What s wrong with gay marriage

The gay-marriage movement has lately made dizzying progress. Last November, voters in three US states Maine, Maryland, and Washington extended marriage rights to same-sex couples; this year, legislators in Rhode Island, Delaware, and Minnesota have done the same, while those in Illinois, Nevada, and New Mexico have taken steps in that direction. Uruguay, New Zealand and France now allow same-sex couples to marry. Even staunch opponents of homosexuality concede that the tide is mounting against them — and yet they continue to put up a vigorous fight. Where are the philosophers amidst this clash? Perhaps surprisingly, they have remained largely silent.

Our great writing is also available in print. Get our magazine. In rallying in opposition to marriage reform, religious campaigners claim that their arguments are grounded in reason and common sense. But take a closer look and you'll spot the homophobia, says Jason Wakefield. I have been told my natural urges are a choice.

Calling something marriage does not make it marriage. Marriage has always been a covenant between a man and a woman which is by its nature ordered toward the procreation and education of children and the unity and wellbeing of the spouses. They propose the union between two men or two women. This denies the self-evident biological, physiological, and psychological differences between men and women which find their complementarity in marriage. It also denies the specific primary purpose of marriage: the perpetuation of the human race and the raising of children.

Same-sex marriage also known as gay marriage is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender , entered into in a civil or religious ceremony. There are records of same-sex marriage dating back to the first century. In the modern era, same-sex marriage started being legalized at the beginning of the 21st century.