But I wanna wear the dress!!! (Gay Marriage)

Member Name: michaird

Product:	Gay Marriage
Date:	15/05/02 (495 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Divorce rate might drop, Less children growing up in care

Disadvantages: Dunno

Should gay couples be allowed to marry? Its an emotive question, a lot of people have an opinion on it whether they know any gay couple or have even met a gay person or not. It?s one of those things where you don?t actually need to know anything to have an opinion it seems.

I personally don?t wish to marry. I believe that in modern society unless you are a religious person marriage is unnecessary, I do not need ceremony to cement my relationship, the way I see it now-days buying a house is more of a commitment than getting married. This could be due to the fact that my Grandparents were divorced and my mum never married.

However, a lot of people dream of their wedding day, religious or not. It?s the one thing they look forward to, it the aim of a relationship and the ultimate display of love and commitment. Why should gay couples be any different? The image of homosexuality being promiscuous, and dirty is largely a myth, all of the gay people I have met have been in stable, loving relationships, some for many years.

What they do is not my business, if they wish to seal their union and be recognised as married then they should be, will all of the legal and social benefits and responsibilities that come with it. If the divorce rate turns out to be high, again this is none of my business divorce rates for heterosexual couples are high, tough tit.

Gay people should have the same legal rights as everyone else in the country. Marriage would extend the rights of the partners to inheritance, next of kin and rights of housing succession (in council properties) and for a couple that has been together many years I think these rights are well deserved. It is not our place to decide what is right and wrong. It doesn?t impact on your life and it doesn?t impact on mine, so why is there such a problem.

On the other hand, I think the right for a gay couple to marry in church is another issue altogether. I am not a religious person. I do
not come from a religious family.
At present if you wish to marry in church the vicar, or priest, at your chosen venue has to agree. They may insist you attend church for a while, they may refuse you if you are divorced, the Catholic Church may insist that you convert if one of you is not catholic.
The church, for the most part, is fundamentally opposed to homosexuality and I don?t think it should be forced to go against these principals. I would not go to the house of a vegetarian and expect them to serve me rump steak if you know what I mean.
Unless church were given total freedom of choice over weather they decide to allow gay marriages any marriage performed would be tainted with hypocrisy, on the part of the church, and I think there?s more than enough of that.
Considering this, if it were made legal for gay couples to marry then a sympathetic church may allow homosexual members of their congregation to marry without doing anything wrong or illegal

Given the continual change in attitude towards sexuality I don?t think gay marriage will be illegal for much longer, if the government do not take the initiative someone will make a human rights case out of this in the European court I?m sure. Good luck to them I say.

As for the rights of gay couples to adopt children, I?m all for it. People who apply to adopt children are rigorously vetted and the stability of their homes and their relationship is assessed.
If we apply the same principles to selecting gay couples to be adoptive parents then there should be no real problem. Given the difficulty a gay couple would undoubtedly go though even if they were allowed to adopt it is likely more of them would be willing to take older children, for which there is a drastic shortage of people who want them. There are many children in the state care system who need the love of a family, when you are a child it really doesn?t matter where that love comes from.

So what if the chil
d has a two mums or two dads, there are many children in this country who aren?t even lucky enough to have that many parents.

As for the argument that a gay environment may encourage a child to grow up gay, I would say that was ridiculous. If the sexuality of your parents had any bearing on how you grow up, there wouldn?t be any gay people would there. I?m pretty sure that the adoptive parents aren?t going to get down to any wild sexual orgies in front of the child either, just like any other parent.

I?ve heard arguments that gay couple only want to adopt children for, lets say, unspeakable reasons (they were more graphic than this, but I?m refraining) firstly I?ll say if you think this your SICK! And secondly that?s an unfortunate risk you take with any couple not just a gay couple.

Many people also think that it is not fair on the child placing it with a family which may bring a stigma upon them from there peers at school or in the future. But living through emotional turmoil and social stigma is something many gay people are very familiar with and will be well placed to guide their child through. With the right support and parenting the child should be able to grow up confident in themselves and able to rise above any stigma that may be attached to their upbringing. This may not always be the case, but things are never perfect.

I believe a gay couple is more than capable of providing a loving, stable home for a child, far better than being raised by the state I think.

Well, that my piece. You may not agree with me but frankly, I don?t care :O)

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