there is a difference based on those criteria. This is not true.
If it matters to you I think gays can love just as much as straights and there is no difference in their relationship.
By calling it something else, you necessarily define it as distinct and different. Separate can never be equal.
Yawn. Have you ever started a business? Do you cry when there are different types with different names and different forms (or boxes to check) for each, when the rights given are the same?
I realize it makes no logical sense to have them. It is semantics. But it's out there already. You can have different names and tied effects by law. It all depends on creating the right law.
Do I need to construct a quote file for you, too? And how very nice of you not to link to the post to which you were responding which makes it difficult to trace the thread back in order to find your original words.
Actually I rarely link back to specific posts. Even then I often just do the page and not the specific post. It's laziness, not a malevolent machination.
But lets begin the quote mining operation...
Message 199
Fifth, if you wish to use this as a reason that rights should be given, then why are you not fully behind polygamy, incestuous, and pedophilic marriages.
Message 119
It hurts because pretty much worldwide, in just about every religious tradition, there is no such thing as gay marriage.
So that's twice you invoked religious history in order to justify a denial of same-sex marriage. I wasn't the one who brought it up, holmes. That was you.
You are just not that bright. Neither of those "justify" denial of same-sex marriage, at least not from my position.
What I was doing was pointing out that in fact the historical definition/context of marriage is mixed sex union. Those that wish to hang their justification of protecting a traditional definition in law and culture on that fact, have a hook. We may all disagree that such a thing is silly in these days, or pointless for other reasons, but it is true that the definition of marriage is between a man and a woman and not just any two people.
Indeed the first quote you put up there says if YOU wish to use X as a reason for justifying why laws should change to accommodate other definitions of marriage. I did not say it was mine.
Right. Then you can give me an example where it happened. Show me where a legal contract was called two different things and were always treated identically.
I believe I have already done this for you in specific in another thread. But maybe it was that I offered this and then you disappeared. In any case, go start a business and discover the magic world of different names and different forms for different business "types". They get the same treatment, but the definitions (usually based on structures) result in different titles and sometimes forms. Yawn. How many times do I have to tell you this before you remember?
Now for you. Tell me why a law providing that other than difference in name and requirement for nature of partners all legal references to marriage and civil unions will be treated as synonymous is impossible?
A limited liability corporation is not the same as an incorporated entity and neither are the same as a partnership nor a sole proprietorship. They have different rules and responsibilities. That's why they have different names. They're not the same thing. If they were the same thing, they'd have the same name. This is basic law, holmes.
Snicker snicker... right. Uh-huh. There are differences between LLCs, Incs, and nonIncs. However you can have a range of businesses within them. Again, differing based on name and sometimes forms used. There are different laws to address the differences in structure, but how they do business under the license given to them are the same. Remember I explained this in an earlier thread regarding polygamy.
But given that we are dealing with something complex (esp as they differ state to state), the thread is closing soon, we're not on topic, and its just regarding an example... I'd rather switch than fight.
Let us assume for sake of argument that there are absolutely no cases where a contract with different titles and prereqs are given equal rights. Even given that, explain what legal obstacle there is such that it is impossible for a civil union to be created such that all references to marriage or CU in past and future law will pertain to all? That is why can they not be made synonymous by law, with the exception of name and prereq?
But that isn't the way the law works. By definition, if you call it something different, then you are explicitly declaring that they are different. Why else would you have a separate term for something that is identical?
Your incredulity does not make something impossible. Give a reason it could not hold up under law.
Prove it. I want to see the message where I said it. We had no such discussion.
I don't know if I can prove it as I don't think the thread is around anymore. Is there a place for archived threads? In any case we certainly did, and you derided the polygamists for flouting state law to issue themselves licenses. Maybe you can't remember because you had some psychological block once the SF crowd did the exact same thing and I stuck it to you. You disappeared quick enough.
As I pointed out to you, and you so glibly ignored, the reason why the various legal challenges to the marriage laws were carried out in the states that they were was specifically because those states did not explicitly state that marriage was between a man and a woman.
Yawn. I have already said that any state that did not have a mixed sex definition as part of their marriage laws, gays had every right to get married. We both know this was not the main case with regard to marriage law, and it certainly does not suggest that traditional definitions of marriage were in any way same sex. Oversight in writing laws based on common understandings is not a sign of anything.
Not just brevity but plain not saying what you mean.
Whatta paranoiac. No, it was brevity. I repeat that it was not set law and not wholesale, when such laws were not national, or even a majority of the states. Yeah it was "set" and "wholesale" for the states that had them, but I was discussing the nation as a whole. It was not set and it was not wholesale across the nation. The concept of marriage as between a man and a women was.
Yes, it does. At the time that Loving v. Virginia was decided, 70% of the country thought that it should be illegal for mixed-race couples to marry. Even when Kentucky finally took its miscegenation law off the books in 2000, 40% of the population voted to keep it.
Uhhhh, well I can't speak for opinion polling back then, but I can point out that if 60+% of the nation does not have such laws, it is not the set law of the land. And I should point out that not wanting something to happen is separate from not believing it is part of the definition of something. I would guess that all of them agreed that it was a man and a woman and so it was possible to be married, even if the result is something they did not want happening.
Because "separate but equal" is unconstitutional and legally impossible.
Snooze. Mantras =/= reality. You have shown no reason that a law could not be created making marriage and CU's synonymous to law outside name and prereq.
Try making your argument when the cop pulls you over in your car and you show him your driver's license that is only rated M2. It's a driver's license, but it does not give you the right to drive a car. It only gives you the right to drive a moped. That's why they call it "M2" rather than "C."
