bshoc, you don't know how to debate do you?
You make a point, such as your facetious one about homosexuals being paedophiles, and then you ignore all rebuttals in favour of "60% of society agrees with me"
You lose.
You make slurs and suggest that the gay population of Australia all frequent Oxford street and go to the marti gras...without of course any backing for this claim since it is in essence just another "eww gays are yucky and they have a parade that is also yucky" kind of statement.
dagwoman said:
It doesn't matter about personal experiences of marriage. The fact is that there are no requirements for marriage such as intentions to reproduce, other than that the two people must be of opposite sex. I think that should change, and that gay people should permitted to marry, for the same reason straight people are- whatever reason they want.
bshoc said:
Oh please
Marriage is a naturally occurring pre-political institution that the state only recognizes as it recognizes other natural institutions such as jobs and families. "Government does not create marriage any more than government creates jobs." All same-sex marriage does is that it advocates changes the social importance of marriage from its natural function of higher hetrosexual union and reproduction into a mere legality or freedom to have sex.
You're not going to change thousands of years of human history and relationship with a piece of paper, not that most people will ever give you that piece of paper either. Get over it.
And yes there is no such thing as a gay family, its just a freakshow, alot like gays and the places they inhabit (ie. oxford st., mardi gras) show me one historic instance of a functional "gay family,"
What you did just then, is not actually address what dagwomen was saying.
The fact is that there are no requirements for marriage such as intentions to reproduce, other than that the two people must be of opposite sex.
The fact that legislation has been passed defining marriage as between a man and a woman (where previously it had just been assumed) should show you why the government is relevant in this argument.
Instead of actually addressing the point: that all your arguments about not letting a couple that cannot reproduce marry are spurious because that is not the legal definition of marriage anyway,
you chose to pretend dagwoman was trying to rewrite history.
"show me one historic instance of a functional "gay family,"
Show me one functional mixed race family before mixed race marriages became acceptable.
Numerous people have given example of African tribes etc that have had same sex marriages, its even been known to happen amongst native americans. Of course for some reason these don't qualify as marriages to you, probably because they aren't white.
One more thing. If you are going to quote directly from Wikipedia you really should make sure you put that somewhere in your post, rather than giving the impression that you are posting your own views.