Gay Marriage Affects Heterosexual Men, says Utah State Attorneys
by Brig Bagley
17 March 2014
In response to the plaintiff's brief in support of same sex marriage, the state filed their final arguments to the 10th District court to defend traditional marriage laws in Utah. The same arguments are revisited, saying that legalizing same-sex marriage would make marriage an "adult-centric" entity, completely ignoring the necessity of marriage to encapsulate the proper environment to procreate and raise children. Again, it argued that stripping the state of it's "right to regulate marriage as it pleases" grants liberal activist judges to dictate what is right for everyone. The legalization would corrode society, leading to "social strife".
One additional argument was that allowing gays to marry would lower the significance of marriage, decreasing the number of heterosexual marriages, increasing fatherless or motherless parenting, higher birthrates out of wedlock, and would cause heterosexual men to be less "self-sacrificing", giving them less motivation to be involved in their children's lives. In addition, the state believes that gay peoples' rights to marry someone of the opposite gender is equality and that for no good reason, gays choose not to exercise their equal right to marry opposite gender spouses.
In other words, it is the gays faults if heterosexual men decide to be less responsible and less involved in their children's lives. Heterosexual men are incapable of thinking for themselves and choosing properly how to create and foster their own families. Gay marriage will confuse straight men and completely throw them off from being able to make responsible decisions for their family. Does this make any sense?
This is not only offensive to LGBT people, but even more so to heterosexual men. Because two gay men or two lesbians can raise children, a straight man is no longer necessary in his kids' lives? It is preposterous to lay blame on anyone other than the delinquent father or mother. Adults, gay or straight, are responsible for their own actions. People choose to marry/not marry, procreate/not procreate, and raise/not raise children all on their own. How, when, or even if adults decide to do any of it is not something for government to dictate. The government does not regulate how children are raised, other than abuse.
Finally, to dismiss gay marriage because gays have the same right to marry opposite sex partners as heterosexuals, is like when people thought separate drinking fountains and bathrooms for black people was fair. This is exactly a "separate, but equal" situation, albeit arranged slightly differently. This time around, a gay person can marry, but not for love--as a straight person can. You are still saying, "Here is the exact same thing we have, but you have to have it they way we tell you to have it, not the way you want to have it."
Anyone with a clear and open mind would be shocked that the state of Utah is using arguments like these to defend their position. All of these arguments are fear-based and have no concrete evidence that any real harm will occur. They are all guesses as to what may happen in the future, whereas there is REAL harm happening right now with gay couples that do not have the same rights, opportunities, and benefits of others. It doesn't make sense to force others to suffer because someone might feel "uncomfortable" with change.
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