gay marriage

[Emre]

personally i am fully opposed to gay marraige as i feel the function of marriage is to benefit the naturally born decendents [sic] of solely the two individuals married.

What does "naturally born descendants" have to do with anything? So what if a child is adopted or the result of assisted reproductive technologies? Why should a couple that's unable to have kids "naturally" be denied the right to raise a family?

[Incidentally, that might be your definition of marriage. But it's hardly a definition of marriage that most people would agree with.]

So two straight people can get married, have kids and teach them that it's alright to beat up their significant others and/or be beaten up by them? Based on the gay/straight people I know, the homosexuals are WAY better suited to raise children who will be functional members of society.

Agreed. The real issue with people who are bothered by the idea of same-sex couples raising children is that they're afraid that the kids will somehow be "turned gay." They seem to forget that being gay or straight is absolutely unrelated to your upbringing. I can't raise my straight son to be gay...just like a Christian fundamentalist can't make their gay son straight (no matter how hard they might try).

If anyone posting in this thread actually bothered to check the medical literature, they'd find a TON of articles in the reproductive medicine and biomedical ethics literature about the effects on children of being raised by same-sex couples. Every study that has been done has found no correlation between the sexual orientation of the parents and the sexual orientation of the kids. No study has ever shown a correlation between the sexual orientation of the parents and their children's behavioral trouble, academic success, or any other measure of childhood emotional health.

In fact, there is some evidence to show that the opposite is true: children raised by same-sex couples appear to be more tolerant, educated, and well adjusted compared to their cohorts. Of course, some social conservatives may define tolerance and open-mindedness as negative character traits ;)

Do a Medline search and see for yourself.

Emre