Persuasive, Secular Arguments For the Banning of Gay Marriages?

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Hi ZD,

Thanks for that passage of the Catechism… I had a chance to look at it during lunch and noticed this in the next paragraph :

Now I’m confused about the highlight (added by me)… Would it not be an “unjust discrimination” to deny them health insurance, tax benefits and hospital visitation rights (to name a few)?

I’m not saying you’re mistaken and I will certainly be praying about this new found information. I think I will bring a copy of the Catechism on the plane with me to pass the hours, as I obviously haven’t gotten everything out of it there is to get. But that second paragraph seems to say that although we must not condone same gender attractions, we are likewise explicitly called upon to avoid any discrimination against them… Clearly laws denying them rights enjoyed by the rest of us is the very definition of discrimination.

How can we reconcile these two things?

God bless…
I think you must remember that the things which you listed (hospital visits, tax benefits, etc.) are also not given to heterosexual couples who are dating or for single people. Is it discrimination against them? If it is, then the policies concerning those should be changed. If it isn’t, then it also isn’t discriminatory against homosexuals. That at least, is the way I see it.
 
I think this quote sums up the above argument:

Rather than attaching children to their biological parents, same sex marriage is the vehicle that separates children from a parent.
Compelling, on its own; but there are a few things lacking from this. I’m just speaking logically, here.

Faulty assumptions:
  1. Marriage in the public realm is *only *about the children. This isn’t even stated, but it then becomes the only issue addressed. A clear example of how this is problematic is when one side of a same sex couple is in the hospital; their “life partner” has no rights regarding visitation or care, regardless of potentially decades of commitment. Marriage should not be, but HAS become about two people demonstrating a level of commitment and trust for each other that extends beyond the casual. It is sad, but true. So, no secular argument makes sense here.
  2. SSA couples won’t/don’t have children outside of the “marriage” bond. In fact many feel the need to procreate the same as do we all. Naming the unions that these people already have together something different does not change the intrinsic nature of what they are. Children will be born and raised under the conditions of homo or hetero union the same as they always have been, except it might be possible that assigning “marriage” to a homo-sexual union might inject more stability into the family that encompasses. In fact, from that perspective, it might even be argued that, denying homosexual “marriage” implies an intrinsic lack of significance to the term at all.
Really, from a secular perspective, due to the lack of substance in the term “marriage”, it is pretty much impossible to make an argument for hetero-only marriage *that lacks addressing the real issue *w/o sounding merely “homophobic”.

Because *our society *has ceased to equate “marriage” with the sexual act; one happens w/o the other; it is hard to reason even from a conservative Catholic perspective that allowing same-sex people to call themselves “married” is actually promoting the act of same-sex copulation.

As always, when we talk about the sin; we should talk about the sin of sex w/o procreation. If you are serious about “condemning the sin and not the sinner” you must not be too cowardly to go to that degree. Those who shake their finger at SSA people, yet wink at people, married or not, that use contraceptives are being hypocrites and homophobes. I’m glad that Catholicism does not do this, but threads like this one make that point hard to discern.
 
I think you must remember that the things which you listed (hospital visits, tax benefits, etc.) are also not given to heterosexual couples who are dating or for single people. Is it discrimination against them? If it is, then the policies concerning those should be changed. If it isn’t, then it also isn’t discriminatory against homosexuals. That at least, is the way I see it.
No it is most definitely *not *discrimination against them. Heterosexuals that want to express the level of commitment that is in “marriage” may do so and so obtain these devices; whereas that is most definitely not an option for SSA couples who have been in a loving committed relationship even for decades.
 
I think you must remember that the things which you listed (hospital visits, tax benefits, etc.) are also not given to heterosexual couples who are dating or for single people. Is it discrimination against them? If it is, then the policies concerning those should be changed. If it isn’t, then it also isn’t discriminatory against homosexuals. That at least, is the way I see it.
Good point, but single people dating have the option to enter into the contract of marriage, and gain those benefits… The discrimination comes in denying access to that contract.
 
I’ve certainly heard arguments for the protection of Western Civilization opposing Same Sex Marriage.

