Same-sex marriage (SSM)

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The pros and cons of SSM: All viewpoints included

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Accommodating past changes in the institution of marriage:

Marriage has taken many forms, throughout history:

The Hebrew Scriptures (a.k.a. Old Testament) describe seven different marriage/family forms that were practiced in ancient Israel, in addition to the standard "one man-one woman" format.

Marriage in North America has been redefined five times during the past 16 decades: Polygamous marriages were introduced in Utah during the 1840s and partly phased out in 1890. Many tens of thousands of couples still practice polygyny, mainly couples in small fundamentalist Mormon faith groups in the state of Utah and the Canadian province of British Columbia. They are almost never prosecuted. Marriages by African-American slaves were banned in some U.S. states, and only permitted after the conclusion of the civil war. Marriages by deaf couples were banned in some U.S. states in the late 19th and early 20th century. All such laws were repealed many decades ago. Inter-racial marriages were considered a criminal act in some states until 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Loving v. Virginia legalized them across the U.S. Same-sex marriages were unavailable until 2003-JUN-10 when they became legal in Ontario, and 2003-MAY-02 in British Columbia, Canada. The Massachusetts Supreme Court granted same sex couples the right to marry starting 2004-MAY-20. The federal government in Canada authorized SSMs across the country. The only exception was Prince Edward Island whose government was initially unable to figure out how to marry same-sex couples. They were heavily motivated to find a way after being faced with a lawsuit by a lesbian couple. They quickly fell into line with the rest of the country.

These five changes were painful experiences for many North Americans at the time. However, people were able to adapt to the changes. If the letters-to-the-editor columns of major Canadian newspapers are any indication, Canadians seem to have reacted to same-sex marriages with a collective yawn.

"The ultimate anti-gay marriage ad:" on You Tube:

It is intended to be humorous; you may not appreciate the humor:

Same-sex marriage (SSM) topics covered in this section:

	Four major historic changes to marriage in North America
	Twenty-seven reasons why SSM is a bad idea, with rebuttals : Overview of SSM. Reasons 1 to 3 Reasons 4 to 7 Reasons 8 to 14 Reasons 15 to 21 Reasons 22  to 27
	Eight reasons why SSM is a good idea, with rebuttals:  Reasons 1 to 8
	Reasons why SSM is bad, as explained on a Muslim web site

Related sections in our web site:

	References to same-sex sexual behavior in the Bible.
	What different faith groups and religions believe about homosexuality

The Amazon.com online bookstore offers the following books on same-sex marriages. They are a secure location from which to buy books and other items:

If you don't see a listing of books here, please click on the refresh key of your browser.

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Copyright © 2003 to 2011 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2003-JUL-10
Latest update: 2011-AUG-04
Author: B.A. Robinson

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