With the gay marriage debate taking place tonight in parliament, despite the numerous threads on the subject, I’ve yet to see one valid reason for opposition. Does anyone have one? Please, if you see no problem in it, don’t answer. I just want a valid reason for opposing it – and simply not liking the idea does not qualify as a valid reason.
I'm not advocating anyone to watch this but I paste it in from a blurb in today's Guardian for a programme on tonight's TV, to anyone doubting me about 'register office' "Observational documentary filmed in the majestic surroundings of the register office at Belfast City Hall, where people experience some of the more significant moments of their lives. Some are there to get married, some to acquire a birth certificate for a new arrival, and others to bid an emotional farewell to a loved one as they register a death"
The difficulty is, naomi, that you have dismissed "simply not liking the idea" as a valid reason for opposition. Many people oppose all sorts of things simply because they do not like them and their opposition is just as valid. By dismissing such opposition you have somewhat restricted the number of answers you might receive.
As I said in an earlier answer I believe it is the function of government to facilitate things which most people like and prevent those which they do not. They should not have to provide an evidential basis for their likes or dislikes.
NJ, //Many people oppose all sorts of things simply because they do not like them and their opposition is just as valid. //
Yes, indeed, opposition is valid - if the decisions made affect only those making those decisions. I have to conclude that the only reason people oppose gay marriage is because they just don't like the idea of it.
NJ, "not liking" is not the same as "opposing". I don't like eating oysters but if I were to tell others not to eat them, opposing the practice, they would rightly demand what reasons I had to stop them and I would be expected to find some evidence and logical argument to support my cause. It would be disappointing to find that laws and governments were decided or changed on the simple basis that people did not like them, without more.
I do think you have to have some reason beyond simply not liking it, in order to attempt to derail the process.
And in Naomis other thread on this, she is quite right - the last time I had looked, I do not think i had seen any serious reason given, beyond tradition and dislike - oh, and what to call them instead of mr and mrs or husband and wife.. :)
This was discussed on 10 o'clock live last night and this chap Milo was spouting the odds about why he, as a homosexual catholic, disagreed with it. I have to say that he seemed more annoyed with David Cameron than having any real base argument, and what he said last night and in this article, is actually a load of old testicles.