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Originally posted by tWiStEdD
We are gettting lost in a sea of rheotoric and hopeless analogies.
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Just like the example you used down the bottom there!
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FACTS:
a) Homosexuals want to be able to get marriage.
b) Marriage is the union of man and a woman, voluntarily entered into, to the exclusion of all others and for life.
c) There are cultural and traditional reasons for marriage being what it is.
d) Homosexuals are an extreme minority who chose to sleep with members of the same sex and want legal recognition for it.
e) The law is supposed to change with respect to changing social morals and values.
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a) We want to be able to go before a JOP or a minister (in a consenting church) and say our 'i do's' and have it recognised as legally binding marriage.. just like heterosexuals. So yes thats a fact.
b) That is a legal fact yes.
c) Of course, but those reasons are only reasons for people who follow that particular culture or set of traditions. So marriage is defined as such or regarded as such for them, that doesn't that everyone else should have to suffer under their cultures or traditions.
Fact - Marriage means a different thing to everyone but is generally regarded as the institution under which 2 people who love each other join together in an everlasting commitment to each other and to any family (kids etc) they may have. (I made it genderless because that way the assumption of sexes comes down to each different person.)
d)Homosexuals are NOT an extreme minority. Religious groups that are small aren't labelled 'extreme' minorities, so why use that term with homosexuals.
Fact- Homosexuals are a minority group, depending on your survey that group can range from 17% -10% of the population. Which is a larger slice of the population than some religions which are not seen as minorities.
Heterosexuals sleep with members of the opposite sex and they get legal recognition for it. Even if they are under age. Heterosexuals also choose to do so, some heterosexuals also engage in homosexual acts! We don't want recognition for sleeping with members of the same sex, we want the same recognition heterosexuals get for commiting to their partner. Being allowed to have the right to marry and have their marriage recognised under Australian law.
e) Yes.
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FICTION:
a) There is majority support for gay marriages.
b) Gays need to get married.
c) Gays recieve no recognition whatsoever and are a poorly treated, repressed group.
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a)
There is a majority support for gay marriages. That is fact, not fiction.
b) Gays need to be married as much as Heterosexuals. They also deserve to have the same rights as heterosexuals. Fact, not fiction.
c) Stereotype, not fiction. Just like the flamboyant fag stereotype. There is some truth in the stereotype tho otherwise there wouldn't be a stereotype.
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Okay fellas, for such a tiny minority you have to conceed that they have it pretty good!
- Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 1999 (Amended De Facto Relationships Act 1984 and renamed it): recognised gay couples as a defacto relationship
- Superannuation Industry (Same Sex Partners) Act 2000: Gave gays right to their partner's superannuation upon death.
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Pretty good? In contrast to what we had yes. in contrast to what you (heteros) have no. And i doubt we will ever get that level of recognition.
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These are two examples of legislation which has given them additional rights.
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Not additional. Additional implies that its an extra right for just being homosexual. It's not. It also implies that heterosexual is the standard and since we are homosexual we get those rights as well as the 'additional' which we don't. The rights given to heterosexuals are the 'stock standard' rights that 'everyone' has.. but everyone doesn't have them... only heterosexuals.. homosexuals don't get them... and that is why this is an issue.
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Realistically, they are 'different'... say I dyed my hair a vibrant green colour and it made me stand out as 'different'... i deserve no new rights on account of my choice of hair colour. I do not deserve to enter a 'red-heads only' club on acccount of the fact that my base hair colour is red but i dyed it green. Its valid to say that much isnt it?
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Sure it'd be valid if it was a decent example. Your trying to imply homosexuals can change their sexuality like their hair colour... boy-o if it was only that easy!
"They are 'different'", so are bisexuals, transexuals, pansexuals and any other sexual deviance you can think of... i don't see them being excluded (with the exception of transexuals) from the predominantly heterosexual mould.
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It would be fair that I either remove the dye or wait for the dye to grow out and I try to enter the club when its all gone. THAT is fair on everyone else, just as it is fair on everyone else that gays form their own 'green-hair only club' and have fun over there.
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Segregation AGAIN?! Shame on you. Once again with the bs. Homosexuality doesnt come and go... its not a phase, you don't grow out of it. And its not something so obvious that we could go around segregating everyone because of. I thought everyone had gotten over the whole segregation ideal. White Australia! Down with Blacks! Different = Bad! <--- All of it was discriminatory and a load of fkn bullshit. Just like segregating homosexuals and our 'green-hair only club'... we don't segregate ourselves, and we don't harm you or stop you from joining our 'club' and its fun activities... There are more heteros at the mardi gras than there are gays so go figure.
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I propose that they are given limited rights, more than defactos but less than married couples. Yes, it is the word marriage that gets me shitty... but not it alone. Its everything the word stands for. We all know it stands for alot, and it is based on heterosexual relationships.
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Once more with the 2nd rate citizens routine! Farking hell... Marriage has been based on heterosexual relationships.. and is it no wonder! Because homosexual marriages were frowned upon and not allowed!
Society has changed, homosexuality is an acknowledged practise. It's no longer thought of as a disease or mental disorder. Society is open to practising homosexuals, its open to celebrating homosexuality (mardi gras and gay pride days, the rainbow flag etc) Homosexuality isn't in the cloest anymore, and more people are coming forward and admitting that they are homosexual where in the past they would have denied it. This is society.. this is the evolution of culture and tradition.
[“It demeans the institution. The institution of marriage is trivialised by same-sex marriage,” Hyde replied. As Mohr comments:
“The institution of marriage has now become completely detached from any actual marriage. It is only the concept or ideal of marriage – marriage wholly in the abstract – that concerns Hyde. Here we have left the realm of traditional social policy and entered the realm of cultural symbols.”
http://www.gayaustralia.com.au/r/Ne...ets_Ugly/sid.206/mode.thread/order.0/thold.0/
]
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I retire from this debate now. I will read up on it though... to ensure it is going well, and i will respond to anyone to replies directly to this post. I dont think I am unreasonable, I just think a lot more has to change before we allow such changes to take place.
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Unresonable... less than most i'd say. And i agree alot more has to change for anything to take place... but i don't think banning gay marriage is the way to go. Marriage is already defined as heterosexual, leave it the way it is, it doesnt need anything amended to it.
A step in the right direction would be recognising gay marriages that occur overseas, even if not recognised as 'marriages' atleast give them some sort of recognition.