Synthesis Paper on Gay Marriage
Caroline Treinen Ms. Pajer English 101 Synthesis Essay Who are we to dictate who someone loves? The definition of love is the action that two people share. The definition does not say love only occurs between a man and a woman. The article, “Gay marriage proposals destructive to society, Vatican official says,” is an argument against gay marriage. The author, John Thavis, claims that homosexuals are just struggling to find themselves and that same-sex marriage disrupts the normal sexuality and fertility of a couple.
In “Support for Homosexuals’ Civil Liberties”, Kristin Kenneavy discusses how religious outlooks influence a family’s beliefs on same sex marriage. The two articles show the different views on gay marriage by explaining different attitudes toward homosexuality, the future implications of gay marriage and the role that religion determines when it comes to beliefs on same-sex marriage. The American gay movement was inspired from Germany because in 1867 “a renegade legal scholar named Karl Heinrich Ulrichs went before the Congress of German Jurists, in Munich, to plead for the repeal of sodomy laws”(Ross).
Magnus Hirschfeld had established the first gay-rights organization. Henry Gerber founded a Society for Human Rights in Chicago. New York then turned into a very popular gay life town. New York even “passed laws against cross-dressing, onstage representations of homosexuals, and gatherings of gays in clubs”(Ross). One of the main reasons that people look down upon gay marriage is because the Bible states that a man and woman need to come together as one in order for the human race to be successful and to reproduce.
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If the number of gay and lesbian couples grow, the human population won’t and America will struggle with our leadership position as one of the strongest countries in the world. Most people would agree that same-sex marriage is a sin, but so is abortion, gluttony, and stealing, but everyone still performs those deeds. Why are they wasting so much time arguing about same-sex marriage and not paying any attention to any of the other sins that so many people perform?
In “Gay marriage proposals destructive to society, Vatican official says,” Cardinal Ratzinger asserts that “recent legislative proposals for gay marriage are part of a larger modern rupture between sexuality and fertility. ” He is stating that gay marriage could destroy the status quo of marriage. He argues that normal marriage is a man and a woman uniting as one, not a man and a man or a woman and a woman. A man and a woman are meant to be together not only for physical purposes, but also for moral ones.
There is no way that two men or two women could be together morally because it is not in the Bible. He states that homosexuals are considered people who are suffering and want to find their way, but making gay marriage legal doesn’t really help these people. Ratzinger said that “this is a trend that separates us from all the great culture of humanity, which have always recognized the particular significance of sexuality: that a man and a woman are created to jointly be the guarantee of the future of humanity. ”
On the other hand, in “Support for Homosexuals’ Civil Liberties”, the author states “traditional gender role attitudes and support for homosexuals’ civil liberties are found to negatively co-vary over time. ” Religious attitudes differ in both their approaches to the roles of men and women in family settings and their approach towards homosexuality. The author explains that typical household is a male, who has a job, and a female, who is a housewife and children, who usually just go to school and watch cartoons.
If two men are a part of a household, it destroys the stereotypical household and the familial dynamic. Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI “ said gay marriage proposals were just one example of the tremendous changes challenging European culture. ” He believes that gay marriage promotes the idea that any type of union is morally acceptable, which in this case it is not because it is destroying the status quo of normal marriage. Ratzinger claims that the European culture has “passed from a Christian culture to an aggressive form of secularism that at times is intolerant.
As an example of this intolerance, the cardinal cited a case in Sweden where a Christian minister was imprisoned for preaching against homosexuality on the basis of Scripture. ” Ratzinger is complaining that his perfect Catholic culture is turning into a distorted version of secularism, which asserts the right to be free from religious rule and teachings. Someone who preaches against homosexuality can risk imprisonment because it is against Catholic beliefs. In “Support for Homosexuals’ Civil Liberties”, Kenneacy also comments on the future implications of gay marriage.
Religious beliefs play an important role in defining social acceptance and functions of families. Gays and lesbians don’t receive worldwide support when it comes to protection of their civil liberties because they aren’t considered full citizens. He writes that “heterosexual dominance works by reserving the private sphere of romance, marriage, and family for heterosexuals only. That dominance is legitimated by constructing lesbians and gays as natural outlaws to the family. ” Lesbian and gay couples aren’t considered natural, which is why they are basically shunned from being considered natural.
More liberal religious traditions have supported the practicing homosexuals. The conservative religions have been in groups that are vocally opposed to civil liberties for gay men and lesbian women. Cardinal Ratzinger considers religion to be a big determination in his belief that same-sex marriage should not be allowed. He states that “Islam represents a special challenge for Europeans. In a positive sense, he said, Christians should be reflecting on the deep religious practice of Muslims, their firm faith in God, their awareness that we “are all under God’s judgment” and the observance of common religious practices. But he also believes that Muslims should learn from the Christians and how religious freedom is important to them. Kenneavy believes that the Catholic Church determines the belief in same sex marriage and “has unequivocally voiced its view that the acceptance of homosexuality threatens the family because homosexual family forms are not ordained by God. ” The duties of a husband and women are supposed to be performed by a man and a woman, not two men or two women. In the Bible, a family of two men or two females is not natural. It is not right.
Although many Catholics look negatively upon homosexuals and marriage, other individual Catholics may no necessarily completely go along with the church policy about homosexuality. But other than that most Catholics are considered to have conservative beliefs when it comes to accepting homosexuals. One of these articles supports gay marriage and the other one strongly doesn’t, but they both have a sense of Catholicism, which states that marriage should be between a man and a woman. The Catholic Church believes that homosexuality threatens the family because homosexual family forms are not in the bible.
Bibliography Brewer, Paul R. “The Shifting Foundations of Public Opinion about Gay Rights. ” Journal of Politics 65. 4 (2003): 1208-1220. Business Source Complete. Web. Kenneavy, Kristin. “Support for Homosexuals’ Civil Liberties: The Influence of Familial Gender Role Attitudes Across Religious Denominations. ” Project Muse 90. 4 (2012). Web. Ross, Alex. "Love on the March. " The New Yorker. N. p. , 12 Nov. 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. <http://www. newyorker. com/reporting/2012/11/12/121112fa_fact_ross>.
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