Diversity Issues:
Gay Marriage In America
Jared
English
Professor
April 29th 2011
Diversity Issues 2
Diversity Issues:
Gay Marriage In America
The director and founder of the Marriage-Equality organization Freedom to Marry, Evan Wolfson, says that when the term “gay marriage” is used it suggests that homosexuals are asking for special privileges or are expecting to get them. However, I could not disagree with that statement more. Marriage is marriage, when you call it a “gay marriage” it takes the meaning of it down a notch. I like the way Joel Defner explains it, “A menu is a menu, but a kids menu is a very particular kind of menu, sharing some but not all of the qualities of other menus.” Marriage is marriage, and offers a host of possibilities. "Gay marriage," I think, offers fewer.
Many people have strong opinions regarding “gay marriage”, but they have drawn quite different conclusions in addressing the following questions:
1. Would same-sex “marriage” undercut the sexual fidelity norm within a marriage?
2. Would same-sex “marriage” further isolate marriage from its purpose of being procreative?
This remainder of my essay focuses on these two questions.
Would same-sex “marriage” undercut the sexual fidelity norm within a marriage?
Diversity Issues 3
I feel that there is a big threat same-sex “marriage” poses to marriage. Same-sex “marriage” has the potential to undercut the norm of sexual fidelity within marriage. In Vermont there has been a recent study of civil unions and marriages that suggests that this should be a real concern. The study showed that more than 80 percent of heterosexual married men and women said that they strongly valued sexual fidelity. Only about 50 percent of gay couples in civil unions valued sexual fidelity. (Rothblum, 2003) The surveys clearly show that there is a considerable difference between the view points of heterosexuals and homosexuals when it comes to the value of sexual fidelity.
Would same-sex “marriage” further isolate marriage from its purpose of being procreative? Marriage and procreation are typically or traditionally very closely knit to one another. E. Mavis Hetherington, author of For Better or for Worse, states that “from a sociological perspective, the primary purpose that marriage serves is to secure a mother and father for each child who is born into a society. Now, however, many Westerners see marriage in primarily emotional terms.” The problem with this is that it fuels the idea of a total population decline. Same-sex marriage “would further undercut the procreative norm long associated with marriage insofar as it establishes
Diversity Issues 4 that there is no necessary link between procreation and marriage.”(Steven Rhoads, 2004) In conclusion let homosexuals get their special unions, and civil rights that goes with them. However, we should not give those unions the title and status of marriage. Marriage is in plenty of trouble as it is and is indicated in many ways. In
order to please the minority we should not give gay couples the title of marriage. Americans constantly keep voting across the states, to keep the two forms of relationships separate and they vote against it with good reason.
“No life-way that splits men from women, and celebrates their separation, should be granted equal dignity with heterosexual marriage, which brings and binds them together.” (Steven Rhoads 2004)
Diversity Issues 5
References
Steven Rhoads, Taking Sex Differences Seriously (Encounter Books, 2004).
Esther Rothblum and Sondra Solomon, Civil Unions in the State of Vermont: A Report on the First Year. University of Vermont Department of Psychology, 2003.
David McWhirter and Andrew Mattison, The Male Couple (Prentice Hall, 1984) 252.
E. Mavis Hetherington and John Kelly, For Better or For Worse. (W.W. Norton and Co., 2002) 31
|Area of Evaluation |Excellent |Good |Fair, But Needs |Seriously Requires |
| | | |Improvement |Attention |
|Time Management |Assignment is completed |NA |NA |Assignment is turned in|
| |on time. (10 points) | | |late. (0 points) |
|Format |The paper follows the |The paper follows most of|There is some question |The paper does not come|
| |guidelines of the |the guidelines of the |as to whether you |close to what was |
| |assignment. (20-25 |assignment. (14-19 |completely understood |required for the |
| |points) |points). |the assignment. (9-13 |assignment. (0-8 |
| | | |points) |points) |
|Editing |There are few, if any, |There are several errors,|There are serious issues|Problems with grammar |
| |punctuation, |but they are of one or |with mechanics: sentence|and mechanics are so |
| |capitalization, or errors|two types: commas, |structure, syntax |severe the paper is |
| |with sentence or |capitalization, |problems, serious |difficult to read. |
| |paragraph structure. |paragraph, prepositions, |paragraph issues, etc. |(0-5 points) |
| |(18-20 points) |or verbs. (12-17 points) |(6-11 points) | |
|Coherence |The main idea is clear |The main idea is clear |There does not seem to |The main idea is not |
| |and there is significant |and has support, but the |be a main idea, or there|clear, and the |
| |support for it. (30-35 |support is general and/or|is not adequate support |supporting points are |
| |points) |weak. (20-29 points) |for it. (10-19 points) |difficult to |
| | | | |understand. (0-9 |
| | | | |points) |
|Cohesion |The information is |The main idea is clear, |It is difficult to |The paper is confusing |
| |presented in a clear |and the support is there,|identify your thesis |and difficult to |
| |manner. It is easy to |but it is difficult to |because you seem to jump|understand. It seems |
| |identify your thesis and |identify a logical |from one idea to |more like a loose |
| |one point logically leads|pattern. (5-7 points) |another. (2-4 points) |collection of random |
| |to the next. (8-10 | | |thoughts. |
| |points) | | |(0-1 points) |
References: Steven Rhoads, Taking Sex Differences Seriously (Encounter Books, 2004). Esther Rothblum and Sondra Solomon, Civil Unions in the State of Vermont: A Report on the First Year. University of Vermont Department of Psychology, 2003. David McWhirter and Andrew Mattison, The Male Couple (Prentice Hall, 1984) 252. E. Mavis Hetherington and John Kelly, For Better or For Worse. (W.W. Norton and Co., 2002) 31 |Area of Evaluation |Excellent |Good |Fair, But Needs |Seriously Requires |
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