Saturday, March 18, 2006

"Gay Marriage" vs. Generativity

I just came across a great resource on the issue of homosexual marriage . . . www.marriagedebate.com. Here's a killer quote from a great article ("Europe's Marriage Crisis, And Ours") considering the impact of demographic and cultural changes on the institution of marriage--the author, Maggie Gallagher, communicates profoundly, I think:

Cultures deeply committed to "generativity" -- to the importance of men and women getting married and having children as a social norm -- tend to find the idea of gay marriage deeply disturbing, if not incomprehensible. Conversely, societies in the midst of devaluing the norms that sustain the generative family (in the name of attractive alternative values such as increasing expressive individualism and moral autonomy) will find gay marriage a natural fit, an idea that both expresses and reinforces their deepest moral preferences.

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