Response to Arcanus - "Do Homosexuals have equal rights"

[Tiberius]

It is not something that can be explained. You have to love someone to know what rights and privileges you want them to have. You don't know what rights and privileges couples should have, and you don't understand why they need legal protection. That means that either you don't love anyone, or you can't empathize with people who have had these rights and privileges interfered with. Possibly both.

No, I do love lots of people, and I've been in love with people. I believe that everyone should have rights and certain privileges. I'm a proponent of equality, which means you treat everyone as if they were equal. In no possible way could marriage benefits fit in with that model, because it treats people who are married in a different way to people who are not.

I can say with certainty that all of your positions on policies show no concern with what happens to other people. If what another person or couple wants falls out of your myopic view of what government should be then it shouldn't happen.

A ridiculous assertion. I am of course concerned with what happens to other people, but I do not think it is the responsibility of the government to play the part of the nanny and look after us like we are completely unable. Your last sentence of course applies to everyone. If I proposed something that you personally didn't think went in line with *your* view of government, you wouldn't want it either.

You ask me what gives couples the right to affirm their rights and privileges. I ask you what gives you the right to deny them those things.

Oh no you don't. Privileges (which are what we are talking about here) aren't put in place by default, so you must back them up with an argument. I've already outlined why I don't think they should they should exist anyway.

If it can be demonstrated that people in a relationship enjoy such emotional benefits as enable them to be less troublesome and incurr less cost, and be more productive and pay more tax, then it would could be good policy for the government to encourage such a socially profitable arrangement by returning a portion of the incremental tax income.

Right, but this is ignoring all the relationships that do not enjoy such benefits. Around 40% of marriages end in divorce, which costs the state in time and money since it has to go through the justice system. Countless numbers of "couples" take advantage of the system to get money as well.