The Energon Pub

No need to derail this on the whole "gay rights" thing or any sort of America-bashing, but I see where you're all coming from. Personally, I oppose same-sex marriage for two reasons: a) marriage is not a right, it's a privelage afforded to heterosexual couples who meet a rather basic set of criteria, and b) it devalues traditional marriage in that people can suddenly marry anyone (or, hypothetically, after some more "rights" battles anything) that they can have sex with. I have nothing against homosexuals in any way, and I am certainly not trying to offend anyone, I'm just stating my beliefs.

Now, to speak on topic, It's a typo. Put bluntly, **** happens, hopefully the state can remove the "not" and move on.

Lord Starscream20 wrote:No need to derail this on the whole "gay rights" thing or any sort of America-bashing, but I see where you're all coming from. Personally, I oppose same-sex marriage for two reasons: a) marriage is not a right, it's a privelage afforded to heterosexual couples who meet a rather basic set of criteria, and b) it devalues traditional marriage in that people can suddenly marry anyone (or, hypothetically, after some more "rights" battles anything) that they can have sex with. I have nothing against homosexuals in any way, and I am certainly not trying to offend anyone, I'm just stating my beliefs.

Now, to speak on topic, It's a typo. Put bluntly, **** happens, hopefully the state can remove the "not" and move on.

The whole arguement that gay marriage somehow devalues or makes a mockery of marriage is ridiculous, in my opinion. With high adultery rates, people marrying for money or citizenship....why would you deny people that want to get married for the right reasons, just because they are gay? In the very least, they should be given the rights of married people. Don't call it "marriage" if that bothers you. I know not all gay people would marry just for love but when they've been a couple for 20 years or something, why not? And if I were gay and people likened it to beastiality or pedophelia, I'd be extremely offended. I guess it's ok for gay people to fix our hair, decorate our homes, provide entertainment on tv, but not to have the same basic privileges/rights as the rest of us.

And yeah, they should've seen that typo! Hello, McFly!!

My wife has some family in AR. Her Ma-Ma(G.Ma on Mom's side) got married @ 14. She had seven kids by 30, she pointed that out this past summer(my wife is now 30 and no kids in site).

So yeah, it's easy to believe.

I only go fishing there one a year, so hopefully the effects are minimal of the AR mentality.
Oh yeah, and I always make fun of the cousins, incest and all.

DJDrew&ScoobyDoo wrote:My wife has some family in AR. Her Ma-Ma(G.Ma on Mom's side) got married @ 14. She had seven kids by 30, she pointed that out this past summer(my wife is now 30 and no kids in site).

So yeah, it's easy to believe.

I only go fishing there one a year, so hopefully the effects are minimal of the AR mentality.
Oh yeah, and I always make fun of the cousins, incest and all.

:DEVIL:

LOL....you and I sound alike. My girlfriend is from West Virginia (deep in the backwoods...) and I constantly berate her on the inbred thing. I can't help it....for good reason!

One of her cousins is dating another one of their cousins and he even moved to her town (230 miles from his home) just to be with her, and they're engaged!

Another cousin got knocked up by her own half brother/step brother (he's actually her half and step brother at the same time. It's real, and it was explained to me once, but I still can't figure out the mechanics of it. >_<) Fortunately their child was born with a brilliant mind and is one of the smartest kids I've seen in a while. (God smiled on her....)

Her own sister lives with a man who was married once and has six kids already, plus the two nieces to my girlfriend. His ex-wife lost her home, so the sister moved the ex and her kids into their trailer (which sits on the land of their mom and dad's land) and no one knows for sure, but they're pretty sure my girlfriend's sister, the ex wife, and the ex-husband/boyfriend are literally going at it together... (odd things and noises have been going on lately...and we'll leave it at that)

That's just the tip of the iceberg. The entirely family's whacked out of their heads.

I went to one family reunion, and I absolutely will not, EVER go back there. I'm not kidding. It looked like something out of The Toxic Avenger (if all the people got Toxified....)

ROFL

None of my In-laws have been confirmed, but I have my suspicions...

