I am doing a Debate on Gay marriage in school, and the question is:

"Should an amendment be made to the Constitution banning same-sex marriage?"

Anyway, I want to just shock everyone in the room into realized that no it should not be banned. Anyway, the point of this thread is ask you what are some arguments AGAINST gay marriage? I want to make sure I know them all, so I can come back stronger than their argument. Here are the arguments I intend will be brought up and have covered greatly:

1. Gay people turn their kids gay
2. Gay people are pedophiles
3. Gay marriage affects traditional families
4. Gay marriage will spread AIDs
5. Gay people already have rights
6. If they can get married then why not a man and a goat
7. Gay people choose to be Gay, that choice shouldn't be allowed
8. The bible says _______________

And a couple more but I can't think of anymore. Is there anyothers people like to throw around? Im hoping to educate some people and don't want to miss a thing.

Thanks

I don't know if you have seen this ad.. But if not you should take a look at it. It brings up a few points. Most of them you have listed however:

The group who made the ad is Home - National Organization for Marriage


YouTube - NOM - Gathering Storm

Also, I have heard arguments like if Gay marriage is legal, then so should polygamy. In that YouTube video I linked there is also a pretty lively debate on the comments. If I think of anything else I will let you know. Go get them!

I also want to point out, that the actual 'traditional' marriage is not affected by gay marriage(two people who love each other and are pledging their lives to each other) but Britney Spears who gets married and annulled the next day.. or a new dating service called Ashley Madison. Its for married man/woman to cheat on their spouse. That's what's ruining marriage.
YouTube - CNN and Ashley Madison
"Life is short, have an affair"

1. My wife's mom is a lesbian my wife is straight (and so are all her brothers)

2. Gay men want Gay MEN not little boys. Most people who are pedophiles do not consider themselves gay just ask a priest.

3. A lot of marriage ends in divorce and have nothing to do with gay people. I don't see how if bob and steve from next door are married how it would affect anyone's marriage.

4. Magic Johnson STRAIGHT has HIV. So...

5. But not the rights that married people have. Can't be on the same insurance. If Bob from number 3 is sick Steve can not get any information about Bob because he is not a family member or spouse.

6 Because a goat can not give consent. An Adult human can.

7. Not true it is not a choice. My friend growing up played with dolls while we played football, we played baseball he did nails. 20 years later no surprise to anyone he is gay. NOT A CHOICE.

8. Don't care what a book about something that may or may not exist says.

I think you pretty much covered it.I applaud you taking a stand and I know it won't be easy.
I think the religious argument is where you will run into the most oppression as that seems to be the most often played anti gay card.
Good luck and I hope you ace it.Let us know how you make out ,if you are so inclined.

Thanks for the examples, isn't it kind of funny how odd some arguments are? I was especially surprised when I kept reading over and over how gay people are pedophiles and such, that made me laugh at how stupid some people are!

Thanks :) I got some really cool religious arguments, and I have found every quote used from the bible and found some ways to counter those. In my opinion if they bring religion into the debate, I think it would be a stupid move, but then again they might do it anyway which is why I'm preparing for that. Im really glad I chose this topic, I always felt gay marriage should be allowed, but I never new any arguments other than simply knowing that everyone should be equal. Now I feel like a gay marriage guru!

And thanks h_leann_b in advance for the links. I'll check them out now!

Hey sGT check out this article you can use it about being gay is a "choice"

A Gay Man's Brain Looks a Lot Like a Straight Woman's Brain | 80beats | Discover Magazine

Another argument is that marriage is for "procreation". I guess that men and women who can't have kids should not be allowed to marry!

Thanks! I printed off the article and will use it to prepare myself, I'll be sure to let you guys know how it all turns out when this occurs next Tuesday.

Thanks Ren6 for reminding me about that one! You know what's funny? I found an article on the internet that a man who beat and choked his wife to death was given another marriage license while out on bail. I guess Gay's can't marry, but murderers can as long as they are straight! Or maybe he was really sorry! :rolleyes:

Just presenting points - not beliefs:

1. Marriage is a religious institution. Civil union can be legalised by law but marriage should be approved by the church. And that's not going to happen anytime soon - “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.” (Pope Benedict, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, October 1986)

2. Social changes, gay marriage, often take a long time to reveal their effects on the populace. These effects could very well be negative. They may be positive in the ''everybody is equal and should have equal rights'' sense but they could have extreme reprecussions.

