[quote][i]Originally posted by XXX[/i]
<p align="justify">There are a lot of things consenting adults cannot do: they can't run around naked in the park, they can't marry multiple people, they can't marry siblings, they can't eat shit and drink piss in public, they can't marry animals. Also, it's insulting to compare the issue of homosexual "marriage" with the plight other races have had to face in the past. One could infer from this baseless idea that being black or brown is the same as being a homosexual... which is not.
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First up: you didn't answer either question. Second, you make the strawman arugment that I've heard so many times before. Your logic goes: Because "running around naked in public" is illegal (in most places, anyway) then same-sex marrigages cannot be allowed? That's sophistry at its finest. Behavior A has no connection to Behavior B, but Your "logic" could then be applied to any human behavior to condemn or praise it. Just because certain behaviors are not "allowed" (I'm assuming you mean by law), does that mean they should be condemned? Ever jaywalked, there XXX?
The more pertinent question your sophistry fails to address is what should be the role of government in our Constitutional republic? My argument is that the running thread through our Constitution is,at heart, the right to be left alone. If you are engaged in an activity that harms no one you should be allowed to continue that activity. The examples you provide, in my view, (with two exceptions: marrying first degree relatives due to chance of consanguinity genetic disorders--even then, if there were no chance of having children, I'm not sure I'd have a problem with it, and since animals aren't consenting adults that would be considered a red herring to my original arugment) should be allowed--again as long as consenting adults who harm no one are performing them.
To me the bottom line of this argument is simple: don't like homosexulality, XXX? Don't practice it. Since there is no evidence I'm aware of that same sex marriage harms anyone, let other consenting adults lives their lives as they see fit.
Finally you repeat your sohpistry with your repudiation of my "baseless" claim. So, in your view, if prejudice isn't based on race it's meaningless? I would submit that the numerous examples of bigotry based on the whole human spectrum of differences, religion, gender, social class, etc invalid that claim and shows a lack of understanding of world history.
