Same Sex Marriage and Ethics

“And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air; and brought [them] unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that [was] the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (King James Version, Genesis 2:18-24). Same sex marriage is a major hot topic with people and groups on both sides of the issue. The institution of marriage to some should only occur between and man and woman. There are those who believe that same sex marriages should have the same liberties and those between man and woman. The beliefs about same sex marriage range from misunderstanding of the issue, to religious and ethical reasons against it. According to Bidstrup, there is a lot of misunderstanding about what homosexuality really is, as well as the erroneous assumption that gay people enjoy the same civil rights protections as everyone else (2009). There are also a lot of stereotypes about gay relationships, and even a great deal of misunderstanding of what marriage itself is all about (Bidstrup, 2009). Legal scholars and advocates have noted that the arguments against same-sex marriage—be they from tradition, definition, or morality are all essentially religious in nature

References: Bidstrup, Scott (2009, June 3). Gay Marriage, The Arguments And The Motives. Retrieved [June 4, 2012], from http://www.bidstrup.com/marriage.htm Denike, M. (2007). Religion, rights, and relationships: The dream of relational equality. Hypatia, 22(1), 71-91. doi: 10.1353/hyp.206.0062 Lahey, Kathleen A., and Kevin Alderson. 2004. Same-sex marriage: The personal and the political. Toronto: Insomniac Press MacDougall, Bruce. 2003. The separation of the church and the date: Destabilizing traditional religion-based legal norms on sexuality. University of British Columbia Law Review 36: 1–27. http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/2004-annual.pdf