Poll: Current Views Of Legal Gay Marriage In Thailand

[RabC]

What about those Gays who do not wish to use the word Marriage because of all it's associated religious connections ?

Under UK law two men can receive exactly the same rights as a married couple without the stigma of the religious ""marriage" word.

I suppose it would please them. I think it would also be full equality to have two things, marriage and civil unions, BOTH open to same sex AND opposite sex. Then there is something in place to please EVERYONE. I think its a very TRIVIAL issue you bring up because religious bodies don't OWN marriage at least in most countries. You can get married without dealing with any religious body as civil legal matter.

To say I trivialise it shows your ignorance. Having been forcefully brought up under the rules of the Catholic Church I have zero respect for ANY religious organisation and would prefer that my relationship with the person I love had zero religious meaning.

To me civil partnership is fine and should be the state recognised institution and let the religious zealots hang on to the term marriage.

[nocturn]

I think the one pertinent question that everyone has avoided if gay marriage were legalized.

Who's going to do the interior decorating?

"Oh my God darling. That's soooo tacky!"

did you actually believe that amusing when you typed it?

[Jingthing]

What about those Gays who do not wish to use the word Marriage because of all it's associated religious connections ?

Under UK law two men can receive exactly the same rights as a married couple without the stigma of the religious ""marriage" word.

I suppose it would please them. I think it would also be full equality to have two things, marriage and civil unions, BOTH open to same sex AND opposite sex. Then there is something in place to please EVERYONE. I think its a very TRIVIAL issue you bring up because religious bodies don't OWN marriage at least in most countries. You can get married without dealing with any religious body as civil legal matter.

To say I trivialise it shows your ignorance. Having been forcefully brought up under the rules of the Catholic Church I have zero respect for ANY religious organisation and would prefer that my relationship with the person I love had zero religious meaning.

To me civil partnership is fine and should be the state recognised institution and let the religious zealots hang on to the term marriage.

Yes but your schtick has really nothing to with legal same sex marriage specifically. You are talking about another issue entirely, your distaste of religion. Marriages do not need to be linked to religious bodies. End of story!

[cdnvic]

Please try to steer this discussion towards Thailand, or I will have to close it.

[bendix]

Please try to steer this discussion towards Thailand, or I will have to close it.

I would have thought there was enough hate and vitriol on this thread already to justify closing it down.

[bendix]

It's weird but in this entire thread, I have yet to see anyone articulate a reason why gay couples should not be rationally be allowed the same legal and religious freedoms as straight people to be married.

When the anti-brigade argue against it, they resort to childish jokes or just proclaim morally that they're against it, no way, it's unnatural etc.

It's not often I see eye to eye with Jingthing, but I'd like to commend him for maintaining a dignified calm amidst a torrent of obnoxious bigotism throughout this thread, from people I thought knew better based on their other threads.

It just goes to show; scratch below the surface and all sorts of vileness festers.

[cdnvic]

I removed one post (and a few quotes of it) that managed to be both homophobic and anti-semetic in the same sentence. The poster has been silenced for a time as well. Now please shock and amaze me by having a grown up conversation on this subject.

[bendix]

I think I've unearthed Jingthing's very clever sub-strategy on this thread.

By starting it, he knew all the bigots and haters simply wouldn't be able to help themselves but post their nonsense (in a bid, it seems, to be both macho and quasi-funny in a neanderthal way), and that of course once their nonsense was posted it would earn them suspensions.

Top strategy JT . . it's working a treat. You did this on purpose, right?

I think a similar thread on equally contentious subjects should be started each weak . it's the perfect to way to identify and get rid of the unthinking unwashed, without them even realising they're falling into the trap.

[Jingthing]

...

Don't really see any other Asian country doing it anytime soon either.

I mentioned this before. NEPAL is in the process of doing it (same sex marriage legality). So if Thailand is ever going that way, they will have lost out on being first in Asia bragging rights!

[isanbirder]

Quote from Jingthing:- Separate but equal can never be equal.

If it's equal, it's equal; there ain't no grades of equality. Frankly, JT, you've got this bee in your bonnet about the word 'marriage'; I can quite see that you don't accept the religious view, and I have no problem with this.

But the point I've tried to make is that in common language, any form of legal union is going to be called marriage. If what a country gets is a civil union which is less than fully equal, people will still call it marriage.... and then there'll be a hell of a problem trying to get it changed. This is a very real danger.

.But don't try to tell me that something is equal, but not equal; it's either equal or not.

[Jingthing]

This is infuriating. Separate but not equal is not equal by definition because obviously the class not "good enough" for the original institution, marriage, is being discriminated against. Also as said ad nauseum, countries offering civil unions usually fall SHORT of fully equal rights with marriage.

BTW, this actually is totally relevant for Thailand. Assuming that some day Thailand tries to deal with this issue, it is highly likely in common with many other countries that in Thailand a civil union approach will be proposed, and also in common with other countries, it is highly likely such civil unions will fall short of all the rights of existing marriage in Thailand. Thailand is not on an alien planet. A lot of this is actually predictable. In the unlikely event that Thailand legislates separate but equal civil unions (if they go with civil unions, most probably they will be lesser rights than marriage following the international pattern), that will be great progress, but still forcing same sex people into an "OTHER" class. To be clear, in places in the world where same sex civil unions ARE available, mostly they do not approach full equality of rights (ignoring the different naming and different institution).

[mca]

I think the one pertinent question that everyone has avoided if gay marriage were legalized.

Who's going to do the interior decorating?

"Oh my God darling. That's soooo tacky!"

did you actually believe that amusing when you typed it?

Point of fact. My younger brother is gay as Christmas in Santa's Grotto and I idolize him. Of course being grown adults him and his gay friends don't carry a chip on their shoulders and are able to differentiate between a mild tease and somebody deliberately insulting homosexuals with blatant disgusting homophobic jokes. Did you ever see George Michael and Elton John send themselves up on Comic Relief?

[jamesbrock]

I may be wrong, but i think the marriage institution was created for the sake of the offsprings

Wait, are you saying that my girlfriend, who already has adult children, and I, not wanting children at all, needn't marry or shouldn't marry?

I can understand you frustration, JT, even though I think you summed it up perfectly the other day ("Would you also prefer separate water fountains?"), it seems you're just not going to get through...

[cdnvic]

Ok, you can't say we didn't give this a fair chance to make it a discussion on how it relates to Thailand. It is too general to be Thai related, and therefore, it's being closed.