Debate over Same-Sex Marriage

This was a research paper for a course entitled Feminist and Multicultural Theologies. I unpack what gender complementarianism is, examine its history, and compare it to how Scripture and earlier Christian Tradition understood gender. This allows me to establish that gender complementarianism is a recent innovation in secular and Christian thinking about gender, and that it can be described as a "trajectory" from Scripture and Tradition on gender, influenced by social, ideological, and intellectual developments in secular societies. I then pursue a critique of gender complementarianism, arguing that it is an "unsatisfactory trajectory" because it has troubling implications for orthodox theology, is not borne out by empirical experience and observation, and has harmful effects on human beings and societies and on ethical development.

CHAPTER 9 Romance, Rights, Recognition, Responsibilities and Radicalism: Same-Sex Couples' Views on Civil Partnership and Marriage Victoria Clarke University of the West of England, Bristol, UK Carole Burgoyne University of Exeter, UK and Maree Burns Eating ...

The conversation on same-sex relationships in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) has been a long and emotional one. For ten years, this denomination, amongst others, has struggled to define its own position regarding this very important and highly emotive social issue. When conversations span a long period of time, it becomes easy to digress and to lose focus of the central questions that need to be worked through. It is thus important to look back and take stock of where the MCSA has come from and where it has moved to in this debate. In this article I will give a description of the history of the debate on same-sex relationships in the MCSA by drawing on the official statements and reports of Conference of the MCSA, the Connexional Executive and the Doctrine, Ethics and Worship Committee. Reflecting on this history, this article will suggest further steps for the MCSA in its ongoing search to find grace and truth on this matter.

This article defends the thesis that, in light of the postulates of liberal ethics, it is not possible to put forward universal arguments in support of any form of marriage. The existing forms of marriage should be either deemed unjust or founded on specific arguments recognized within a particular political community and determining the understanding of justice in a particular society. It defends the thesis that the requirement of universality, and consequently of impartiality, is not met, since behind every form of marriage there is a certain " minimum " anthropological approach. Marriage is discussed as a privilege granted to particular groups by the political community. The comments are made with reference to the discussion between Krzysztof Saja and Tomasz Sieczkowski concerning the problem of discrimination against same-sex couples in Polish legislation.

How does cohort affect discourse about same-sex marriage? Existing
research shows that both cohort replacement and intra-cohort attitude change are
causing public opinion to liberalize, but it has not explained how and why members of
different cohorts develop distinct attitudes or how these phenomena vary within
cohorts. This article shows how the cultural analysis of social generational change
complements demographic studies of cohort replacement to create a more comprehensive
solution to Mannheim’s ‘problem of generations’. Qualitative analysis of interviews
with two cohorts of Midwestern Americans shows, first, how discourses emerge
based on the interaction of cohort and ideology in an informant’s cultural repertoire.
Further analysis shows that cohort shapes attitudes about homosexuality because of
the mainstream cultural construction of it that informants encountered when they
came of age. Finally, in an analysis of exceptional cases, I show that counter-cultural
immersion can insulate cohort subgroups from cultural change and that period effects
are challenging older liberals to change their pre-existing worldviews. I argue that the
analysis of social generational processes, which distinguish the ‘generation as an actuality’
from the cohort, is an essential complement to demographic analysis in generational
theory.

The European Convention on Human Rights does not require European nations to redefine marriage to include same-sex relationships. However, the European Court of Human Rights may rule in the future that member states must recognize same-sex civil unions.

Using the contemporary issue of equal access to marriage for same-sex couples as a case study, we examine two distinctive frameworks within which social advocacy may be pursued. We argue that when we speak as psychologists, we use a discourse of mental health; when we speak as social activists, we use a discourse of human rights and justice. Although these two frameworks may converge in supporting equal access to marriage, they represent radically different ways of understanding inequality and advocating for social change. A discourse of mental health focuses on psychological damage or deficit (caused, for example, by the social exclusion of particular groups or individuals. A discourse of rights asserts universally-applicable principles of equality, justice, freedom, and dignity. Further, the paradigmatic framework of psychology as an approach to understanding human beings in the world seems fundamentally antithetical to the conceptual framework of human rights, as a basis for soci...

Following the death of 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teen who committed suicide after forced “conversion therapy,” President Barack Obama called for a nationwide ban on psychotherapy aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity. The administration argued that because conversion therapy causes substantial psychological harm to minors, it is neither medically nor ethically appropriate. We fully agree with the President and believe that this is a step in the right direction. Of course, in addition to being unsafe as well as ethically unsound, current conversion therapy approaches aren’t actually effective at doing what they claim to do – changing sexual orientation. But we also worry that this may be a short-term legislative solution to what is really a conceptual problem. The question we ought to be asking is “what will happen if and when scientists do end up developing safe and effective technologies that can alter sexual orientation?”

