IS THIS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY? Patrick Hart replies to Eve

I agree with Eve that our society does not "denigrate…ties to close family members," and I apologize if my post gave the impression that I believed otherwise. When I said that the anti-SSM view regarded gay relationships as part of a sphere of "other" relationships, I did not intend to imply that all these other relationships were ones that society looked down on (indeed, for the most part they aren't). My point was simply to ask why gay relationships were regarded as analogous to these relationships and not to heterosexual marriage. Case in point: Eve writes, "homosexual relationships could be treated as equal in cultural honor to…sisterhood, or a more accurate and exalted understanding of best-friendship." While I'm glad that Eve's addressing the "what is your policy toward gays" issue, I still think that, leaving aside all legal issues, gay relationships are culturally much more like opposite-sex married relationships than they are like sisterhood or friendship. Most adult sisters or best friends do not live together (though some do, of course), while most gay couples and straight married couples do. Even if you're anti-SSM, doesn't it at least seem that the feelings two gay partners have for each other are much more akin to the feelings of a husband and wife for each other than to the feelings of two best friends? As Mark Barton says in his reply to Eve, "the natural amount of honor to start with is the same as that for marriage."
posted by Eve at 5:03 AM VOTE

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