From a secular traditional perspective same sex marriage makes a mockery of and erodes the instituion of marriage. As does divorce.
 
Good point, but single people dating have the option to enter into the contract of marriage, and gain those benefits… The discrimination comes in denying access to that contract.
but they are not denied access to the contract. SSA people have the same right to marry as OSA people. Marriage does not address sexual orientation, only gender. Gays have always had access to marriage and there are gays married with families in all states.

There is no discrimination involved since everyone has to abide by the same rules.
 
If I, as a man, can marry another man, then why can I not marry a dog or a goat? Or three women? Or a five year old boy? Or a boat or a TV? Or just jump off the bridge onto the interstate if that is what I want to do?

-Tim-
Dogs, goats, children, and inanimate objects cannot provide consent. I do not have a very good case against polygamy, I’ll admit. However, polygamy was widely accepted in the Old Testament, the same place most Catholics trace their stance against gay relations. Therefore, the argument could be made that they both no longer apply and should be reversed, or that both should be enforced and polygamy should be acceptable in Catholic teaching.
I’ve certainly heard arguments for the protection of Western Civilization opposing Same Sex Marriage.

From a secular traditional perspective same sex marriage makes a mockery of and erodes the instituion of marriage. As does divorce.
If we are to be talking about far reaching origins of Western Civilization, such as Greek civilization, then from a secular argument your position does not make sense. Same sex unions occurred in Ancient Greece and same sex relationships were even encouraged. In Ancient Greece society, the common relationship between young and older men existed to provide the young men with a role model, and allow them to develop into a good Greek citizen.
 
There’s plenty of medical evidence that living the homosexual lifestyle is a severe health risk. It usually gets brushed off with “That’s just biased reporting!” or “Those health problems are a result of homophobia, not homosexual behavior!”. Even when there are a mountain of citations, such as the 100+ which are found in this article:

catholiceducation.org/articles/homosexuality/ho0075.html

Studies on the homosexual lifestyle have been done by the Centers for Disease Control, state of Massachusetts, the government of Canada, the British Medical Journal, the American Journal of Public Health, the World Health Organization, and plenty of others. Living that lifestyle is a big health risk.

There’s even this study by the Family Research Council, pulling data from a wide variety of sources, comparing heterosexual marriage to homosexual relationships. They pull in data from countries such as the Netherlands and Sweden, where homosexual relationships have been legally recognized for years and socially accepted by a significant part of, if not majority of, the population even before legal recognition:

frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS04C02

Homosexuals living that lifestyle are simply choosing to engage in risky behavior at a far greater rate than those who live as heterosexuals, even promiscuous heterosexuals. That doesn’t change if legal recognition exists and is obtainable. From the standpoint of public health alone, we should not be giving legal recognition to homosexual relationships.
 
There’s plenty of medical evidence that living the homosexual lifestyle is a severe health risk. It usually gets brushed off with “That’s just biased reporting!” or “Those health problems are a result of homophobia, not homosexual behavior!”. Even when there are a mountain of citations, such as the 100+ which are found in this article:

catholiceducation.org/articles/homosexuality/ho0075.html

Studies on the homosexual lifestyle have been done by the Centers for Disease Control, state of Massachusetts, the government of Canada, the British Medical Journal, the American Journal of Public Health, the World Health Organization, and plenty of others. Living that lifestyle is a big health risk.

There’s even this study by the Family Research Council, pulling data from a wide variety of sources, comparing heterosexual marriage to homosexual relationships. They pull in data from countries such as the Netherlands and Sweden, where homosexual relationships have been legally recognized for years and socially accepted by a significant part of, if not majority of, the population even before legal recognition:

frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS04C02

Homosexuals living that lifestyle are simply choosing to engage in risky behavior at a far greater rate than those who live as heterosexuals, even promiscuous heterosexuals. That doesn’t change if legal recognition exists and is obtainable. From the standpoint of public health alone, we should not be giving legal recognition to homosexual relationships.
Could you describe how it is a health risk? Remember, STDs do not spread more actively in gays. They simply don’t use condoms as frequently as straights because pregnancy will not occur.
 
lol, this lady is on a Catholic radio station every other week according to that website. Seems very secular 😉

There are no persuasive, secular arguments against gay marriage IMO. Certainly none that I have ever heard.
Well, show me at least one reference to God, the Bible, or the Church, in her arguments I posted. 🤷 You won’t be able to show me any such reference in her arguments. So, yes, she makes persuasive secular arguments. These are arguments that anyone, including atheists and agnostics, will find meaningful.
 
