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With the change of classical marriage (rapid increase in divorces, pre-nuptials,etc) the door was opened by heterosexual couples to gay marriage--the LGBT community would have not fought for a typical pre-1960 marriage.
That image of the "pre-1960s classical marriage" was largely an illusion, and it was driven by religious agendas and ideals more than anything else. Mostly it was never really like that.
The 2nd Century Christian Church performed marriages between same-sex couples. The Catholic Church had a sacrament for joining two men in marriage until the 1600s. In our Puritan colonies fully half of the brides were pregnant when they were married. In the late 1800s the marriage rate plummeted almost to single digits and in the Roaring 20s sex was energetically disconnected from formal boundaries of traditional marriages, and has never completely returned. People were shacking up and having babies together without benefit of legal license or religious blessing for most of recorded history, and for much of modern history. What happened in the 1960s had a lot to do with people just starting to tell the truth abouth how life really is, and giving up caring so much about what other people think, while others were sorely confronted. Oh well.
The government's legitimate interest in marriage primarily has to do with establishing: 1) property rights and 2) responsibility for children.
What the new law does is simply update the state's code to conform to the tidal wave of history. The vast majority of Americans support this change, and we're only #16 in line to do this, so nobody should be suffering whiplash at this point. Especially not a Republican whiplash.
I am not in any organized church myself and never was, but I don't underestimate the forces religious beliefs can mobilize. Fundamentalists, radicals will be created anew, regardless of what faith. No, religious folks won't do actual gay bashings. Criminals do. But the quiet sympathy towards it by many will be devastating enough for social peace. The louder the jubilation of the gays the more resentment will be created. The in-your-face attitude is causing aggressions. Especially when being faced with a lousy economy and ever widening gaps btw rich and poor. Add falling education levels and there's a witches brew cooking.
This piece of legislation was rushed and done with serious damage to the Hawaiian social fabric. Maybe a resurrection of the GOP in Hawaii will be the outcome, but some districts will change politicians for sure.
Sorry but Americans, especially young Americans, are becoming increasingly secular and supportive of same-sex marriage. Eventually same-sex marriage will be considered just as acceptable as inter-racial marriage is today.
I doubt it will cause serious long-term damage to the Hawaiian social fabric. There has been dissent everywhere that legalizing same-sex marriage has come up, and states and countries that have legalized it such as Massachusetts, New York, Canada, and the Netherlands are doing fine for the most part. And Massachusetts and New York haven't suddenly turned to the GOP. Do you really think that as more states legalize same-sex marriage, which is inevitably going to happen, the country will end up in chaos? Oh no!!
Sorry but Americans, especially young Americans, are becoming increasingly secular and supportive of same-sex marriage. Eventually same-sex marriage will be considered just as acceptable as inter-racial marriage is today.
I doubt it will cause serious long-term damage to the Hawaiian social fabric. There has been dissent everywhere that legalizing same-sex marriage has come up, and states and countries that have legalized it such as Massachusetts, New York, Canada, and the Netherlands are doing fine for the most part. And Massachusetts and New York haven't suddenly turned to the GOP. Do you really think that as more states legalize same-sex marriage, which is inevitably going to happen, the country will end up in chaos? Oh no!!
Hawaii's native population and its other ethnic minorities tend to be socially conservative in many ways, but I doubt the GOP will gain much from their dissatisfaction. Recall the same groups voraciously opposed civil unions prior to 2011. None of their predictions came to pass when that law took effect, so why should this be any different? In fact, this law does not change Hawaii's public policy... Gay couples need the marriage designation to be treated equally by the federal government.
Last edited by DRS1989; 11-14-2013 at 08:27 PM..
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