Protest

[onefixedstar]

A group called Canadians Against Same-Sex Marriage is claiming that legalizing gay marriage will open the door to legalizing marriage between close blood relatives and between humans and animals. Because naturally, once people realize that marriage is a socially constructed institution we will no longer be capable of setting boundaries for it. It'll be just like when we decided that maybe women were entitled to a few rights too, and the next thing we knew dogs and cats were voting in every election and cows were agitating for mandatory vegetarianism. Perhaps David Boaz has the right idea and governments should get out of the marriage business altogether. That way those who wished to marry could be married by a private organization that defined marriage in a way acceptable to them. Or perhaps marriage ought to be limited to people raising children together, regardless of the sex or sexual orientation of those involved. Either way would be fairer and make more sense than the current restrictions. Of course, the CASSM members are entitled to any views they care to hold, and they're entitled to expound those views. I just wish there weren't quite so many MPs who seem to agree with this nonsense.

Comments

[semiotic-trader.livejournal.com]

Well said. Why do these people not see the errors in their reasoning? It's like eight kinds of logical fallacies identified in my first-year philosophy course.

*sigh*

I guess we still have a long way to go... My only hope is that these opinions will die out with these people.

[stillvisions.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm still pushing for cats to get the vote ;)

The article looks like more the product of a slow news day, and maybe the editorial board seeking some more letters to the editor; the group sounds (even in their own words) less-than-experienced. I guess in the absence of any common-sense reason why to not allow same-sex marraiges (and without falling back on the religious angle, even if it's the underlying motivation) this is probably the best they can come up with, short of moving to eliminate marraige completely as a government thing. *shrug* Not likely to spur the public's care factor at all; the protests if the government backed off would be much worse.

[onefixedstar.livejournal.com]

I agree that the group sounds inexperienced. That doesn't make it any less frustrating to hear them spew forth such ridiculous statements, and it's no reason not to mock their statements. After all, they're not the only ones arguing these points. The same issues came up during the Texas sodomy case (i.e. legalizing sodomy will open the door to legalizing incest and bestiality).

[stillvisions.livejournal.com]

Granted, feel free to mock with great enthusiasm; I wholeheartedly agree. I was just saying I wasn't surprised by them trying this angle, dumb or otherwise...

Silly people...