Do conservatives have any intelligent arguments against same-sex marriages?

Question

So far they have said:

It would degrade regular marriages!
If Brad Pitt’s carrying on and Bill Clinton porking Monica doesn’t degrade my marriage, neither will two lesbians getting married in Massachusetts. I can degrade my marriage and my wife can degrade my marriage. No one else can touch it. Make cheating on your spouse a federal crime, if marriage is so important.

If we let them marry, what’s to prevent people from marrying children, dogs, cars?
Laws, stupid. We managed to let Negroes vote without letting children, dogs and cars vote. Inter-racial marriage was illegal in California until 1951. Society didn’t crumble when that particular law evaporated.

But the Voice of the People has spoken! We passed a proposition banning it in our state!
Fine. Let’s pass some more, putting the Japanese-Americans back in the relocation camps and segregating the schools again. Civil rights for the majority was never an issue. A just society protects the minorities, too.

Answer 1

Let's break down a few of their arguments. the 'historical' tradition of marriage has been MANY different things- depending on where you come from. For some- it was the transfer of wealth\power along ancestral lineage. For others, it was a way to move the burden of too many mouths to feed along to someone else. Be it a transaction or for love- it hasn't ALWAYS been the way it is CURRENTLY viewed.

For instance:
"In Western societies, marriage has traditionally been understood as a monogamous union, while in other parts of the world polygamy has been a common form of marriage. Usually this has taken the form of polygyny (a man having several wives) but a very few societies have permitted polyandry (a woman having several husbands)."

Hmmm- can anyone say 'Utah'? Sure, few Mormons practice it, and the offficial church is against it, but it still goes on and used to be even more common.

I am FOR gay marriage: let EVERY HUMAN COUPLE have the right to transfer wealth to their partner, receive tax benefits, and make legal decisions for themselves as a joint partnership. HOW DOES THAT RUIN MARRIAGE?

Answer 2

Bottom line. If you can't figure out the basic fact of life that marriage is and always has been between a man and a woman then our society is in major decline. The fact that so many people are agreeing with you and that we are even discussing something this stupid shows how much the Left has warped the minds of this generation and contributed to social deterioration.

Answer 3

Adam, let me let you in on a little secret. People don't choose the color of their skin. However, people who are homosexual/bi-sexual can either choose to practice, or NOT (as I have, by the way, not because I'm terrified of not having any "rights", but because I feel it's a sin).
Also, please remember that the government is in place to try to serve EVERYONE as best as they can. The Christians have a problem with same-sex marriage. The homosexuals have a problem with NOT being able to get married. So...why don't the two groups compromise?
In addition, it's important for the country to take a united stand on something like this. If it reverts to the states, it's not fair on the homosexuals. If it's made completely legal, the entire Bible-belt would probably secede, and I'd be happy to make my home there, although I prefer living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
I guess it was okay to illegalize slavery based on morality, but to keep same-sex marriage illegal based on morality is discrimination?
I'm not saying that it was wrong to illegalize slavery. I'm saying that it can't be okay to make a law based on morality for one thing, and not for another. Whether one likes it or not, our country was founded on Christian principles.
Also, Rome, even as "liberal" as they were, and how widespread homosexuality was, never even considered legalizing same-sex marriage.
I say again, compromise. Civil unions; they can have the ceremony, they can commit themselves to each other for the rest of their life, but for the Christians' sake, don't call it marriage.

Answer 4

Marriage between fundamentalist and conservatives is what should be outlawed. This right marriage, wrong marriage business is another way politicians want to get into your brain and spread tiny little conservative worms that grow up to be giant money eating fat cats going to school under the tutelage of tom delay and his k-street gang.
If you want to ban bad marriages, why not unhinge the Defense Department from Bush's rear-end collusion with reality in the Middle East. It is pitiful watching Bush drink diet coke and looking every bit the fallen angel of the neo-cons.
Did you hear him asking for the UN to fix the Middle East? His little plan of dominating Iraq and it's oil has turned into a sideshow of National embarrassment for the United States.
"Good Show Old Chap," Now go home to America and stop stem cell research and Pell Grants for would be students, and do not forget to outlaw marriage licenses for all salamanders.
Oh sorry, I forgot Salamanders are becoming extent along with neo-con's fascination with peace.

Answer 5

One vote in favor of letting the individual states decide (even though I am in FAVOR of same-sex marriages). Just as we have 50 different laws on driver's licenses, just people still manage to drive all over the country. We have 50 different laws on marriage and people still manage to stay married on vacation.

What we don't need is a Constitutional Amendment. It's not goverment's function to govern morality. This is clearly a matter of separation of Church (morality) and State.

Answer 6

The problem is that you are changing the ancient, historical, and religious definition of marriage.

I am 100% in support of homosexuals having the same rights to a union with a same sex partner. They should have a legal relationship with all the equivalent rights and responsibilities as marriage. Just don't call is marriage, because it is not.

Marriage is the union of a man and a women, legally, and in the eyes of God.

Answer 7

It's a non-issue. People should not be able to vote on legislation. That is not how our government is set-up. Elected officials make the laws, not the people. It is completely un-Constitutional to allow people to vote on gay marriage issues. Our country was established by rule of law, not mob rule. This is all just pure insanity...

Answer 8

In the future it is probably better to go with African-Americans or at the very least black people, not negroes (it is now considered a racist term).

Answer 9

One good argument against same-sex marriage (as opposed to same-sex unions) is that it's an Orwellian change to the language.

Answer 10

I totally agree with you. Why do people care so much about what other people are doing??