Right, a license will let you drive one thing, or another. This could be things rated for the highway or not. Thus a license may be for separate types of vehicles, but as long as all vehicles are rated for the highway, then you have no problem on the highway.
You are stretching an analogy way out of proportion. Analogies do not have to be one to one, they only have to be correct for what they are covering.
You and I both know there are different licenses for vehicles which are given the same rights, only different requirements.
And even if there were not, we can assume this for sake of argument, there is nothing prohibiting this from occuring.
No, you can't. You can't drive a car in the carpool lane with only one occupant. You can't drive a truck outside of the designated truck lanes. You can't take a moped onto the freeway.
The fact that you think this is appropriate is laughable. All of these are not restrictions on licenses, but on vehicles. The restrictions on vehicles are based on transportation issues. You are just nitpicking on details superfluous to the analogy.
Oh, but I forget...us "reality-based" folk are out of favor these days. Wishing makes it so.
Oh my feet are on the ground. Reality means I can deal with a hypothetical as a hypothetical and not refuse to answer in order to continue a pretense.
It's a constitutionally mandated statement and a direct outcome of the method of jurisprudence we have. The law is dependent upon words. If you are using a different word, then you are directly stating that there is a difference between them. If there is no difference, then you would use the same word.
Words: Marriages and Civil Unions will be treated as synonymous under law, with the exception of name and prerequisite of gender.
We can make it tighter if we want to.
But there is no definitional distinction between the two, so why are you using a different term?
I thought we were reality based. Oh that's right we can deny portions of reality when presented and therefore create the illusion of another reality. Like how you dismissed answering all my questions regarding the implications of the Boswell issue.
But that means it is dependent upon the good will of those in the majority to make sure that it gets repealed rather than upon the strict requirement of equality laid out in the constitution.
No, not repealed. It would require the will of the majority to get the right law enacted in the first place. I meant fight against a bad law enacted, before one would have to fight for a repeal.
And I find this sort of silly since it will equally depend on the good will of the majority to get gay marriage enacted as well.
Get with the program.
quote: As an offshoot of this there is the logical suggestion that even in adults toward adults, there is an increased preying by homosexuals on others.
Incorrect. It's the other way around.
Oh ha ha hahahahahahahhahahaha. I cannot believe you just said that. Are you seriously suggesting that the homosexual men getting preyed upon sexually by other men are in fact being sexually molested (even as adults) by straight men?
quote:
It did not show this and instead showed a strong correlation between homosexuality and mental/physical harm.
However, you have the arrow backwards.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Oh man you are so lame. So you are claiming that homosexuals are produced from mental/physical harm?
Perhaps what you meant to say is that an arrow comes from somewhere else to connect the two? Like say it is society's beating down on gays for being gay that leads toward greater depression etc etc?
Yeah, that could be (and I would be one to agree), though that does not immediately address the apparent increased predatory sexual activity of gays (even on adults). And if this does hold true for gays just being gay, it certainly rings true for the effects of societal pressures on youths regarding sex in general.
Then why do the psychologists and psychiatrists who examine and treat pedophiles make it? Why do the pedophiles, themselves, make this claim?
To answer the first question, not all do say this and even if they did it would be much the same as when they were all on line about the nature of homosexuals. There are cultural expectations which prevent many from accurately approaching the issue.
Your second question was answered, but as usual you slice and dice every post. Here it goes...
Some do. The vast majority do not. The fixation is upon children, not gender. Children are chosen precisely because they are androgynous.
Children are androgynous in the torso and to some extent the face. With the exception of the extreme few children who grow into another gender, their genitalia leave them pretty well defined sexually. There is no mistaking a penis for a vagina or vice versa.
Pedophiles are of any sexual orientation, but do not discriminate based on age. Thus gay-male and straight-female pedophiles seek boys, straight-male and gay-female pedophiles seek girls, and bisexual male and female pedophiles seek either.
It is not surprising to me that most pedophiles would be bisexual in nature, and indeed maybe that is why they would enjoy some aspects of childlike androgyny. I would also tend to believe that some (maybe many) that have sex with the same gender child may do this, yet act "straight" with regard to adults, because of pressures to not accept their underlying sexual orientation. In this way the facial androgyny would help them say to themselves I am not gay, while quite obviously they are seeking the same gender.
Rapists, which are different from strict pedophiles in that it is all about power, are likely to choose any gender as it is not an overtly sexual issue.
I don't know about you but I can tell a girl from a boy when young, indeed it was how I first recognized my own sexual preference (or outstanding preference) when I myself was very young. This is also the claim of many homosexuals about their youth.
The wish of people to define pedophilia as another orientation and "children" as if a separate sex, is wishful thinking and a cultural artifact that will one day drop away like it did with homosexuality.
"Assault"? When did we go from a loving, mutually supportive relationship to assault? You're trying to turn the arrow backwards.
Men and women engage on sexual assaults on each other. They also do so toward the same sex. Assaults are not the same thing as a mutual loving relationship. However they often go hand in hand with a person's basic orientation.
For a guy that continually harangues anti-gay people with the notion that people who do so are often hiding that they are gay, it is odd for you to attack me when I say essentially the same thing.
Denial by someone of a sexual orientation, does not make it so.
No, I'm not going to have sex with you, holmes.
Uhhhhh, you ripped into DD not me. My insinuation attached to your treatment of someone else. Maybe this slip means you want to have sex with me.
Brrrrrrr... as much as I enjoy sex with guys every once in a while, I can tell you that you are not my type (if that is indeed your face). Not to say you are unattractive in general, indeed I'm sure you may seem quite handsome to others. But to me? Blech.
Now that we have the ad hominem commentary out of the way, can we get back to the issue at hand?
Pot calls kettle black. You are never in a position to criticize others for ad hominem commentary.

holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

Silent H
Member (Idle past 5848 days)
Posts: 7405
From: satellite of love
Joined: 12-11-2002


Message 302 of 309 (163247)
11-25-2004 7:00 PM
Reply to: Message 299 by Ben!
11-25-2004 5:08 PM


Re: rrhain drops...
it seemed to me that holmes was arguing something along the lines of 'it goes against the meaning / purpose of marriage.
Well I wasn't really arguing for a position against gay marriage.
What I was pointing out is what you have just pointed out, there are two concepts of marriage: joining two people in love, and joining two people together for purpose of legal concerns (children and property).
The latter one is hoped to include the love element, but that is not the overriding reason for its existence.
The latter is the traditional basis for the definition of marriage, specifically with regard to the cultures that formed US cultural and legal traditions.
While people like Rrhain, and myself included, will argue that marriage can also include the first concept, I recognize that people are not "wrong" in saying the second concept is the traditional basis for marriage. We are asking for a change.
I understand and completely agree with your arguments with '"Separate but equal" doesn't work.'
Perhaps you can explain this to me then, since Rrhain refuses to answer. What is the reason that marriages and civil unions cannot be made synonymous under law? All it would take is a piece of legislation (perhaps inside the one creating CUs) saying that they are synonymous under law and legislation effecting one effects the other equally.

holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

This message is a reply to:
 Message 299 by Ben!, posted 11-25-2004 5:08 PM Ben! has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 303 by NosyNed, posted 11-25-2004 7:36 PM Silent H has replied
 Message 307 by Ben!, posted 11-26-2004 10:07 AM Silent H has not replied

Silent H
Member (Idle past 5848 days)
Posts: 7405
From: satellite of love
Joined: 12-11-2002


Message 305 of 309 (163278)
11-26-2004 5:11 AM
Reply to: Message 303 by NosyNed
11-25-2004 7:36 PM


Re: Synonymous
Up to now I thought I understood and agreed with your position Holmes. Suddenly it has gotten a bit more complex than I think is needed.
Actually you do understand my position on how best to approach the whole thing legally. The problem is there are many different viewpoints on how to solve the issue.
Remove all references to marriage in the secular legal realm. Change all such usages to "civil union". Allow for same sex civil unions. Let the churchs perform, define and authorize "marriages" utterly separately from any reference to legal matters.
Okay so yes, that is what I think is the best solution for the problem. It has been put forward by others as well such as Berberry.
HOWEVER... there are some other options. I do not think they are the best, but they are possible compromises. The point to remember is that a compromise is by nature not going to be the best. Yet compromise is often necessary in a democracy...
1) Continue using marriage and change defs so that they include other (including newer) concepts of marriage.
2) Continue using marriage and create a new category for unions that do not fit within the original definition. We can call them civil unions or registered partnerships. They can be made synonymous under law by creating a legal statement that beyond name and prereq for using the name, they are considered equal and that all legislation/regulation referring to one will refer to the other.
If I wanted my rights asap, and one of those compromises stood between me getting them or not, I would take them.
Why risk there being any chance of the two things (marriage and union) being able to diverge in anyway. (There will be pressure to have that happen I'm sure.)
Well here's the deal... right now there is nothing. And despite all the name calling there really are sincere people that have a semantic hangup about marriage, yet would be fine with gays in equal entities called unions. I think it is silly. I am of the position that you outlined. But in this state of affairs a compromise may accomplish what is necessary faster and with less social instability than what I prefer.
It is true that there is the possibility that CUs are created in such a way as to leave a room for them being treated separately. Yet that is only a possibility while it is being drafted.
If you see that such a CU proposition is what is reaching the floor for a vote then it is no different than today where other pieces of bad legislation are coming to the floor. I don't think gays should accept it. They should fight it, and vote against it. If it passes then the fight is not over, as there was no compromise.
Just because it is called a CU does not mean that is the type of CU I am talking about.
I am certainly never going to suggest gays compromise on equality of rights, but use of a name or form, if that is all we are down to, is not inequality.
So if one of the compromises above were put before the legislature, and nothing less, then I would think gays should feel good enough and accept it. If it passes, I have yet to see anyone give a credible reason it would not work... and it is infinitely better than the situation now.
Indeed if they got the 2nd compromise passed, and the language is clear CUs are synonymous with marriages, and then someone tries to create new laws to split them again, the motion would be apparent, a call to action, and if not voted down, then appealed later.
I think it is an illusion for people to think that can happen for CUs, but not happen if gays are just allowed to marry. That latter is just as tenuous as having CUs, since laws may be changed (even the Constitution can) if there is enough support for it.
It seems to me a lot of gay activists are expecting gay marriage to finally settle social stigmas against gays and end the ability of people that don't want gays to be married from doing anything about it. History has shown this is not so.
I hope this explains my position better. I don't mean to be selling these compromises, or saying people that don't want gays to be married are "right". I am only trying to point out where they are factually correct in some instances, might actually be sincere in their position, and where a compromise (if necessary) can be the best option.
Maybe I play too good a Gods' advocate?

holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

This message is a reply to:
 Message 303 by NosyNed, posted 11-25-2004 7:36 PM NosyNed has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 306 by happy_atheist, posted 11-26-2004 8:46 AM Silent H has not replied

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