"Finally, this love is fecund. It is not confined wholly to the loving interchange of husband and wife; it also contrives to go beyond this to bring new life into being."
-Pope, Paragraph 9
This quote is saying that marriage is not only about uniting the love of a man and a woman, but that for it to be according to God's plan, it must result in bringing new life into the world. Basically, every married couple needs to produce children in order for them to be following God's plan.
This is just further demonstrating the Pope's view of marriage, and who he and all of his supporters believe should be allowed to be married. If marriage must result in procreation, that leaves out all the gay and lesbian couples in the world. For obvious reasons, they are not able to have children, so, in the Pope's mind, they should not be allowed the right to marriage.
I think this is a terrible argument. Just because they cannot have children should not mean they cannot get married. Some people who can have children are extremely irresponsible about it and end up having way more children than they can handle, so they end up putting all these kids up for adoption. If they don't put them up for adoption, these kids end up in underprivileged households where they aren't getting the amount of attention they need to feel loved, and they aren't getting the amount of food they need to be healthy. Often times, gay couples adopt children and provide them with extremely loving homes with plenty of food on the table. Sure, having a family that consists of two dads and no mom might not be exactly what the Pope wants a family to look like, but isn't that better than having children in the foster care system or orphanages? Furthermore, I know many married straight couples who never want to have children. Should these couples be denied marriage because their relationship won't result in procreation? The ability to have children should not be a factor in determining who can and cannot get married.
Gay marriage has been a political and religious issue is the United States for quite awhile now. Many strong supporters of the Christian religion and the Pope, specifically, are very against it, while many others have no problem with it. I think the Pope needs to understand that love is love. When two people can fulfill nearly every other qualification in paragraph 9 besides having children, they are deserving of marriage. Even though they cannot have children of their own, they can provide homes for many children by adopting them and raising them as their own. Isn't this important, too? Gay and lesbian couples miss out on many rights that married couples receive for the sole reason they cannot be labeled as "married". I find this extremely unfair. Love is love. It shouldn't have anything to do with whether or not two people can have children together.
Very well said, Courtney. I agree completely. I am wholly in support of gay marriage. I have many gay friends and role models in my life that have taught me that it doesn't matter who you love, it just matters that you love them. They should not get less rights simply because of their sexual orientation. That goes against our own constitution! When is America going to really believe that all men and women are truly created equal?
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I thought this was very well put. I find it exceptionally interesting that if you take every 'husband & wife' out of the sentences (in paragraph 9), I don't see how in any way these phrases can't fit to homosexual couples. The love they share embodies the exact same love any husband and wife share. If two men or two women want to make the same commitments to eachother and society that any other heterosexual adult can do, I don't see why not, especially when it does zero damage whatsoever to anyone else.
ReplyDeleteI love how you bring forth the point that many couples, gay or not, are able to fulfill the qualifications that the Pope lists in paragraph 9. Gays, however are not able to share both genes in the creation of a child. This is a great point. It displays that although one may not be able to do this, they can share a love just as deep and precious as anyone else. I totally agree with you when you say love is love and I believe that one should be able to carry out this love through their relationships, marriage, etc gay or not.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job re-wording what the Pope said into more current terms. I agree with you whole-heartedly. I think his views are flawed, especially when put in current times like today and with the technology we have---adoption, in vitro fertilization, etc. Why should the gender and sexual orientation of a couple determine whether or not they can have children? In times like today, I think all that should matter when it comes to having children is the couple's capability...income-wise, the amount of time the couple can dedicate to their child,... things like that. Things that have more to do with their lifestyle rather than their sexual orientation.
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