Refuting the Essay "Gay Marriage is Fabulous"

[Samnrli]

Hey everyone. I recently came across an article about a student who wrote an essay defending gay marriage for an assignment from his Catholic school. I was wondering what arguments the community here could offer to refute the points mentioned by the student. The essay is long (127 pages), so by no means feel obligated to read it in its entirety. I only wanted to open up a discussion.

Here’s the article link:
http://aplus.com/a/-student-catholi...n=i102&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=a103648

Here’s a link to the essay itself:

Gay Marriage is Fabulous.Copy

Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut!

 

[Lea101]

The refutations would be exactly the same as in any thread about gay marriage.

That sex is wrong if it’s working against its procreative or unitive nature. With this in mind, things like contraception, rape, gay marriage, certain sex acts are wrong. Gay marriage isn’t singled out. Marriage requires the couple to be open to life, hence impotent couples aren’t allowed to marry as well because they’re incapable of having sex at all. Gay marriage isn’t allowed because they’re incapable of having sex that doesn’t work against the procreative aspect.

 

[Crocus]

Right off the hopper, assigning a C- for excessive essay length. Sorry, pet peeve favours conciseness and brevity. Will read now …

Edit after reading partway: first half, stating the position of the Church, is fairly thorough; style changes dramatically after first typo and takes on use of colloquialisms.

This one stopped me, as a blatant misappropriation of the Pope’s words. The essay states:

We now know that the law of Christ is the law of love. Consequently, to seriously believe that homosexual relationships are wrong according to a law written thousands of years ago is a seriously flawed conjecture. Furthermore, the “relationships” written about in Leviticus are merely a sexual one, and, therefore, are not those that proceed from love. For, if they proceed from love, and, therefore, the law of Christ, “who am I to judge?” (Pope Francis).

From the interview Papal Flight Sunday, 28 July 2013, the Pope’s position on same-sex marriage is:

“The position of the Church. I am a son of the Church.”

“young people know perfectly well what the Church’s position is.”

“… if a person … commits a sin and then converts, the Lord forgives, and when the Lord forgives, the Lord forgets … If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him? … no one should marginalize these people for this, they must be integrated into society. The problem is not having this tendency … The problem is in making a lobby of this tendency“

 

[TheAdvocate197]

I read it over a year ago. I remember being impressed with this young man’s eloquence, seems very smart and very good at argumentation. Seems to be a formidable liberal theologian, I was likewise impressed with his knowledge for a high schooler (…to the point that I questioned whether it was written by a high schooler at all, and whether I should take a trip to Snopes…)

Anyway, one thing I do remember is that when he uses Scripture, he finds the Bible authoritative when it supports his position, but when it doesn’t, he minimizes it and debunks.

It is long, but it’s easy reading and extremely well written. It’s not like anything I’ve read before, not like the usual arguments. I recommend reading it, at least as a way to prepare for argumentation and refutation.

 

[James214]

God created me bisexual, and he made no mistakes, and he creates some people gay, and makes no mistakes.

The premise contains an unfounded assumption. His premise is that having SSA is natural and God-given, therefore it must be good. His whole argument falls apart unless that assumption is granted.

As Catholics we don’t accept that premise and I don’t see any real evidence given that we should. You could use this argument to justify any disordered behavior. Simply substitute “gay” for anything else. "God made me an alcoholic. God made me a sadist. God made me anorexic. And he doesn’t make mistakes. Therefore my behavior arising from this must be good. "

 

[Genesis315]

Just read what was in the first post, but right off the bat the effects of the fall and concupiscence are denied. We are all not born in a state of perfection–God does not make each of us out of nothing. We all inherit from the humans we descend from the disorder introduced into the world and human race through the sin of our first parents. We all have disordered passions and inclinations, although what those are may be different from person to person. He also gives us all an intellect and will and offers us the grace to reach perfection (and we all fail to some extent or another–but He doesn’t command the impossible). It would indeed be a mistake if He created us, but did not provide us with the means to obey the Commandments.

 

[Maximilian75]

I mean, if you think eternal separation from God is ‘fabulous’ then I guess he’s right…?