Gay Marriage: Waking the American Conscience

Despite the recent outcome on Proposition 8 in California, I believe that the American conscience has awakened concerning the right of gay people to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in this country.  Yes, there remain groups of people who would deny gays their human rights out of fear, blind adherence to religious dogma, or a simple hatred of what they don’t understand, but those groups are shrinking. 

What does this have to do with emerging technologies? Marriage is a civic right, not a human right, and I think most homophobic people consider gays to be immoral humans, not subhumans.

How true we are winning the war.  It we be we instead of us and them.  Love is so powerful!

“Anti-gay religious folks who attempt to condemn a biological minority to a life unfulfilled will one day recognize their own immorality”

I challenge you to find even a single piece of scientific evidence that being gay is biological. My cousin recently had a baby. The science can determine her sex, race, even her height in the future. Can you tell me if the baby is gay?

But you are correct that gay marriage will eventually be legal and people won’t care.

To Anonymous: One of the points I am making is that marriage IS a human right.  Whether homophobic people use the term “immoral” or claim that homosexuality is a sickness, in their effort to prevent gays from enjoying human rights they are implying that gays are subhuman. It’s interesting that repeat criminal offenders do not lose the right to marry and found a family, even though they have been found guilty, in many cases, of immoral as well as illegal acts.

I think the topic’s relevance to emerging technologies is in the social implications of eventually being able to select the sexual orientation of children or alter one’s own orientation. You are right that I did not address those issues in my editorial.

To Alan: That is a powerful way of summarizing the growing awareness.

To Tom Swift: One thing to keep in mind is that sexual orientation, like gender identity and even biological gender, can be a matter of degree not simply an “either-or.”  There may be environmental elements that interact with the biological potential, but reputable scientists agree sexual orientation it is not simply a matter of social influence.  If you want to learn more about sexual orientation and biology, use that phrase as a Google search term.

“One of the points I am making is that marriage IS a human right. “

Isn’t this a matter of “says who? ...says the people who limited that to /heterosexual/ marriage?”

“Although not all opponents of gay rights would state it in these terms, they believe a gay person is a fraction of a human being:a subhuman. “

In that case, I declare that all opponents of gay rights are subhuman, too.

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