Good luck in the debate!

Thanks Busy Bee, here are some of my arguments towards those 2 topics.

1. Atheists are allowed to be married, they are religious?
2. Loving v. Virginia states that Marriage is a Fundamental right.
3. If Marriage is a religious institution then why can heterosexuals get married at a court house?
4. Im sure people claimed desegregation of blacks would be a negative social change, and that many thought their would be a race war. I have yet to see any war between the races. And in my opinion, I am glad to have black people equal to myself. Also, many thought allowing women being equal to men would be a negative affect on our children and workplaces, and that they might make the U.S. all feminine if they can vote! Again, I am glad, and I'm sure most women are, that they are allowed to work and vote.
5. "Gay marriage has existed for some time in the Netherlands, with no apparent ill effects, destruction, doom or peril. The sky hasn't fallen in Massachusetts or Canada. No social collapse has been reported in Denmark, though their gay marriages are called "civil unions," but retain all the same rights."

I have a lot more arguments towards those to topics but those are just the ones off the top of my head

This is the biggest sterotype I've ever heard! I think that the people who say that gay people are pedophiles, their kids are gay, all that stuff, have been mislead. They probably do not know any Gay people. I do, they are perfectly normal, and just for the record, their kids are NOT gay. Gay marriage is harmless, it won't hurt anybody but the ones who don't want anybody who is different than them to be happy..

It honestly blows my mind that banning gay marriage is even conceivable. First off marriage is obviously about love. Wouldn't the have to find some way to prove that gay people aren't capable of loving one another to ban it? And if it isn't about love then what is marriage for, and in that question, how can they say it's equally sound for straight people to be married. I know my statement went a little off the deep end and is a little silly, but there just isn't any conceivable way they could ban it regardless of any gay married couple's effect on the community.

Just the fact that this kind of thing can happen makes me realize what kind of state our government is in.

Oh yah I forgot to mention how the debate went. It went great that day, I won. We did a vote before and after the debate and before the debate the group was split. After the debate we had around 80% of the votes so I hope I opened some peoples eyes. Anyway here are some of the points they brought up:

1. Gay marriage will lead to sex with animals
2. Children from gay parents grow up with problems
3. The bible states that being gay is a sin
4. There is no separation of church and state and that's why it should be banned.

They didn't do that well as I crushed them with fact after fact. And what was really funny was I found versuses in the bible that were strange such as the line that claims those who work on sundays should be killed. And I brought my bible into class so those who didn't believe me could look them up as they were direct quotes. These quotes showed sins that everyone commit daily and yet they don't change their ways because it's to their own benefit. Sure enough a few did look up the quotes and then claimed my bible was wrong. That's when I realized how ignornant people are. They use the bible for everything until they are proven wrong.

The real actual issue, is that marriage is not something that the Federal Government has any control over ( or should not) since it is a state rights issue.

Only the states can make their own laws on marriage

The most significant rights that accrue to married couples are those determined by the federal government, not the states: examples include social security, COBRA benefits/elections, ERISA pension division laws, and the list goes on and on.

There should be a US Constitutional amendment banning discrimination in marriage based on gender, viz, same sex marriage should be a federal constitutional right and no fair-minded person can seriously say otherwise.

What is your point in "presenting points and not beliefs". Obviously you have an opinion.

I don't care what you believe. Until we walk in someone elese's shoes we have no right to judge.

1. Gay people turn their kids gay- Why then, do straight parents have gay children?

2. Gay people are pedophiles- So are man straight people.

3. Gay marriage affects traditional families- Traditions change.

4. Gay marriage will spread AIDs- Straight people spread AIDs too.

5. Gay people already have rights- Yet, not equal rights.

6. If they can get married then why not a man and a goat- I wouldn't bother answering such an ignorant question.

7. Gay people choose to be Gay, that choice shouldn't be allowed- Who is to say then, that straight people choose to be straight? If so, what makes their choice any more moral or valid than gay's?
8. The bible says _______________- The Bible says a lot of things we ignore, and in some cases, have learned to be outdated.