Proponents of Prop 8 believe adding gay marriage to the institution of marriage will mark a decline in the institution of marriage, but it will not affect the strong individual hetero marriages the proponents are part of.
They're welcome to believe that. Of course, I'm going to ask for evidence to support this belief.
Most folks' evidence is that the church told them so (or reinforced their existing belief). Belief isn't evidence.
Now for the folks who try to cite studies and data, they point to the decline in the number of marriages in countries that allow same-sex marriage and the increase in unmarried couples living together and having children. They fail to note that this is just a continuation of preexisting trends; allowing same-sex marriage had no effect on the numbers.
This shows me that they see marriage as a social control mechanism (and they like social control mechanisms), but extending it is at odds with the other social control mechanisms they want to see extended.
The institution of marriage is built on tradition, but it's a constantly evolving tradition. Modern western marriage dates back barely 150 years; before that love-matches were not the standard and wives were their husbands' property. 50 years ago divorces were rare. People made the same arguments that those changes created a decline in the institution of marriage.
no subject
They're welcome to believe that. Of course, I'm going to ask for evidence to support this belief.
Most folks' evidence is that the church told them so (or reinforced their existing belief). Belief isn't evidence.
Now for the folks who try to cite studies and data, they point to the decline in the number of marriages in countries that allow same-sex marriage and the increase in unmarried couples living together and having children. They fail to note that this is just a continuation of preexisting trends; allowing same-sex marriage had no effect on the numbers.
This shows me that they see marriage as a social control mechanism (and they like social control mechanisms), but extending it is at odds with the other social control mechanisms they want to see extended.
The institution of marriage is built on tradition, but it's a constantly evolving tradition. Modern western marriage dates back barely 150 years; before that love-matches were not the standard and wives were their husbands' property. 50 years ago divorces were rare. People made the same arguments that those changes created a decline in the institution of marriage.