Tuesday 21 May 2013

One-upmanship Frustrated

Since the very beginning of the current debate about gay marriage, I've been puzzled by one argument used by those who oppose it. They claim that allowing people of the same sex to marry would reduce the value of marriages between members of the opposite sex.

How could it do that? A marriage is an alliance of two people to symbolise that they plan to live together united by love and companionship. It is something between the two of them and should not be affected by the relationships other couples may have.  Those who fear their marriages might be devalued are using their marriages as status symbols, to assert their supposed superiority to others who are not married.

The wish to sneer at others is a weak foundation for a lifelong partnership.

Something else has occurred to me. Many marriages end in divorce. Do people who consider their marriages superior to gay marriages also consider their divorces superior to gay divorces ?


1 comment :

Sasha said...

It's plainly idiotic. People are people, and it's high time to stop such moronic one-upmanship - you've hit on the mot juste there.