From: "Richard Baker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Doug said: > > > Do you oppose SSM and if so, why? > > I don't oppose it, but there's at least one reasonable argument against > it: marriage is not just an agreement between two people but also an > agreement by which the government (at least the UK government!) > provides tax benefits for married couples in exchange for the couples > producing children to be future citizens who pay future taxes or to go > to fight Germans in future wars or whatever; gay couples cannot > reasonably enter into this deal; therefore gay couples should not get > those tax advantages; therefore they should not be allowed to marry. It > seems to me, though, that this is more an argument for phasing out > those remaining tax benefits than not allowing gay marriages. > Are sterile heterosexual couples denied marriage? What if the couple does not want children? IOW, is having children a requirement for marriage? The answer: No, it is not. Moreover, some homosexual couples *do* raise children. Does it matter that the children were concieved from artificial insemination or were adopted? No, it doesn't Like you said, if other laws that address marriage are broken, they should be phased out or fixed, not used as an excuse for promoting bigotry. Michael Harney [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
