The AskPhilosophers logo.

Justice

Are there any arguments against allowing gay marriage that aren't religious or bigoted or both?
Accepted:
October 21, 2005

Comments

Gabriel Segal
October 23, 2005 (changed October 23, 2005) Permalink

There are no good arguments meeting that description.

  • Log in to post comments

Daniel J. Velleman
October 24, 2005 (changed October 24, 2005) Permalink

Here is an argument that is neither religious nor bigoted. (I am not convinced by the argument, but I don't think it is either religious or bigoted.)

  • Log in to post comments

Richard Heck
October 25, 2005 (changed October 25, 2005) Permalink

The article to which Dan links raises questions about marriage, adoption, and child-rearing that are often found at the basis of people's concerns about gay marriage. I think there is a great deal of discomfort in US society nowadays (I'll stick to my own country) concerning these issues and, more generally, all kinds of issues relating to family. Some people feel very profoundly that the biological link between parent and child is deeply important, and the stories one so often hears of adopted children devoting large parts of their lives to seeking their birth-parents reinforces this opinion. (So-called open adoption bypasses that problem.)

I think one can understand why someone with strong enough views along these lines would be opposed to gay marriage, in so far as gay marriage would instill certain kinds of parental rights. Of course, as has often been pointed out, such rights existed in Massachusetts before gay marriage was recognized, and there are many other jurisdictions in which such rights already exist, as well. Moreover, as the writer of the article to which Dan posted noted, such concerns do not seem to have a great deal to do with gay marriage but with deeper questions about adoption and child-rearing. Nonetheless, such concerns do tend to surface here. And, while one may find such concerns misdirected and unconvincing, they aren't necessarily bigoted.

  • Log in to post comments

Tamar Szabo Gendler
October 30, 2005 (changed October 30, 2005) Permalink

Here (http://examinedlife.typepad.com/johnbelle/2005/10/anti_same_sex_m.html)

is another attempt to offer such an argument, with second thoughts by

the author here

(http://examinedlife.typepad.com/johnbelle/2005/10/uncle_kvetch_is.html).

  • Log in to post comments
Source URL: https://askphilosophers.org/question/298
© 2005-2025 AskPhilosophers.org