Week 8 post 2

 Debates regarding same-sex marriage have been circulating since 1960. However, the debates did not pick up much traction until 1993. More famously, in 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the government must allow marriage institutions to accept homosexuality. It is no secret that homosexuality has been repressed throughout history, and nevertheless, there is still evidence of it tracing back to the earliest of human times. With the knowledge that homosexuality is purely an Instinct of nature,  there should be no debate. The institution of marriage is about commitment and loyalty to the partner of choice,  that is marriage,   the virtues of which marriage stands upon, are not dependent on gender identity. Unfortunately, the institution of marriage is a typically highly religious part of human society.  Many religious people, specifically Catholics, have decided to take it upon themselves to bring sin to the concept of gay marriage. This is hypocritical on a multitude of levels. First, homosexuality was never written as a sin in the original text of the Bible, and only in 1946 was a section of the Bible changed from labeling man laying with a boy as a sin to man laying with a man as a sin. The original sin was that pedophilia was wrong, not that homosexuality is wrong. Even now, the Pope believes in gay marriage. This means that to be opposed to gay marriage and religion is contradictory on many levels. Furthermore,  there is such profound hypocrisy in being conservative and against gay marriage. Conservatives believe in small government; they believe in the government staying out of their business,  and with this belief, you would think that they would allow other people to do as they pleased as long as they minded their business.  

In most simple terms, this goes back to what part of the brain reacts when speaking about uncontroversial Topics such as gay marriage.  One faced with controversial subjects and politics, Republicans/conservatives' brains tend to be highly stimulated in the amygdala, specifically the fear reaction of the amygdala. Contrary to this, liberal/democrats' brains tend to engage and the prefrontal cortex, which engages and facts and attention to detail. This displays that the people against gay marriage fear change; they are typically highly religious and rely on tradition to make them feel secure.  They desire a homogenous society is what they hope to achieve simply because they cannot face being out of comfort. This all comes back to the way that philosophy has built society. The other argument that gay marriage is wrong because it does not build stable families is irrelevant because gay marriage can help with the foster care system and adoption in this country.  Gay marriage is no different from any other marriage. When heterosexual couples sign a paper saying they are married, they make no promises to have children, so neither should homosexual couples. The institution of marriage is not about procreation, but it is about the exclusive and permanent commitment of the two partners. Marriage is a profoundly personal commitment and a public celebration of the ideals of companionship, intimacy Fidelity and family. As a society, it is unstable and wrong to depend on a singular way of life. What family and intimacy looks like for one person is different from another.  This is why as John Rawl often pointed out,  we must have a separation of church and state;  the separation allows for an equilibrium that moves back and forth between the principles we utilize to make judgments.  By reforming and applying new philosophy to our ever-changing world, things such as the institution of gay marriage will have far greater protection then they do as of current.