The conversation on same-sex relationships in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) has been a long and emotional one. For ten years, this denomination, amongst others, has struggled to define its own position regarding this very important and highly emotive social issue. When conversations span a long period of time, it becomes easy to digress and to lose focus of the central questions that need to be worked through. It is thus important to look back and take stock of where the MCSA has come from and where it has moved to in this debate. In this article I will give a description of the history of the debate on same-sex relationships in the MCSA by drawing on the official statements and reports of Conference of the MCSA, the Connexional Executive and the Doctrine, Ethics and Worship Committee. Reflecting on this history, this article will suggest further steps for the MCSA in its ongoing search to find grace and truth on this matter.

This book takes a distinctive approach to the same-sex-union debate by framing the issue as a matter of marriage. Darrin Snyder Belousek demonstrates that the interpretation of Scripture affects whether the church should revise its doctrine of marriage for the sake of sanctioning same-sex union. Engaging charitably yet critically with opposing viewpoints, he delves deeply into what marriage is, what it is for, and what it means as presented in the biblical narrative and theological tradition, articulating a biblical-traditional theology of marriage for the contemporary church. Afterword by Wesley Hill.

Review of the nature of the similarities and differences between New Labour and Coalition governments’ family policies, before going on to consider the source and features of Coalition Mod and Rocker approaches to families and to explore their universalist and targeted nature.  In particular we do this through consideration of, firstly, the treatment of marriage and stability in and for families, and secondly, two key forms of social investment in families: early intervention so as prevent poverty and disadvantage in the next generation, and interventions to turn around dysfunctional families who must be made to help themselves.

Against Equality is an argument in support of those who dare to be different, a collection of essays that stand in stark contrast to an ever-growing LGBT mainstream working towards assimilation, and, arguably, cultural erasure. Never ones to shy away from a fight, the authors included in this timely collection address the trifecta of political rifts within the LGBT community: marriage, the military, and prisons.

“Equality” is a concept inextricably linked to positive social progress, but as the authors collected here suggest, it’s a concept that often functions as a smoke screen to hide a world riddled with systemic injustice. Take marriage, for instance: is the right to marry whomever we want really a worthy goal for the queer community? What if this perceived “right” is actually a wrong? Against Equality suggests that seeking inclusion in a system that’s based on institutional and economic exploitation is an unacceptable path forward.

O texto que agora se publica corresponde, em boa parte, à dissertação de Mestrado em Ciências Jurídicas que apresentei e defendi na Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Lisboa, em junho de 2009. De lá para cá, muitas mudanças ocorreram no Brasil, em Portugal e no resto do mundo, justificando que estejamos chegando a essa nova edição completamente reformulada e ampliada.

O julgamento da ADPF 132 e da ADI 4.277 pelo Supremo Tribunal Federal – guardião da Constituição – determinou que a união homoafetiva constitui uma entidade familiar e que dela decorrem todos os direitos e deveres que emanam da união estável entre homem e mulher. A partir daí, automaticamente se permitiu o casamento civil por conversão e logo houve o acatamento, pelo STJ, da tese da possibilidade do casamento homoafetivo direto, tese que já era defendida na 1ª edição desta obra.

O objetivo desse estudo continua sendo o de oferecer um panorama atualizado da proteção constitucional da homoafetividade, do reconhecimento das uniões e do casamento entre pessoas do mesmo sexo, assim como da possibilidade do exercício da parentalidade (seja pela procriação medicamente assistida, pela adoção ou pela guarda) por indivíduos e casais homossexuais, no Brasil e no resto do mundo.

Pouco a pouco, mais e mais lugares vão reconhecendo as uniões homoafetivas em âmbito nacional ou local. A outro giro, ainda existe uma forte rejeição às uniões homoafetivas que nos indica que o reconhecimento pacífico dos modelos de vida não tradicionais ainda possuem um longo caminho pela frente.

A Autora.

While what feels like the entirety of the gay and lesbian movement is marching in unison towards some vague notion of equality, the Against Equality collective has been quietly assembling a digital archive to document the critical resistance to the politics of inclusion. This pocket-sized book of archival texts lays out some of the historical foundations of queer resistance to the gay marriage mainstream alongside more contemporary inter-subjective critiques that deal directly with issues of race, class, gender, citizenship, age, ability, and more. In portable book form, the critical conversations that are happening so readily on the internet will no longer be withheld from those with little to no online access like queer and trans prisoners, people of low income, rural folks and the technologically challenged.

