One thing I find encouraging on here!

[robvalue]

I have heard the argument that same sex marriage shouldn't be allowed because the bible says marriage is between a man and a woman. There's two glaring problems with this:

1) The bible doesn't just say this. The bible says a man can have multiple wives. And I've never seen any christian saying this is OK. So it doesn't even make sense to try and argue from the bible, then ignore what it actually says.

2) Marriage no longer has to have anything to do with religion. I had a totally non-religious wedding, and religion has no bearing on our relationship. It just means we are married in the eyes of the law, and of course it means a lot to us personally. The very definition of marriage has changed. Why should this be different for homosexuals?

The only real reason to be against homosexuals, either in general or to stop them marrying, is just pure hatred towards them. People don't like difference from the norm. Some people hate them just because they do, and some back it up with religious stuff.

In my opinion, I think homophobia is as rife as it has ever been, it's just most people hide it better now. I hope I'm wrong about that, but it's not exactly easy to get accurate statistics! We have scientific evidence that it's genetic, but that doesn't seem to mean a lot to some people. And even if it was a choice, so what? I still see no reason to be angry about it.

I think it's something that is often learnt from the parents. I have always found it somewhat baffling from an evolutionary point of view, as a homosexual is not a rival for possible mates. Where does all this hate come from?