Dogs, goats, children, and inanimate objects cannot provide consent. I do not have a very good case against polygamy, I’ll admit. However, polygamy was widely accepted in the Old Testament, the same place most Catholics trace their stance against gay relations. Therefore, the argument could be made that they both no longer apply and should be reversed, or that both should be enforced and polygamy should be acceptable in Catholic teaching.

If we are to be talking about far reaching origins of Western Civilization, such as Greek civilization, then from a secular argument your position does not make sense. Same sex unions occurred in Ancient Greece and same sex relationships were even encouraged. In Ancient Greece society, the common relationship between young and older men existed to provide the young men with a role model, and allow them to develop into a good Greek citizen.
False.

Homosexuality in Ancient Greece
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Could you describe how it is a health risk? Remember, STDs do not spread more actively in gays. They simply don’t use condoms as frequently as straights because pregnancy will not occur.
Both of the studies I linked explain in far greater detail than I ever could, complete with citations from a variety of medical/statistical sources.
 
If we are to be talking about far reaching origins of Western Civilization, such as Greek civilization, then from a secular argument your position does not make sense. Same sex unions occurred in Ancient Greece and same sex relationships were even encouraged. In Ancient Greece society, the common relationship between young and older men existed to provide the young men with a role model, and allow them to develop into a good Greek citizen.
This position on the threat to Western Civilization I refer to are actually from Fr. Benedict Groeshel and Dennis Prager.

The bedrock of this civilization, and of Jewish life, has been the centrality and purity of family life. But the family is not a natural unit so much as it is a value that must be cultivated and protected. The Greeks assaulted the family in the name of beauty and Eros. The Marxists assaulted the family in the name of progress. And today, gay liberation assaults it in the name of compassion and equality. I understand why gays would do this. Life has been miserable for many of them. What I have not understood was why Jews or Christians would join the assault. I do now. They do not know what is at stake. At stake is our civilization.

It is very easy to forget what Judaism has wrought and what Christians have created in the West. But those who loathe this civilization never forget. The radical Stanford University faculty and students who recently chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Western civ has got to go,” were referring to much more than their university’s syllabus. And no one is chanting that song more forcefully than those who believe and advocate that sexual behavior doesn’t play a role in building or eroding civilization. The acceptance of homosexuality as the equal of heterosexual marital love signifies the decline of Western civilization as surely as the rejection of homosexuality and other nonmarital sex made the creation of this civilization possible.

catholiceducation.org/articles/homosexuality/ho0003.html
 
I’m sorry, but one youtube video does not convince me decades of research that is widely accepted in the historical community is completely wrong. And realistically, for every source you can find that says Greeks didn’t accept gays, I could find one that says they did. We can never really be certain of what happened thousands of years ago.
This position on the threat to Western Civilization I refer to are actually from Fr. Benedict Groeshel and Dennis Prager.

The bedrock of this civilization, and of Jewish life, has been the centrality and purity of family life. But the family is not a natural unit so much as it is a value that must be cultivated and protected. The Greeks assaulted the family in the name of beauty and Eros. The Marxists assaulted the family in the name of progress. And today, gay liberation assaults it in the name of compassion and equality. I understand why gays would do this. Life has been miserable for many of them. What I have not understood was why Jews or Christians would join the assault. I do now. They do not know what is at stake. At stake is our civilization.