Same-sex marriage has become an important political issue in the LGBT communities in Taiwan within the past few years. The marriage equality movement emphasizes that marriage is a basic human right and adopts the rhetoric of citizenship to seek LGBT inclusion in the nation-state. At the same time, a queer left that critiques the LGBT inclusionary effort into the nation- state and the normalizing forces of same-sex marriage has also solidified as a strong voice and politics against same-sex marriage in this debate. In this paper, through clarifying the historical context of the marriage equality movement and the specificity of neoliberal sexual governance in the United States, I question the intelligibility and effectiveness of the queer left’s appropriation of the discourse of “homonormativity” in the Taiwanese context. Drawing from Eve Sedgwick’s reflexive critiques on paranoid hermeneutics of suspicion commonly practiced by queer theorists, I point to the limits of directly employing queer critiques as a political strategy, and the possibility of an anti- binary stance on the same-sex marriage debate in the current movement.

Objective: The relationship between beliefs about the cause of homosexuality, political and religious ideology, and attitudes toward same-sex unions in the United States is unclear. This study aims to examine the mediating influence and socially embedded nature of attribution beliefs at a time when attitudes toward same-sex unions are undergoing substantial changes in the American public.
Method: This study employs simultaneous equation path models and a recent national, random sample of American adults (Baylor Religion Survey 2010) to test each hypothesis.
Results: Results reveal that constructed opinions about the origin and controllability of homosexuality significantly influence support for same-sex unions. However, these opinions are socially embedded, especially within particular political and religious ideologies.
Conclusion: These findings highlight that while widespread changes in beliefs about the cause of homosexuality may presage shifts in support for same-sex unions, many will be able to resist those shifts toward support, possibly leading to their further marginalization within society.

I analyze three case studies of marriage equality activism and marriage equality–based groups after the passage of Proposition 8 in California. Evaluating the JoinTheImpact protests of 2008, the LGBTQ rights group GetEQUAL, and the group One Struggle One Fight, I argue that these groups revise queer theoretical arguments about marriage equality activism as by definition assimilationist, homonormative, and single-issue. In contrast to such claims, the cases studied here provide a snapshot of heterogeneous, intersectional, and coalition-based social justice work in which creative methods of protest, including direct action and flash mobs, are deployed in militant ways for marriage rights and beyond.

In numerous circumstances on daily basis, the pathetic religious authorities of Islam prove to be worthless and shameful. They want to be involved in the social affairs of their collapsed societies that they even have no mental ability to study. And they want to have a say on the political decision-making of their trashy countries that are, despite their involvement, used as tools by the colonial powers – which in and by itself proves how idiotic, silly and disreputable these religious authorities are.

The basic characteristic of all – indiscriminately – religious authorities of all Muslim societies and countries from Makkah and Medina to Al Azhar to Jerusalem is their immense ignorance. Engulfed in useless studies of unimportant issues, the students of all Islamic religious universities and high schools do not study a wide range of subjects that are far more important than what they worthlessly learn. These students after the completion of their fake studies are appointed in different mosques, waqfs and other related positions whereby they disastrously propagate their valueless knowledge which at the same time entails full ignorance of very important topic, subjects, and fields.

This calamitous reality will bring a dead end to the Islamic World. What is even worse is that it brings also disaster to many other faithful people, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Confucians and followers of diverse traditional African religions (like Waaqeffannaa, the venerated monotheistic religion of the Oromo Nation), who – sticking to their tradition and principles, values and virtues – reject today’s world deviations and perversions.
In what sense does the ignorance of the pathetic religious authorities, fake religious universities, and false scholars of Islam afflict faithful people of other religions worldwide?

Today’s world is marked by the vicious Freemasonic – Zionist attack against all values, virtues, principles and concepts of all the religious systems in the world. The long evangelized Global Economy and Global State (where hypothetically all will have ‘peace’) is going to be a militant atheist state whereby all perversions, sins and crimes will be depenalized, legitimized and even institutionalized in order to turn the Human Being into a worthless beast proscribed to disappear.

The reality of our world that the Freemasonry-Zionism-controlled mass media do their best to conceal is not that of a fight against the fake Islamic Caliphate or against the theatrical Islamic Terrorism; it is not even a clash of civilizations – which is actually impossible to happen and consists in a ludicrous, pseudo-scholarly aberration. And there has never been a polarization between East and West as so persistently the global mass media of falsehood claim.

The real divide of our times is between Faith and Lawlessness.
First published on 4th October 2014 here;
https://megalommatiscomments.wordpress.com/2014/10/04/the-idiotic-sheikhs-of-islam-islam-christianity-freemasonry-and-homosexual-marriages/