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07/08/2008
United we should stand; divided we'll continue to fall
One thing that often annoys us about our socially conservative opposition is how myopically focused they are on what divides us as a people rather than on what unites us. This idea was just brought to mind this morning when we saw this quip in a commentary from Renew America, where Bryan Fischer of the Idaho Values Alliance lashes out against marriage equality for same-sex couples:
Further, men and women are fundamentally different from each other, in every cell of their bodies, meaning that a father has a unique contribution to make to the lives of his children as does a mother.
The problem with this oversimplified statement? Well, it's fundamentally untrue. We humans are not even close to different "in every cell of [our] bodies." In fact, all of us share 22 of our 23 pairs of chromosomes. Our last pair, the sex chromosomes, certainly lead to some obvious differences between males and females. However, there is far more similarity about our cellular structure and our bodily functioning than there is dissimilarity. We walk, we breathe, we eat, we drink, we sleep, we blink, we talk, we think. We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon....
But if we DO want to talk about some differences: Well, recently-released research actually suggests that when it comes to brains, homosexual men share similarities with heterosexual women, and homo women share similarities with hetero men. So if we are to talk about variances, the delineation is not a simple matter of "Men are from Mars, women are from Venus." It's more accurate to say that this planet we call Earth is made up of all kinds of different humans who are bound by an undeniable likeness, yet who are not defined by a concrete set of gender roles, sexual mores, or behavioral recommendations.
The "battle of the sexes," the sort of "cute" hetero marital bickering that's popular on TV sitcoms, the "take my wife, please" jokes -- those are societal contrivances shaped by outdated, historically patriarchal notions. Our opposition seems determined to keep the antiquated, short-sighted definitions firmly in place. We, however, want to get past them and focus on the human race for what it is: A fascinating and diverse crew of functionally similar beings whose likeness leads to a shared sense of community, but whose differences color that collective world.
But then again, we're just radical, liberal, gay hippies who think understanding one another could actually help us grow as a people. What the hell do we know?
Why same-sex marriage is bad for children [Renew America]
Your thoughts
Well, that stardust is absolutely correct, we are children of galactic disasters of the past.
That carbon you reference is a few orders of magnitude older too.
That said, the anti gay marriage people are amusing to say the least. I just tore apart a letter to the editor from my local paper on my blog.
Of course the gentleman in question uses religion as a club. He also laments that young people aren't similarly indoctrinated as he is. Too bad.
Posted by: Tony P | Jul 8, 2008 10:58:54 AM
And since fewer that 20% of American children are raised in a home with their biological father.... who's doing the nuturing?
Posted by: LOrion | Jul 8, 2008 11:06:14 AM
Everytime I hear about how same-sex parenting is bad for children I can't help but think of Rev. Lovejoy's wife from The Simpsons "Will someone please think about the children!"
I swear these people need a new angle.
Posted by: Alonzo | Jul 8, 2008 11:17:39 AM
Bryan Fischer and his cohorts are all from Uranus!
Posted by: Dick Mills | Jul 8, 2008 11:57:22 AM
Yeah, but you have to remember that these are the same folks who think the earth is 6000-10000 years old. Don't even attempt to explain cellular differences to this brood, as basic scientific discovery is beyond their comprehension.
Posted by: Musicguy | Jul 8, 2008 1:22:35 PM
Yes, musicguy, exactly. I was just thinking of that when reading a report on an ice core
from Antarctica that is 3.2 km long. The original layers of ice were laid down 800,000 years ago and we have documented chemical proof of every unmelted layer since. This is the longest core to date. The last one measured only 650,000 years of climatology.
Posted by: LOrion | Jul 8, 2008 3:44:34 PM
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