Quote:

Uschi said:
You guys are right. I, among others, have hijacked this thread somewhat off topic by focusing on the physical act of one type of homosexuality rather than looking at the whole issue. People are people and there's no reason, IMO, to discriminate against one person loving another. If there's one thing the American society lacks it's a strong foundation for companionship. The only people I know who are married haven't been married very long. Even my parents (who told me divorce is a sin they will never even consider it) got divorced more than a year ago. Culturally we've been focusing more on sex and tradition than love or relationships. I know enough straight and gay couples to see simularities in the ones which are working out and the opnes which aren't. When two people respect and support each other, it doesn't matter what their gender is. It will always be supplimental to spiritual growth to have someone in honest support of you.



I think that the controversy about gay marriage is largely a product of the demise of Magical Thinking. I think many people have this vision of marriage as a holy sacrament. It is the culmination of a love between 2 people and the joining together of families. The joining together of families was really the more important function historically and goes back to a tribal kinship system. Romantic love as we know it only entered the equation in the 13th or 14th century AD. Since the child bearing capabilities of gay couples is somewhat limited, the mixing of bloods or making of one of the 2 kinship groups is not fully consumated. It breaks a societal norm.

Same sex marriage is the product solely of romantic love. Hence it defies the original purpose of the institution of marriage, alliance of kinship groups. It lacks that magic and is solely an expression of love between 2 people. It's somewhat like Copernicus telling the pope he's not the center of the universe. The idea is so deeply buried in the psyche that most people are not even aware of it.

"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives." John Stuart Mill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. Oscar Wilde He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless dead.