On The Alleged Negative Impacts Of Gay Marriage On Heterosexual Marriage

The comment was made (September 2008):

"In spite of their best efforts, supporters of Prop 8 have yet to paint a sufficiently clear picture to me showing how Same-sex Marriages (SSM) will affect society in general, and Different-sex Marriages (DSM) in particular.

With that in mind, can any supporters of Prop 8 help me out and paint a "word picture" of how the world will change should Same-sex marriages become accepted by the government? Please pick a time frame (5 years? 15 years? 50 years?) and contrast how the state/country/world will be different with SSM being legal and accepted.

Since many arguments against SSM try to tie in DSM, please help me to also understand how DSM will change. I would think the most easily measured "destruction" to DSM would be a decrease in the incidence of DSM, or an increase in the divorce rate among DSM. If you feel capable of predicting changes to either of these metrics over time as a result of SSM, that would be very helpful."

To which I responded:

Isn't it obvious that people who are otherwise heterosexual will turn gay in droves and will soon be ready to proposition angels of the same gender who call them to repentance? Heterosexuals considering a traditional marriage will say, "Marriage means nothing now that gays can have it, too!" "Now that marriage has been rendered meaningless, I may as well shack up with my different-gender boyfriend/girlfriend. No one will care." Think of the young boys struggling with same-sex attraction who will now be encouraged to marry someone of their own gender instead of turning to God and getting shock therapy to turn them straight.

Seriously, though, I also fail to see how same-sex marriage will "hurt families." That notwithstanding, I am against same-sex "marriage," not because I believe it is my place to condemn homosexual behavior, but rather because the term "marriage" carries a religious significance, and I believe it is not the state's business to be telling religions what is or is not sanctioned by God. The state should get out of the marriage business altogether and simply have civil unions for all couples, gay or straight, and leave it up to the churches to decide which marriages they will and will not solemnize.