Legally, marriage is a contract between two individuals specifying their respective duties toward one another and their offspring; their property rights with respect to the property they hold in common; and how this property will be distributed or inherited at the dissolution of the marriage.

In some religions, marriage is also a sacrament and is defined by tradition as a union between a man and a woman. Such groups are opposed to same-sex marriage on the grounds that allowing people of the same sex to marry somehow destroys the institution of marriage. If so, how so?

Some are willing to allow gay couples to have domestic partnerships, with all the same rights as marriage, just so long as they don’t call it marriage. Gays have argued that calling it something else sets them apart from the mainstream and denies their relationships the same legitimacy and dignity that marriage confers on heterosexual couples. And the California Supreme Court agreed when it struck down California’s law banning same-sex marriage.

Opponents of same-sex marriage seem to be saying that, because they are in the majority, they have the right to define homosexuality as illegitimate, and to deny homosexuals the legitimacy conferred by marriage, and they have put Proposition 8 on the ballot to change the State’s Constitution and overturn the Supreme Court Decision.

The most prominent theme in the pro-Prop. 8 ads is that if the initiative does not pass, public school teachers will be compelled to teach young children that men can marry men, women can marry women, and that homosexuality is a legitimate lifestyle choice. This, presumably, is to be avoided because if children get the idea that same-sex marriage is okay, they might decide to become homosexual.

Can you make a deeper and more detailed analysis based on the outline above?

Topics: politics, religion, marriage, homosexuality, same-sex marriage