Instigator / Pro
14
1378
rating
36
debates
38.89%
won
Topic
#1028

Gay Marriage Should Be Legalized Worldwide

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
6
0
Better sources
4
4
Better legibility
2
2
Better conduct
2
2

After 2 votes and with 6 points ahead, the winner is...

TheAtheist
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
5
Time for argument
Two days
Max argument characters
10,000
Voting period
Two weeks
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
8
1435
rating
15
debates
33.33%
won
Description

There is simply no reason not to let two consenting adults marry. Your religion or opinion of homosexuality does not mean you can control how others behave. Homosexuality and gay marriage don't harm anyone; they are fully consensual.

Round 1
Pro
#1
First, let us define homosexuality and marriage. These may seem like really basic terms, but do it just in case!
Homosexuality - sexual attraction to members of the same sex.
Marriage - legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship.
Okay, now we can begin.

ARGUMENTS:
My reasoning for supporting gay marriage is this: if something doesn’t harm others it should be legal. When two consenting adults marry, it doesn’t harm others in any way. Just because someone is a homosexual (a sexual orientation people are born with), doesn’t mean you get to deny them the right to marry.

You may say that your religion is against homosexuality. But the UN guarantees freedom of religion as a human right, which means you don’t get to dictate your religious beliefs to other people. In countries where religion does control the government, they throw gays off buildings and kill people for apostasy. So I think we should both agree that passing laws based on religion is stupid as there are literally thousands of religions.

You may also say that homosexuality is immoral. What exactly is immoral about two consenting adults entering a personal union? Nothing. Morals are also subjective, and different cultures have different morals.

So to summarize, there is simply no reason to stop homosexuals from marrying each other. They are consenting adults and don’t harm anyone by marrying. Why would you stop them?

Con
#2
I’ll add on a few other definitions:
 
State - the operations or concerns of the government of a country; of or relating to the central civil government or authority.  the system or group of people governing an organized community.  a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government.
 
*if something doesn’t harm others it should be legal *
 
The purpose of the State is not to go out and codify everything it’s members should be able to do.  Going out in my backyard and juggling 3 bowling balls doesn’t harm anyone (perhaps me if my hand-eye coordination is off ;-) )  —  the state is not, and should not be, obligated to formally recognize, and thus, codify, the act of juggling bowling balls in one’s backward as “legal”.
 
* When two consenting adults marry, it doesn’t harm others in any way.*
 
You don’t know that.  There is what is a called “setting a bad example” for younger members (future generations).  Those activities or relationships that set bad examples do, in fact, cause harm.  Perhaps not physical harm, but non-physical harm.  Obviously, not every activity or relationship sets a good example for younger generations.  We’ll get back to this point later.  
 
 
* a sexual orientation people are born with *  WRONG.  This has not been proven by science.  Sorry, it hasn’t.  Sexual orientation has not been proven to be genetics.
 
Religion – not sure why you are bringing “religion” or “theology” into the discussion.  Be advised that just because someone says an activity is wrong (i.e. two people of the same sex should not engage sexual activity) does not necessarily mean it’s based on religion.  I will not argue this from a religious standpoint.  
 
“there is simply no reason to stop homosexuals from marrying each other. They are consenting adults and don’t harm anyone by marrying.”
 
This is the crux of the debate.  
 
I’ll argue this from a different perspective.  
 
(A)  What is the primary objective of the State?  The primary objective of the State is, first and foremost, to ensure the continuation of the State.  One of the primary ways the State ensures it’s existence is ensuring that it continues to get new members—if the State ceases to exist then the state has failed it’s members.  So, the State should be primarily concerned with safeguarding those actions that ensure the continued existence of the state (i.e. making “legal”) and prohibiting those actions which pose a threat to the continued existence of the State.  If an action (a) does not ensure or foster the continued existence of the state or (b) does not harm or endanger the state, then the State should not be under any obligation to formally recognize or “legalize” those actions. The State should not be obligated to enact legislation just because it makes certain members happy or feel good.  Doing so would bog down the State in frivolous activities.  So, again, the State’s responsibility is first and foremost to safeguard those activities that ensure it’s continuation, and prohibit those activities that pose a threat to its continuation.  
 
(B)   I’m sure we can agree that there are many many types of human relationships.  There is the man-woman relationship (sexual), there is the man-man relationship (sexual), the woman-woman relationship (sexual), the father-son relationship, mother-son, father-daughter,  man-man (friend) relationship, woman-woman relationship (friend), man-man (coworker) relationship, man-young girl (mentor), etc.  I can go on and on.  There are MANY different types of relationships.  Some of these relationships have a sexual component, some of them don’t.  Some of these relationships offer a benefit to the State, some don’t.  Some of these relationships can be detrimental to the State.  Are all human relationships equal?  Of course not—I hope you can understand this.  If not let me know and I can explain how they are not all equal.  Not all human relationships are equal.
 