It is very easy to forget what Judaism has wrought and what Christians have created in the West. But those who loathe this civilization never forget. The radical Stanford University faculty and students who recently chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Western civ has got to go,” were referring to much more than their university’s syllabus. And no one is chanting that song more forcefully than those who believe and advocate that sexual behavior doesn’t play a role in building or eroding civilization. The acceptance of homosexuality as the equal of heterosexual marital love signifies the decline of Western civilization as surely as the rejection of homosexuality and other nonmarital sex made the creation of this civilization possible.

catholiceducation.org/articles/homosexuality/ho0003.html
I see your argument. However, I still stand by the idea that rejection of homosexuality did not help make the creation of western civilization possible, because the creation of what we consider western civilization occurred in Greece, and the research I have viewed suggests Greece did not reject homosexual relationships. I have no doubt that Jewish civilization did reject homosexuality, but that is not considered western civilization.
 
I’m sorry, but one youtube video does not convince me decades of research that is widely accepted in the historical community is completely wrong. And realistically, for every source you can find that says Greeks didn’t accept gays, I could find one that says they did. We can never really be certain of what happened thousands of years ago.

I see your argument. However, I still stand by the idea that rejection of homosexuality did not help make the creation of western civilization possible, because the creation of what we consider western civilization occurred in Greece, and the research I have viewed suggests Greece did not reject homosexual relationships. I have no doubt that Jewish civilization did reject homosexuality, but that is not considered western civilization.
Yes, I found this to be a headache-producing stretch. Fr. Groeshel has a lot of wisdom and insight, but I’m afraid that this sample is not showing him at his best. It lacks any substance, also, and that is what the OP has requested.
 
If I’m not mistaken, even secular law also requires a couple to have sex in order a marriage deemed valid.

Supposedly I am an immigrant, but I want to become a citizen, so I “marry” a local man, but do not have sex with him. After I get my citizenship, then I “divorce” him. Such will be seen-- if can be proven-- by the secular court as no-valid marriage because of the absence of real union of husband and wife.

In homosexual case, it is arguable whether “masturbating each other” can be seen as “union” or “having sex”.

If the secular court decide that such (masturbation) is adequate to prove a validity of a marriage, then there will be repercussion because of the new definition of marriage. Friends can easily declare themselves married couple because of it. According to the supposedly new definition of marriage, two single people masturbating each other can claim marriage. This also means that marriage do not relate to family formation anymore.

Then the repercussion will also go to heterosexual people. Heterosexual people then can claim marriage under the same supposedly new definition. In otherwords, any one any where can conveniently declare marriage any way they want eventhough in reality they are only friends. And I would suspect that some will be willing to do it because marriage status comes with many things such as residence-status/ citizenship, property, tax, medical, adoption, paternal/maternal leave, which they would not otherwise enjoy as single people. Besides they can devorce anytime they conveniently want. Economic reason may push people to do all kinds of system abuse and these will surely happens because of the growing number of population will make competition more intense.
 
I’m sorry, but one youtube video does not convince me decades of research that is widely accepted in the historical community is completely wrong. And realistically, for every source you can find that says Greeks didn’t accept gays, I could find one that says they did. We can never really be certain of what happened thousands of years ago.
Neither is your claim impressive. Even with your low post numbers, you can figure that you are not the first to come on this board to make the argument you are advancing. Try using the search function on this Catholic site and you’ll find a good number of threads on the topic where the argument is refuted.

That same sex behavior existed in ancient Greece is not disputed. So what if historians wrote about the prevalence of homosexuality in said ancient culture or that homoerotic sex is painted on a small percentage of ancient Greek vases? What is disputed is that it was fully accepted by Hellenic society, much less encouraged or enshrined in law. It was not, not among men of social equals which brought about shame and punishment under Greek laws. You must not have bothered to view the whole video (through 10:34) which discussed ancient Greek laws at about 1:56. It is conceded the practice of pederasty was indeed tolerated with mostly young male slaves. Young free men who were objects of adult men’s desires or affections but who wished to lead lives as free adults later conducted themselves differently.

I have no wish to re-hash and line up researches against yours. Not productive and minds are not going to change. What is clear to those on this side of the debate is that homosexualist academicians and researchers will continue to insist on what was not probable.

Present day Greece has yet to accept same-sex unions. That does not say much about ancient acceptance of homosexuality in that culture. The only two same-sex marriages that the Mayor of Tilos performed under a legal loophole in 2008 were invalidated by the court. Your independent research would confirm this.

