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In light of some of the utterly ridiculous arguments being trotted out on the gay marriage issue, I thought it would be interesting to look back at some of the ridiculous justifications for denial of other, more serious, individual rights in the past.
I'm not going to list all the justifications as the post will be too long to read, just some bullet points with eery similarities.
My point isn't to equate the situations, but to equate the absurdity of the arguments and showing the almost word for word parallels in many cases.
With Slavery there were numerous biblical justifications.
[SIZE="5"]Womens Sufferage[/SIZE]
- They can already vote in local elections (reminds me of the "YOU CAN get married...to a woman")
- Most women don't' want the vote ("gay people do not want to get married"-Minister for Justice, July 2005)
- "Woman Suffrage is based on the idea of the equality of the sexes, and tends to establish those competitive relations which will destroy chivalrous consideration" ("You'll destroy the institution of marriage!!!")
- If women became involved in politics, they would stop marrying, having children, and the human race would die out (too easy...)
- “It is dangerous to change a system that works.” (too easy...)
[SIZE="5"]Inter-Racial Marriage/Gay Marriage parallels[/SIZE]
Argument I: Because God says so
Argument II: It's unnatural“If God had intended for same-sex couples to marry,
he would have made Adam and Steve, not Adam and
Eve.” (Vermont House and Senate Judiciary Committee Public Hearings, 2000)
“Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he
placed them on separate continents"
(Virginia Trial Judge, 1967)
"Same-sex relationships are unnatural and unhealthy"
(Virginia trial judge, 1967)
“The amalgamation of the races is not only unnatural, but is always
productive of deplorable results"
(California Supreme Court, 1948)Argument III: It will lead to polygamy, incestual marriagesPersons wishing to enter into interracial marriages come from the “dregs of
society.”
Homosexuals are “perverted” and “abominable.”
"If we allow “gay marriage,” then the next thing you know we'll have brothers and sisters wanting to marry each other, or demands for legalization of
polygamous marriages."
(Vermont House and Senate Judiciary Committee Public Hearings, 2000)
“[If interracial couples have a right to marry], all our marriage acts forbidding
intermarriage between persons within certain degrees of consanguinity are
void.”
(Perez v. Lippold)
“The underlying factors that constitute justification for laws against
miscegenation closely parallel those which sustain the validity of prohibitions
against incest and incestuous marriages.”
(Perez v. Lippold)
“[T]he State's prohibition of interracial marriage . . . stands on the same
footing as the prohibition of polygamous marriage, or incestuous marriage"
(Loving v. Virginia)
Argument IV: Nobody's stopping you getting married
Argument V: It will cause the breakdown of society"Gay people are free to marry just like anyone else, as long as they marry a member of the opposite sex."
(Vermont House and Senate Judiciary Committee Public Hearings, 2000)
“Each [party seeking to marry a member of a different race] has the right
and the privilege of marrying within his or her own group.”
(Perez v. Lippold)
Argument VI: You can't have kidsSame-sex marriage would precipitate the breakdown of society.
(Vermont House and Senate Judiciary Committee Public Hearings, 2000)
“Civilized society has the power of self-preservation, and, marriage being the
foundation of such society, most of the states in which the Negro forms an
element of any note have enacted laws inhibiting intermarriage between the
white and black races.”
(Perez v. Lippold)
Argument VIII: Won't someone please think of the children!!!Same-sex couples cannot biologically conceive children together, and therefore can't satisfy the goals of marriage.
“When people of the same race marry, they cannot possibly have any
progeny, . . . and such a fact sufficiently justifies those laws which forbid
their marriages.”
Your in good company guys...."their kids will get slagged in school" "it will turn their kids gay"
(me, paraphrasing various arguments)
“It is contended that interracial marriage has adverse effects not only upon
the parties thereto but upon their progeny . . . and that the progeny of a
marriage between a Negro and a Caucasian suffer not only the stigma of such
inferiority but the fear of rejection by members of both races.”
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Originally Posted by JCSkinner
