On Steve-Adam and Eve-Jane (1/n)

First of a series of posts regarding my stance on same-sex marriage.

The internet is abuzz with discussions regarding gay marriage as Obama publicly expressed his support for the controversial issue in a recent interview with ABC News. This announcement was met with both praise and condemnation from the Americans, which currently splits the country apart.

Back home the same topic splits the country into two, with the religious arguing that it is not just immoral but also against the teachings of the Bible, and those who believe that there is nothing legally and morally wrong with gay marriage if we are to set aside religious arguments.

As I casually read and cringed at some arguments of those against it, I happen to stumble upon this:

Of course this is nothing compared to the very cringe-worthy tweet from Ferdinand Topacio, the lawyer of the infamous Arroyos who vowed to have his balls cut if the couple didn't return from a scheduled check-up abroad. The tweet said:

History has taught us that blood flowed when the slaves and the African-Americans fought for their rights. Indeed it will be a hard fight, a steep climb in fact for our LGBT friends just to attain theirs. But in this case, would we really care if this man's blood flows just to rebuke LGBT rights? The same man who offered his testicles to the heavens above as a collateral for his masters' return?

Going back to the lady who questioned the capability of LGBT couples to raise a perfectly healthy and heterosexual child, at least four US courts beg to disagree with you. Here are the four court decisions that would refute your claim:

• “The evidence presented by [the] plaintiffs and defendant establishes that the single most important factor in the development of a happy, healthy and well-adjusted child is the nurturing relationship between parent and child.” (Chang, 1997)

• “Based on our own philosophy of child rearing, and on our observations of the children being raised by same-sex couples to whom we are personally close, we may be of the view that what matters to children is not the gender, or sexual orientation, or even the number of the adults who raise them, but rather whether those adults provide the children with a nurturing, stable, safe, consistent, and supportive environment in which to mature. Same-sex couples can provide their children with the requisite nurturing, stable, safe, consistent, and supportive environment in which to mature, just as opposite-sex couples do.”(Sosman, 2003)

• “Lesbigays who have children often create a network of fictive kin or ‘chosen’ family (friends, former partners, and willing relatives) for social and emotional support as well as to offer their children suitable adult role models of the other sex. This support network may be entirely gay but generally represents a mixture.” (Ambert, 2004)

• “Children of married gay parents benefit directly from knowing that their future holds the prospect of marriage. […] If a child sees that Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the neighbors to the left, are married, and that Mrs. and Mrs. Jones, the neighbors to the right, are married, and that the child’s own parents are married—that, I think, sends a positive and reassuring message to children, about both the importance of marriage and the stability of their community,” (Rauch, 2004)

Next: Legality.