Anyway, it would appear that the OP is about the arguments for the non-acceptance of homosexual sex and gay ‘marriage’ in the current mileu, not the acceptance or non-acceptance of same in ancient Greece. I hereby yield to the main debate.
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I’m sorry, but one youtube video does not convince me decades of research that is widely accepted in the historical community is completely wrong. And realistically, for every source you can find that says Greeks didn’t accept gays, I could find one that says they did. We can never really be certain of what happened thousands of years ago.
You are one poorly informed apologist for the acceptance of homosexuality throughout history. It doesn’t take whole lot of basic research to find out that the myth of the acceptance of homosexuality in ancient Greece and ancient Rome is one of the favourite tools of the pro-homosexuality lobby as they push an agenda never before accepted by any society.

Take that esteemed philosopher, Plato who condemns homosexual intercourse in both the “Laws” and the “Republic.” The “Laws” (Book VIII) rejects homosexual intercourse because it can render men unfit for marriage and because it is contrary to nature and a shameless indulgence.

The “Laws” recommends that homosexuality, like adultery, fornication and the use of prostitutes, not be engaged in; that if it is engaged in, it be kept private or closeted, and that if it is discovered, it be punished by deprivation of civil rights, a severe penalty. In effect, the “Laws” recommends criminalization.

Or would you tell us that one old Greek philosopher doesn’t prove anything?

Then how about a Greek playwrite of antiquity by the name of Aristophanes. He mercilessly ridiculed homosexuals in his plays. One homosexual character in particular, Cleisthenes . in the play Thesmophoriazusae,written in 411 BC, is named an honorary woman. The “passive” partner in homosexual acts was derided universally in ancient Greece as being disgracefully effeminate.

Aristotle, another old Greek playwrite, considered that homosexuality was a deformed and abnormal condition that resulted either by natural disorder or by habit.

Homosexuality existed and was only tolerated in ancient Greece and also in ancient Rome, where it was recognised as a subculture. Pederasty was condemned by the Romans as effeminate greek behviour. The Roman Law Lex Cantina made same sex relations a capital offense. It pertained to free born Roman citiens. As a consequence, slaves could be beaten and rape, or penetration of a slave by a free born man was considered the same as a beating, that is, a form of punishment. Tolerance of homosexual behaviour decreased in the late Roman Empire. The Roman playwrite Martial derides homosexual acts mercilessly and, just as the Greeks did, categorises men into two classes, the penetrator and the penetrated. According to the Romans, the penetration of a man was a most disgraceful abomination. Martial mercilessly mocked homosexual acts as being anti the normal.
I see your argument. However, I still stand by the idea that rejection of homosexuality did not help make the creation of western civilization possible, because the creation of what we consider western civilization occurred in Greece, and the research I have viewed suggests Greece did not reject homosexual relationships. I have no doubt that Jewish civilization did reject homosexuality, but that is not considered western civilization.
The creation of what we consider western civilisation did not occur in ancient Greece. What we know and understand to be the western Judeo-Christian ethic can be traced all the way back to the late Roman empire and in particular the rise of the Byzantine empire as Rome declined. The Emperor Justinian is the single source of the codification of moral and civil law which the west inherited. The moral and civil law was nurtured and fostered by the Catholic Church as the eastern and western Roman Empires faded and Europe’s nation states sprang up. All throughout, homosexuality was tolerated at best and persecuted at most. The move past mere toleration to the demand for homosexual “rights” is a recent phenomena and is peculiar to modernity. It does not, in any way, shape, or form, represent anything that has gone before.
 
Well, it is clear my opinion is not popular here. I should explain that I probably have a bias on the subject, I believe homosexuality is not against nature as God made all humans in His likeness, and I believe that people’s sexualities are acquired at birth. I will follow in the other posters footsteps and end my part in the discussion of Ancient Greek Homosexuality, as it is rather off topic in this thread. I just ask you to think of one thing: although homosexuality may not have been accepted in societies past like it is attempting to be accepted today, that is not a cut and dry justification for condemning it. Times change, and societies change. Perhaps trying to preserve the exact ways of societies centuries old is not in the best interest for the advancement of the human race.
 
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