🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.960419114700.20196C-100000@spot.Colorado.EDU>,
Mike Mills  <mills@spot.Colorado.EDU> wrote:
>On 19 Apr 1996, Bob Cormack wrote:
>
>> My main point (which I notice that nobody has addressed) is that hetero-
>> sexual marriage is itself restricted -- hardly the hallmark of an
>> absolute right.
>
>It is highly questionable whether the state should be involved in 
>sanctioning relationships at all.  But given that it is, it should be 
>required to carry the burden of defending its exclusions to such.

And let's keep in mind that the restrictions Bob has brought up are 
mostly health and safety issues.  Young children can't get married 
because the state considers them incapable of giving meaningful consent.  
Inbreeding is prohibited for health reasons.

Same-sex marriages are, by definition, incapable of producing inbred 
children, and no one is proposing that we let a couple of twelve-year-old 
girls marry each other.

It's important to note that the issue here actually relates to states' 
reciprocity at this point.  Colorado may ban marriage between 
15-year-olds, but other states don't.  If a couple of kids run off to 
another state and get married, Colorado still accepts their joint tax 
return (assuming they're making any money that is).  States that allow 
third-cousin marriages can marry Colorado citizens who are still 
considered married when they return home.

An attempt to exclude same-sex marriage from this "full faith and credit" 
clause is questionable constitutional law at best, bigoted hatemongering 
at worst.

>> My secondary point was that people who think that same-sex marriage should
>> be allowed are a small minority -- insulting everyone else is not going
>> to achieve your goals, regardless of how superior it makes you feel.
>
>Of course Bob is allowed to feel superior because he is in the majority.  
>He's allowed to compare us to inanimate objects and we're not allowed to 
>lash back.  We have to ask him nicely for our rights.  Did Bob ever have 
>to convince a hostile majority that people of his eye color should be 
>allowed to get married?

More appropriately, did Bob ever have to convince a hostile majority that 
his race should be allowed to marry the majority race?  Anyone ever heard 
of miscegnation laws?

>> In fact, the desire for commitment within the gay community seems like
>> a positive development to me also.  One can hope that the ideals of
>> responsibility and civility spread as well.
>
>What a patronizing statement!  As if heteros invented commitment, 
>responsibility, and civility and have to spread it to others.

And as if heteros are paragons of such virtues.  Liz Taylor is an amazing 
spokeswoman for the sanctity of heterosexual marriage and its ensuing 
responsibilities.

Elusis
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