THe point that you miss is that we are not trying to overwhelm one set of opinions with another. We are trying to clarify a policy based on the facts which are germane to it.

The policy question: Given America's notional commitment to equality and freedom under the law, should the civil status of marriage be open to same-sex couples on the same terms it is to heterosexual couples under the law?

The facts: The default value, based on the Constitutional principles involved should tend toward the positive unless there are specific facts of merit to the case which might militate against it.

So far no such facts have been presented. Ake's argument that homosexuality, in and of itself, seems to bring about AIDS, is pretty well rebutted in this thread. Other arguments, based not on measured realities but on hypotheticals, superstitions, or religious beliefs, are not factual.

AKe has argued that there is an insufficiently understood connection between HIV transmission and homosexuality. It has been shown in discussion on this thread that logically, this connection is not due to homosexuality itself but to various unsafe methods and practices which result in increased transmission rates between heteros and homosexuals. It is not therefore adequate grounds for infringing on the default value of equal civil rights.

Do you have any other facts which would militate for such an infringement?

Note that an existing tradition of reduced civil rights for a group in the past is not legal grounds for perpetuating it. We went through all that in the Civil Rights movement.


A