The first generation of in-Breeding normally brings out the best traits. However, the second to third and later normally bring out the worst genetic traits, like the ones you have described.

Lord Starscream20 wrote:marriage is not a right, it's a privelage afforded to heterosexual couples who meet a rather basic set of criteria,

Who says? Since when are heterosexual couples so great that they are allowed tax breaks and increased legal rights? Since a few "more normal" people were disgusted by the idea of two hairy men caressing each other? Why should heterosexual couples be allowed only?

Lord Starscream20 wrote:and b) it devalues traditional marriage in that people can suddenly marry anyone

So what's wrong with that? Really. It's not talking about incest.

And while we're on the subject of devalues traditional marriage, let's take a casual stroll through the checkout lines at the supermarket and read the celebrity pages. Angelina and Brad spring readily to mind. I used to really like her until she became more prominent than Paris Hilton.

Let's look at history, at all the arranged marriages through the ages, marriage as a political tool, marriage for convinience of other family members, marriage to vastly underage girls (by our standards).

The nuclear family is well and good, but why is it the only thing not wrong?

Lord Starscream20 wrote:(or, hypothetically, after some more "rights" battles anything)

That's an assumption. Marrying animals will never be morally right because an animal is not aware of what's going on to that level. Gay people are. There'll be no case in 2107 for animal marriage rights because it doesn't have the ability to even react. Neither does a jar of peanut butter, a monkey wrench, or an oil can. Not only that, but marrying an animal is pretty much rape since it can't consent. (Brings back the whole arranged marriage thing, doesn't it? Devalue what?)

The whole arguement of gay marriage being a gateway to worse things is flawed because it falls back on the whole "natural" thing. Now what goes on in the brain to make someone attracted to the same sex might very well be an interesting discussion, and from a purely reproductive standpoint, it is unnatural. But humans are smart enough to overcome instincts when need be (though that still does not mean we are controlling our impulses, it only means a greater and more urgent impulse is driving us), so therefore purely reproductive standpoints are moot. This is the same arguement that comes up when discussing whether or not birth control and casual sex is wrong. It's not, for the same reasons I just stated. It doesn't matter if it's biologically natural. We're above that.

So therefore, you can't be afraid of gay marriage based purely on the quite frankly paranoid fear that people will then want to do worse things. The world is not going to hell in a handbasket just because we discovered the earth is round, proved it goes around the sun, waltz music let people dance too close, slaves got freed, women got to vote, jazz and swing music became popular, black people got to sit anywhere on the bus and go to good schools and eat in any restaraunt they chose and get better jobs like supreme court justice and gained all around equal and decent recognition as members of the human species, women burned their bras, a whole generation of youth got high and wore nothing but sandals and tie dye, punk and metal music became popular, and gay people wanted to marry. All those things were hotly debated and contested in their time, and all of them are harmless now. So in other words, the world is not getting worse, it's changing to suit it's current needs.

What it boils down to is this:

Some people still can't get over the idea that two hairy, naked, sweaty grown men like to put their tongues in each other's mouths, and things more graphic. As much as I can totally understand that, it's based only on current phobias, and there is actually nothing wrong with it.

The same old dance. The world changes as society evolves, and some people dig in their heels, only to have the problem resolve itself in favor of the change a few generations later.

And besides, gayness is necessary. There are too many people in this world. The less who make more annoying kids that grow up into even more people, the better. Think of it as population control. (And don't point out that I said casual sex is okay above. I said casual sex and birth control are right.)

Senor Hugo wrote:Sometimes, I hate this country.

hey, I hate america 24/7

Whoa, kids, play nice.

Take it to the Philosopher's forum. H&ll, I'll even chip in, but there not here.

This thread is about AR and a stupid typo, not Gay rights and whatnot. So take that conversation elsewhere. Once you start a thread in the PF, I'll continue it there.

My bad. It was me who started the discussion by saying I thought that babies being allowed to marry was so ridiculous and yet 2 chicks or 2 guys can't have equal rights as hetro couples. Sorry mate.