I can see how you would be confused by the many attempts to mischaracterise my argument. Fortunately, my argument is right there for you to read. I’ll summarize it for you if you like.
I made three arguments:
Around 2,500 years ago, the people who wrote the Bible asserted that marriage was between a man and a woman because God said so. At that time, same-sex marriage was not a thing (or if it was, they were not aware of it). Their claim was ontological. It was not designed to exclude anyone. It was not bigoted.
Around a billion Catholics still belong to a Church that teaches the marriage = man+woman rule. They are required by their church to follow the rule. Of course, this rule applies to religious marriage. I will cover civil marriage separately. They may or may not be individually bigoted but their obligation to follow the rule is not bigoted.
In 21st Century America, if civil marriage becomes the law of the land, it will result in negative consequences for the Church and its members. Many will lose their jobs and, eventually, churches and religious schools will face financial penalties. It is not bigoted to not want to lose your job or face financial penalties.
The terms of this debate were that “there are no non-bigoted reasons to oppose same-sex marriage”. I offered three. You don’t have to agree with the arguments; you just have to acknowledge that they are not bigoted.
Furthermore, the premise of this discussion, from the other thread, was that if you determine that all your opponents’ arguments are bigoted ahead of time, you will find it easy to dismiss them without argument. Ultimately, you will find it difficult to understand your opponents’ arguments and will find it difficult to persuade them of the correctness of your own.
I think this is bad in a democracy and it’s especially bad for the causes that I believe in — like same-sex marriage.
This thread is a microcosm for society at large. A small group of people have decided that certain arguments are beyond the pale and not worthy of discussion in polite society. They have become so isolated and insular that they are unable to recognize that their opinions are far outside the mainstream and they become unable to persuade their neighbours of the correctness of their arguments. They attempt to ban "invalid’ arguments or to slander their opponents as bigots instead.
This is disastrous in a democracy (THOWGT) and it makes for a very sterile debating forum. As I said in the other thread, rather than fighting ignorance, it serves to enshrine it.
No one is trying to ban your argument. We are literally pointing out why it is LOGICALLY invalid while you literally appeal to Divine Authority to say that it is logical.
This seems to be the only part directed at my post.
The problem occurs when the execution of a good idea can in practice only be terrible. I would happily vote to revoke all government involvement marriage (including my own) but there are very few people who agree with me. I wouldn’t vote to end all government involvement in gay marriage where there are plenty of support from unsavory types. While the second could be viewed as a step to the first without the second step is just as asshole move I want nothing to do with.
Sometimes it is important to look around at who your standing with and evaluate if their aims are similar to yours or if they are just using you to accomplish their own ends. I believe in states rights and would love to see the federal government way less powerful. In practice that argument is used by racist dbags who want to get as close to slavery as possible and would just use my vote to get their wish while increasing the involvement of the government in the lives of their citizens.
Do you feel this way about all arguments, or just ones against SSM? If someone started posting the opinion that religious people, by virtue of being religious, are mentally ill, and therefore shouldn’t hold office - but they’re nice people other than that and he has no hate for them - would you be saying his speech needs to be protected?
Ignoring all the other arguments and addressing the actual question in the OP…
I have heard anti-SSMargumentsadvanced by some gays. These range from arguments against the heteronormativity and patriarchy of the current model to more generalized anti-marriage, free love arguments.
In person, I’ve mostly heard arguments like that from older “bathhouse culture” gay men, and even there, it’s a minority. All of the lesbians I know well are married.