(C)   Now, of all the possible relationships out there, there is one, and ONLY ONE, relationship that will ensure the State’s continued existence (refer to item A)—that is the man-woman relationship.  Only the sexual relationship between a man and woman will bear offspring and add new members to the State.  No other relationship will bear offspring.  A woman-woman relationship will not bear offspring, neither will a man-man relationship.   This is a fact.  A scientific fact.  This one little difference is what separates the man-woman relationship from all other types of human relationships.  Now, I realize that not all man-woman relationships are beneficial to society in this way (i.e. adding new members) and in fact some man-woman sexual relationships can be harmful (i.e. father-daughter sexual relationship).  So one can say that the State has a vested interest in a healthy man-woman relationship, because this is the ONLY relationship that will ensure the State gets news members added to it. 
 
(D)  So the State is completely justified when it upholds certain relationships over others.   In fact, one can argue that the State is obligated to promote and encourage those relationships that ensure its existence—namely, the man-woman relationship.  And not just ANY man-woman relationship, but a “healthy” man-woman relationship, because “healthy” relationships are want ensure the offspring are healthy emotionally, physically, etc.    
 
Is the State obligated to recognize all relationships as being equal?  No.  Why not?  Because not all relationships are equal, and there is no compelling reason for the state to do this (see A above)
 
Having the State recognize, codify or enact laws that acknowledge a particular relationship is not a “right”.  Can two people “be together”, even have sex together?  Yes, absolutely.  SHould the state step in and prohibit two people from being together?  No, not at all-- that's not what I'm arguing.   Is the State obligated to recognize and “legalize” any such relationship as a 'marriage".  No, not at all.  It’s not a “right” to have your relationship recognized by the State….
 
What you are asking for is the State to recognize and treat a same-sex relationship as if it’s equal to male-female relationship.  It’s not (see C above).  The State is not here to cater to every whim and fancy of the populace. 
 
If two guys want to be together (or two gals), there’s nothing prohibiting them.  However, what you want is for the State to recognize this type of relationship as equal to a male-female one.  If the State doesn’t recognize this as a “marriage”, will that prevent the two guys (gals) from being together?  No. 

Perhaps the two guys won’t get the perks/benefits that a male-female relationship would?  Ok.  What is wrong with that—the State has a vested interest to encourage and promote, perhaps via benefits and perks, the healthy male-female relationship (See D above).

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the State saying "In order to get the benefit or perk of X, you must do Y".  Now let's just say we substitute some items for X and Y:  "In order to get the benefit of special tax privileges, you must marry someone of the opposite sex".  Does this discriminate?  No.  Why not?  Because it is a choice on whether or not you want to marry someone of the opposite sex.  

Round 2
Pro
#3
Before we begin: something is either legal or illegal. There are no laws against juggling balls in your back yard, therefore doing so is legal. In every country where there is no gay marriage, there is a law prohibiting gay marriage. This isn't about passing laws that allow gay marriage, this is about revoking laws prohibiting gay marriage.

The primary objective of the state is to serve its citizens. Think of the state as the CEO of a company. The citizens all own stocks in the company. If the CEO does things that only benefit him, he gets fired. We live in a democracy and not in Oceania.
Because of that, your argument about what benefits the state is wrong. It doesn't matter what benefits the state, what matters is what benefits the citizens. An individual is more important than society as a whole. Countries where this was not true, like the Soviet Union, have failed disastrously. The state is a servant of its people, and it must do what its people tell it to do. There is simply no reason for the state to deny its citizens the right to marry. If two consenting adults want to marry, let them.

Saying things like "Gays marrying will result in the collapse of the state" is simply ridiculous.



Con
#4
I agree, the CEO (State) should not do things that only benefit them.   But put another way, the primary purpose of the State is to ensure the continued existence of the community.  If the community ceases to exist, then the State has failed in its purpose. 
 
So how exactly does same-sex marriage benefit the citizens?  It makes them happy?  It’s not the job of the State/Government to make the citizens happy.  There are lots of activities that make citizens happy.  Again, the purpose of the State is not to cater to every whim and fancy of the citizens.  The purpose of the State is not to legalize everything that makes its citizens happy—that’s foolish. 
 
Did I say Gays marrying would result in the collapse of the state?  Nope, not at all.  And I challenge you show me where I said that.  Am I condoning the “outlawing” of same-sex couples being together.  Again, nope, not at all.  The State/Government has every right to treat relationships differently, and there is a very real valid reason why the State/Government would want to encourage/promote a male-female marriage over other types of relationships.  I can’t think of any reason why the State/Government would want to promote/encourage “same-sex” unions other than the fact it makes the people happy—but again, this is not valid/good enough reason.  It is not the role  State/Government is not here to cater to every whim of the people
 
Why do you feel it’s the State/Governments’ obligation to recognize a same-sex union as a marriage?  If they refuse to do it, does that mean the same-sex couple can’t be together?  No, absolutely not.  The same-sex couple can still be together all they want, what they won’t have is the State/Government’s “blessing” saying “I hereby declare this to be a marriage”.  Why is it so important for the State/Government to declare it so?  There is no compelling argument for the State/Government to recognize a same-sex union as a marriage.  “because it’s citizens say so” or “because the citizens vote for it” is not a compelling argument. 

Round 3
Pro
#5
Forfeited
Con
#6
Forfeited
Round 4
Pro
#7
Forfeited
Con
#8
Forfeited
Round 5
Pro
#9
Forfeited
Con
#10
Guess the we're not debating this anymore?