Is finally coming to grips with homosexual unions something that we are inevitably geared for, even in the face of rigid opposition based on beliefs that stem from moral codes that fit a narrow frame of reference about our humanity?

“A mother and father. There's nothing better for a child!” proclaims a banner at a rally to protest same sex marriage in France last year

“A mother and father. There’s nothing better for a child!” proclaims a banner at a rally to protest same-sex marriage in France last year

A massive march in France occurred this last Sunday to protest new President Francois Hollande’s proposal to legalize same-sex marriage as people of several faiths and diverse cultures, including some homosexuals, crowded the streets of Paris declaring that this was not an anti-gay march but one that claimed to be “pro-marriage”

Virginie Merle, an eccentric comedian known as Frigide Barjot, who is leading the so-called “Demo for All,” insists the protest is pro-marriage rather than anti-gay and has banned all but its approved banners saying a child needs a father and a mother to develop properly.

“We’re all born of a man and a woman, but the law will say the opposite tomorrow,” she said last week. “It will say a child is born of a man and a man.”

Avoiding religious arguments that could put off the secular French, they struck a chord with voters by stressing problems they saw emerging from same-sex marriage rather than letting the government shape the debate as an issue of equal rights only.    SOURCE 

As a heterosexual who firmly supports male-female relationships I am also a strong civil libertarian and I am not fully convinced by the arguments that the anti-gay voices give to their opposition of same-sex marriage.  Yes, calling this  a “pro-marriage” protest doesn’t eliminate the obvious fact that there are anti-gay sentiments with those who use such semantics.

Postulating that giving legitimacy to same-sex marriage will somehow turn nature on its head is both ludicrous and ignorant.  How else will children of gay couples interpret their existence?   Using virgin births as an  explanation won’t work for male same-sex couples and springing from the head of either partner like Athena was from Zeus just isn’t very plausible either.

anglican-marriage

But hyperbole is all you’ve got when you’re trying to conceal that this isn’t a protest against something that originates in the religious values you were raised in?  We all have been assured that God created Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve.  Yet the origins of this dogma comes from some of the same sources that have deprecated women for centuries and devalued other cultures because they don’t share certain religious views.

There has indeed been a lot of studies that validate that children raised in stable two-parent families with a father and a mother adapt much easier to the culture they’re raised in.  The male figure role model exacts discipline and leadership while the female role model nurtures the child’s need for affection.  Both of course can provide elements of the other but their strengths lie is specific behavior patterns formed over time.

The key word here however is “stable” and without love and fair-mindedness a child raised without any of these traits will suffer, not benefit.  By citing certain problems that can arise if a child is raised by a same-sex couple ignores the reality that there are problems that can also arise and often do with heterosexual couples.  Presuming that the mere presence of opposite genders in a marriage is more likely to ensure a well-adjusted child is foolish.

gay_marriage

A child reacts and thus develops to his social environment and if problems arise because a culture is antagonistic toward gays, is that problem the result of a biological certainty or an environmental factor that was manufactured out of set prejudices?  One is innate the other is learned.  One is fixed at birth the other is conditioned by codes and mores that change overtime as social structures transition and adapt.


I don’t disparage the values people were raised with.  It is important that certain standards be established to give us a feeling of coherence in an often chaotic world.  But these standards are malleable.  Insisting that they are unalterable truths is a denunciation of mankind’s ability to grow and adapt to changing circumstances.

There will always be those who will only leave their past screaming and clawing and social change that occurs too fast will create more problems than it solves.  Not all change is good but not changing at all is something our species is not conditioned to.  We need to find the right balance for necessary change because rigidly staying put will likely ensure our slow demise.

species change

About these ads

Posted by in Society and Politics Tags: , , , , , , ,