Procreation Initiative: Funny but Immoral
Zachary Moore Permalink
6 comments
One of the common arguments lodged against same-sex marriage is the following: "but they can't have children."This argument is an obvious non sequitur- many different-sex married couples cannot, or choose not to have children, so should their marriages be considered any less valid?
Well, according to the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance, they should be.
This group, which was formed in response to the Washington State Supreme Court decision to uphold its ban on same-sex marriages, has just filed Initiative 957, which if passed, will:
- add the phrase, “who are capable of having children with one another” to the legal definition of marriage
- require that couples married in Washington file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage automatically annulled
- require that couples married out of state file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage classed as “unrecognized”
- establish a process for filing proof of procreation
- make it a criminal act for people in an unrecognized marriage to receive marriage benefits
According to Gregory Gadow, the organizer of the WA-DOMA:
For many years, social conservatives have claimed that marriage exists solely for the purpose of procreation... The time has come for these conservatives to be dosed with their own medicine. If same-sex couples should be barred from marriage because they can not have children together, it follows that all couples who cannot or will not have children together should equally be barred from marriage.
The guy's logic is solid, and I can't help but admire the way in which he's really reflected his opponents' words to give clarity to the issue, but come on- the enactment of this initiative won't do anything more to help same-sex couples fulfill their values, and it's just going to infringe on the values of more people. In the struggle to realize freedom for all people regardless of orientation, proposals like Initiative 957 may be funny, but any serious effort directed on its part is immoral.
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6 Comments:
It's never going to pass. It's not MEANT to pass. But as a consciousness-raising stunt, it's brilliant.
One thing that hasn't been discussed much in response is that couples in which the woman is past childbearing age would be disqualified from marriage.
This is fucking brilliant. The sponsors of this bill are putting the spotlight on hypocrisy like nobody else, and making the fundies squirm. (As well as regular old marrieds who fear it might become law--not to worry!)
Atheists wish they had strategists as smart as this. (We will someday, gays have had a few more years to get their act together).
I hope that it DOES pass.
The idea man behind this proposed law is a gay man who thinks that the procreation ruling by the court is retarded. The reason he is trying to pass this law is in order to get the court to throw it out and subsequently force them to throw out the anti gay marriage ruling they issued in the past.
For these reasons, I hope it passes, for if it does it will surely be struck down shortly thereafter, paving the way for gay rights by destroying the procreation argumnent.
The guy is a fucking idiot and so are all of the people that agree with this shit.
It's the perfect marriage between "The Handmaid's Tale" and "1984". What's not to love? You love it... I know you do. Don't you? You wouldn't want to be a subversive now, would you? Procreation is your civic duty. Your government needs soldiers and taxpayers. Sacrifice is gain.
Mom,
So let me get this straight: the guy who propsed this bill is an idiot. In addition, anyone who agrees that "marriage for procreation" should be consistently applied to all marriages is ALSO an idiot?
So, mom, are you saying that procreation should only be a standard held to gay couples, and not straight ones?
Sounds like youre a bigot and a homophobe.
Id rather be an idiot than a prejudiced asshole.
I think it's a really good thing that this bill is directed at straight couples. It's about time that straight people realized that they are NOT safe from the right-wing's attacks on sexuality. It's not just gays anymore, folks, it's been straights for just as long. Your right to sex has been a target for a long time, and many people have been very complacent, even agreeing with such attacks.
Where are you?
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