Rather than inviting a needed discussion about the meaning of sex and marriage or about the role of the state in regulating them, it shuts down discussion by framing the whole question not in terms of principle but of consequences.
And this is a bad thing why, exactly?
1) Ideas have consequences.
Wait, didn't you just say we should think in terms of principles and not consequences? Oh well...
You made no actual argument here. "When you change the law, people think differently." Yeah, no shit. Try arguing that in from of the Supreme Court and see how far it gets you. "Muslim marriages are legal, won't that make people think Islam is, like, totally OK?" Um, yeah, that's kind of the point.
2) We all have to live in the world that SSM will create.
Yes, it's a marriage where a few million more people can get married. You still haven't addressed how this actually affects you in any way that the law actually cares about.
Indeed, considering the low percentages of homosexual couples actually tying the knot in places where SSM has been legalized
[citation needed]
and the disdain for marriage reflected in the writings of prominent gay activists and scholars
You say this as if gay people are some monolithic group that all believe the same thing. By that logic I could accuse you of the same because of Hugh Hefner's views.
All this matters because we believe people with same-sex attraction are profoundly wounded and in need of healing.
The only healing I need is because of assholes like you.
when it prioritizes making the wounded into adoptive parents, giving them leadership positions in government, education, religion, and the military, and lionizing their condition in public observances, school curricula, and the media—how does this not profoundly affect life for the rest of us?
This sounds like you're saying gay and bisexual people should be excluded from all those things just because of their sexual orientation; I hope you aren't actually arguing that although I wouldn't put it past you at this point.
If culture is the sum of the ideas that shape it, our experience of that culture is the product of the health, virtue, and integrity of the other people who inhabit it.
This is literally the last bullet point just repeated. "The law will change and people will think differently." What, so now the tax code is invalid because it encourages stealing? Come on now.
3) "Error has no rights."
I find it hilarious that they're trying to pin this phrase on the LGBT rights movement considering its history, and especially considering that the people at Catholic Answers (and most American Catholics) seem to reject most of the document it is taken from (the Syllabus of Errors).
As artificial reproductive technologies mature we will have to recognize legal parenting arrangements comprising virtually any number of persons and gender combinations. While we’re at it, we’ll need some new genders, too.
You still haven't told us how this hurts you other than forcing you to acknowledge they exist, which is part of a little thing called living in reality. You should try it sometime.
Don’t want to rent a room in your B&B to a homosexual couple, or bake a cake for a gay wedding?
Don't want to make a wheelchair ramp, serve black people, or keep the fire exits unblocked? Just do whatever you want! The government won't care! /s
It's a public business. There are rules you have to play by, and that includes not discriminating against people.
4) Catholicism and gay rights are incompatible.
So are the KKK and civil rights for black people. That doesn't mean the government has to call up the Grand Wizard and ask what he thinks when they're discussing affirmative action.
And of the inescapable conclusion that what the state says about abortion falsifies Catholicism.
Again, the government doesn't give a shit about what you think. You don't get to make the laws just because you're a popular religion. The first amendment only goes so far, you know.
we just have to look at recent precedent.
All of those links are to cases outside the US.
it seems clear enough that the logical terminus of legalized same-sex marriage is the forced relocation of Catholics to the closet—or the catacombs.
Yes, because this is totally the same thing as being thrown to the lions.
This article makes me rage so fucking much I swear to God...