First off -- I am very, very sorry about your home situation. Honestly, and seriously, the last thing I want to do is add to your pressures.
The problem with the above argument is that a marriage isn't sex. A marriage is a million things, and sex is part of it, but it's not the sole definition.
The secondary problem is sex is not an act of procreation in our culture. It is (generally, though not exclusively) a necessary precursor to procreation, but sex has moved far, far beyond the act of creating, bearing and then raising a child.
There are religions which disagree -- and which furiously rail against anything that removes the procreative aspect of sex. There are still those who want to outlaw contraception (and still places it is outlawed), as well as outlaw any acts, regardless of whether they are heterosexual or homosexual, that bring forth the pleasure of sexuality without the procreative aspect.
But the love that two people share for each other -- especially the love that results in a marriage -- is not bestiality. If I love another human being, want to be with them, want the world to know that I love them, want to give them all the rights and benefits that a declaration like marriage allows -- if I want to marry that person, then comparing my love for that person to marrying an animal is revolting.
If someone said that about my own marriage, I would beat them to a pulp. No one but no one gets to compare my wife to an animal. I'm not usually atavistic but I get... tetchy when it comes to the woman I love.
And I won't stand by and let someone comparing the love that two people have found -- two thinking, rationalizing human beings -- to cattle abuse or marrying a dog. It's offensive. It's wrong. A homosexual is not subhuman, no matter how uncomfortable a homosexual sex act may make us. A homosexual is not an animal.
(The deeper level issue comes down to the religious objection to pleasure, and the homophobic response that most people have to gay sex. The former argument should be entirely null and void in our free society. The latter argument is specious -- "eww! It's icky!" isn't a reason to legislate something that you're not being asked to do.)
I couldn't not answer you, but at the same time I really don't want this to sound like I'm coming down on you. Your family is having a rough time right now, and I hope for the best for all of you.
no subject
The problem with the above argument is that a marriage isn't sex. A marriage is a million things, and sex is part of it, but it's not the sole definition.
The secondary problem is sex is not an act of procreation in our culture. It is (generally, though not exclusively) a necessary precursor to procreation, but sex has moved far, far beyond the act of creating, bearing and then raising a child.
There are religions which disagree -- and which furiously rail against anything that removes the procreative aspect of sex. There are still those who want to outlaw contraception (and still places it is outlawed), as well as outlaw any acts, regardless of whether they are heterosexual or homosexual, that bring forth the pleasure of sexuality without the procreative aspect.
But the love that two people share for each other -- especially the love that results in a marriage -- is not bestiality. If I love another human being, want to be with them, want the world to know that I love them, want to give them all the rights and benefits that a declaration like marriage allows -- if I want to marry that person, then comparing my love for that person to marrying an animal is revolting.
If someone said that about my own marriage, I would beat them to a pulp. No one but no one gets to compare my wife to an animal. I'm not usually atavistic but I get... tetchy when it comes to the woman I love.
And I won't stand by and let someone comparing the love that two people have found -- two thinking, rationalizing human beings -- to cattle abuse or marrying a dog. It's offensive. It's wrong. A homosexual is not subhuman, no matter how uncomfortable a homosexual sex act may make us. A homosexual is not an animal.
(The deeper level issue comes down to the religious objection to pleasure, and the homophobic response that most people have to gay sex. The former argument should be entirely null and void in our free society. The latter argument is specious -- "eww! It's icky!" isn't a reason to legislate something that you're not being asked to do.)
I couldn't not answer you, but at the same time I really don't want this to sound like I'm coming down on you. Your family is having a rough time right now, and I hope for the best for all of you.