The Institution of Marriage

[Lightkeeper]

There are many couples living together without marriage and the divorce rate is high. Does this mean that marriage as we know it is on the decrease. Will the institution of marriage disappear? What do you think will turn this situation around? Do you think banning gay marriage will save the institution of marriage? What do you think the future holds for couples?

 

[Yerda]

What do you think the future holds for couples?

Life, love, children, chocolate. Coupley things.

 

[Unedited]

I don't see banning gay marriage as saving the institution of marriage. If anything, I see it having negative effects on it.

 

[Master Vigil]

I think the traditional view of marriage is on the decrease. But I don't see this as a bad thing. I also agree with Unedited that banning gay marriage will have a negative effect on marriage. I don't view the future of marriage as bad, just different. Things change, why people try to stop it is beyond me.

 

[Pah]

There are many couples living together without marriage and the divorce rate is high. Does this mean that marriage as we know it is on the decrease. Will the institution of marriage disappear? What do you think will turn this situation around? Do you think banning gay marriage will save the institution of marriage? What do you think the future holds for couples?

Yes, it is declining but I wonder if it needs to "turn around" What is good for homosexuals ought to be good for heterosexuals

 

[painted wolf]

marrage is a piece of paper. Permits and licenceing and burocracy.

As time goes by attitudes change, perhaps people today simply are sick of the cost and red-tape involved in a 'tradtional' marrage.

I agree that offical reccognition of Homosexual relationships is nothing but a good thing!

wa:do

 

[Melody]

I would be curious on the statistics for the length of relationships without the marriage license versus those with a marriage license.

And no, I don't see how legalizing gay marriage would affect heterosexual marriages or the validity of a heterosexual marriage. That argument has always puzzled me.

 

[mrscardero]

What I don't understand is why there are those out there that are trying to bann gay marriages. Take a couple for example. They are heterosexual and they want to get married. The preacher meets with them and he sees that this couple are not meant to be together (too young, interacial, age difference, etc). Does he have any say that they should not get married? If they want to get married, who is he to tell them that they can't? If they love each other, why can't they get married?

There are more problems out there in the world that needs to be solved and we all know what they are.

There are those who just live together without being married. Common law. carrdero and I did not plan on getting married. I didn't want to get remarried. Been there, done that. I just wanted to be with him and I didn't need the piece of paper to prove to our family and friends that we love each other. Due to medical circumstances, we got married. Ah. The miracles of health benefits :sarcastic .

I agree with Unedited and Master Vigil. Banning gay marriages will not save the institution of marriages.


Here is a situation with a couple. The man does not want to have children (ban gay marriage). The woman wants children (for gay marriages). A child comes into the picture (marriage). Do you think that the man will change his mind about the child? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Sometimes they will try make the relationship last because of the child and sometimes the man just up and leaves. Where does it lead? Sometimes no where. The child is left on the side as the mother and father argue about little things that don't matter. ("Little things." Banning gay marriages.)

 

[Sunstone]

The biological basis of marriage, pair bonding, has probably been around since the origin of our species, if not before. We're genetically predisposed to pair bond. So, even if the legal details of marriage change, the tendency of humans to pair bond will almost certainly remain.

 

[Majikthise]

Same sex marriage doesn't hurt anybody, only their perceptions of the way they think things should be.

 

[Prima]

I think that it's true that the traditional view of marriage is changing. But I think that it's a natural process. Think of how the view of 'employee' has changed. In the Middle Ages, there were serfs. Obviously our ideas about employment have changed. It's natural for man-made ideas to change. In fact, I think we'd destroy ourselves if they didn't! Old dry sticks break a lot more easily than growing, changing, green ones! Things have to change to survive.

I definitely think gay marriage is part of this change. But that doesn't mean that banning it will reverse the change. It would be like banning health benefits for serfs! One law does not reverse a trend.

I think that if we try to keep marriage as is, it WILL disappear. People will have no use for it, because it won't fit their needs anymore.

 

[Sunstone]

Do you think banning gay marriage will save the institution of marriage?

Yes. It is obvious to me that banning gay marriage will save the institution of marriage. It has, in fact, been perfectly obvious to me ever since I slipped this morning and fell on my head. :woohoo:

Seriously, I would think that legalizing homosexual marriages would actually strengthen the institution of marriage rather than weaken it.

 

[Pah]

Yes. It is obvious to me that banning gay marriage will save the institution of marriage. It has, in fact, been perfectly obvious to me ever since I slipped this morning and fell on my head. :woohoo:

Seriously, I would think that legalizing homosexual marriages would actually strengthen the institution of marriage rather than weaken it.

You can bet that those already in a long term relationship will not damage the "institution" of marriage. The younger ones, not accustomed to the commitment it takes to support a long term relationship, will have the same problems as heterosexuals - which is not being addressed with the same intensity and doing tremendously more damage

 

[Quoth The Raven]

I would be curious on the statistics for the length of relationships without the marriage license versus those with a marriage license.

And no, I don't see how legalizing gay marriage would affect heterosexual marriages or the validity of a heterosexual marriage. That argument has always puzzled me.

The average length of first marriages in Australia is 12 years (for subsequent marriages the rate drops to an average of 8 years). From what I could cobble together (and it was a very rough cobbling) the average duration of a de facto relationship is just over 5.5 years.
Bearing in mind that a defacto relationship has 2 ways to end - in either marriage (which a large percentage do) or seperation - it is a relationship that has a high likelyhood of some form of termination, though not necessarily a negative one.