Quote:
Originally Posted by usgrant7
Marriage is to be between a man and a woman. Period. End of story. Setting all the Bible verses I could quote, aside, the biggest reason for not accepting gay marriage is because it lends itself to a slippery slope, towards permissivism.. Marriage works, it is good, and it does all of us the most good when it works well. Lets leave it at that.
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The problem with the slippery slope argument in this case is that it can equally well be used to justify drawing the line anywhere you want.
If we allow interracial marriage, what's next?!?
If we allow rich people to marry poor people, what's next?!?
If we allow old people to marry young people, what's next?!?
If we allow women to work and vote and get an education, what's next?!?
*Any* change in the current standard can be attacked as a slide toward "permissivism."
Not only is there zero reason to think that allowing gays to marry will suddenly make people receptive to bestiality, pedophilia or polygamy; but even if that were a legitimate concern, it doesn't make up for the harm of discriminating against consenting adults in something as basic as who they want to commit their lives to.
I actually support the idea of "civil unions for everyone, marriage for those who want it and can get a church to bless it" -- with the legal and economic benefits attached to civil unions, not marriage. That gets the state out of the marriage business.
But if push comes to shove, there's no objective policy reason to prevent gays from being allowed to marry other than "I think gays are icky."