"THE LIBERAL CASE AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE": Nick Kiddle replies to Susan Shell

[...in a long series that starts here. I'm just quoting from the first segment. --Eve]

...The liberal case against gay marriage opens with descriptions of the two main factions in the debate over same-sex marriage. The first, according to Ms Shell, is largely a traditional Christian one, promoting an ideal of the monogamous heterosexual familial relationship; the second a "liberationist" one, seeking freedom from all rules in order to pursue happiness.

I find this division unhelpful because of what it excludes. Although it's true that both factions have a voice in the debate, there's a third faction, ignored by this model, that is at least as vocal as either of the first two: those who believe that marriage is and should be the cornerstone of family and society and go on to reason that it shouldn't be denied to committed same-sex couples, especially those raising children together. We--I count myself among this faction--consider the marriage of a same-sex couple on the same terms as the marriage of an opposite-sex couple: a public declaration of the bond between them to strengthen that relationship in the eyes of society and the law.

The debate can better be considered in terms of a conflict between those who believe that biological sex determines or should determine a person's role in life and those who reject that contention. Opposition to same-sex marriage frequently includes an overt or implied appeal to the importance of traditional gender roles: that children need mothers and fathers, for example, or that sterile heterosexual couples are promoting the ideal of sexual complementarity.

This classification, much more than Ms Shell's model, includes most of the main voices in the debate. Someone who believes gender roles should be fixed is unlikely to see SSM as anything more than a politically correct word trick; someone who subscribes to the traditional Christian ideal of the family may well concede that a gay couple should have their family recognised.

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posted by Eve at 7:17 PM | link

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