Groobie,
I feel like this is an argument which keeps going around in circle. I have given 4 restrictions to marriage. You cannot marry (1) a minor, (2) a close relative, (3) a person who is already legally married, and (4) a person of the same sex.
I ask, Why do you agree with the first three restrictions?
The answer I get back is, "Because there are valid reasons for those restrictions."
OK, I say, there are valid reasons for restriction 4, also. And, I procede to enumerate the reasons.
To which, I am asked, But what about their rights? What about their happiness?
Well, what about the rights of the sister to love her brother? What about *their* happiness?
Oh, but there are reasons why a sister shouldn't marry her brother.
OK, there are reasons a man shouldn't marry a man.
But what about their rights? What about their happiness? Don't you *want* them to be happy? Why are you so intolerant?
And round and round we go.
All I can say is, people do not oppose same-sex marriage because they are intolerant or because they want to stomp out gay people's joy. They oppose same-sex marriage because they believe there are valid reasons for doing so. As long as you keep asking why we are intolerant or why we don't want gays to have the same rights to happiness that we enjoy ourselves, you are asking the wrong question.
