According to the news published on The New York Times, President Obama offered an interview affirming that same-sex couples should be able to get married. Obama also said that after nearly two years his views on same-sex marriage changed in part because of prodding by gay friends and by conversations with his wife and daughters. Obama supported his decision by claiming Christian faith "treat others the way you would want to be treated". Reaction to Obama's announcement includes both immediate opposition from his Republican rival and support from the transgenders.
Before I am going to say if I support Obama's thought or not, I want to tell the readers my background knowledge about the transgenders first. (If I have misunderstanding, please allow me to know^^)
"Gay" is not a modern word. In contrast, it has been existing since Greek time. According to Plato, in this period although a man was supposed to marry a woman, most men simultaneously had his man acting as a intimate partner. Whenever there was a long-lasting war, the men had to be soldiers leaving the women at home and living day and night with his man. This proximity is the start of the same-sex lovers, particularly gays.
That is why I believe the first cause of transgenders is due to lacking of the other sex in their surrounding, not because of nature's intention. In other words, only the isolation between two sexes make them interested in the same sex. For example, boy schools are prone to have gays more than co-ed schools and girl schools are likely to have lesbians more than co-ed schools.
However, when noticing, the number of transgenders nowaday has dramatically increased from the past even though men and women can more easily contact each other. Therefore, I believe there must be other factors contributing to being transgenders. That is hormone.
As you know, human is one of organisms all of which have to conform to law of evolution, according to Charle Darvin. When time passed, human's structure and function gradually changed. If the level of sex hormone changed, usually caused by mutation, the sex abnormality could be presented and then the transgenders were possible.
It is not his/her fault to be a transgender, I know. Nevertheless, I will not be able to accept that the same-sex lover is natural either. So, I oppose to the fact that same-sex marriage should be legal. For me, the word "marriage" should be reserved for only between a man and a woman!
__________
References
Clames, J. & Baker, P. (2012, May 9). Obama Says Same-Sex Marriage Should Be Legal. The New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/us/politics/obama-says-same-sex-marriage-should-be-legal.html 
Poupee,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone has posted on this topical subject. I'm looking forward to the responses.
I also like your own clearly stated opinions on the issue. As your New York Times source also clearly states, a lot of Americans agree with you, including the leadership of the Republican Party, whose official position is your own, that same-sex marriage should not be legalized.
And as the BBC News story on this topic, "Obama's support for gay marriage splits US" (2012), also clearly states, Christian groups, especially the pope's Catholics, also agree with you, even though part of Obama's support for his statement is based on Christian belief. At least one of these contrary Christian arguments must be morally wrong.
References
Obama's support for gay marriage splits US. (2012, May 11). BBC News. Retrieved May 12, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18023590
I like Poupee's post because she does very well what the handout on thesis statements and essay structure suggests for writing a strong thesis statement: she takes a stand with a clearly stated opinion which can be supported (p. 59).
DeleteShe does not make some weak, timid statement that says nothing.
And of course, having taken a stand, as is expected in academic writing, she then has to support her ideas, which she has also done.
Now, I'm curious to see whether people agree with Obama and the very small majority of Americans who support same-sex (gay and lesbian) marriage, or whether they agree with the very large number who oppose legalizing marriage for same-sex couples.
Which side is morally right and which side is supporting injustice? What do you think? And why?
A small but important formal point: I've revised Poupee's reference list entry. When you are writing your own reference list entries, you might find it useful to refer to as another example to follow.
ReplyDeleteHartmann's "The Function and Meaning of Dreaming" (2007, p. 151 - 153) includes several examples of how you can cite such a source in your writing using parentheses, for example in lines 22 - 24 on page 151.
Although I can, I almost never revise anything you post here. I normally only do it to point out something useful, and I then explain that reason.
The important point to note here, and in Quest, is how the authors' names are written.
References
Hartmann, P. (2007). Quest 2 Reading and Writing (2nd. ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Peter,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your suggestion about my references:)
The statistics are very unsure, but it seems likely that 2 - 4% of every population, now and in the past, is wholly gay / lesbian ("Demographics of", 2012). That is, at least one in 50 and perhaps as high as one in 25 people are gay / lesbian, although some studies suggest even higher figures. And since we likely all know at least 25 - 50 people, it's likely that we also know a homosexual or two, whether we know it or not: homosexuality, unlike skin colour or sex, is very easy to hide.
ReplyDeleteSo I would expect that the questions Poupee raises are of personal interest to all of us: how should our own gay or lesbian friends, associates, classmates, colleagues, family members, or whatever be treated?
References
Demographics of sexual orientation. (2012, April 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:41, May 12, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Demographics_of_sexual_orientation&oldid=489184074
And I've now done my two comments for today, so I can go out to relax with some friends with an easy conscience.
DeleteOne more note on using sources before I go out for the evening:
DeleteIf you want to use an idea on Wikipedia, always use the "Cite this page" tool on the left to automatically create the correct references list entry.
Use the APA Style reference citation - it's the first one listed. Copy and paste it, and then make any corrections necessary, like removing formatting in anew post, or adding italics and a link in a comment.
Poupae, do you know you work is fantastic!!! I love it :-D What you wrote is just like my idea except I think that president Barack Obama's thought isn't wrong.I mean, in my opinion, They just unlucky born in wrong gender.And I'm not lesbian either lol ;-P
ReplyDeleteI really like your introduction.It start with the great statement which interest me to continue reading it.Your opinion is clear that which side you're in.And that make your article stronger.However, my favorite part is in the 4th paragraph.It's really great to bring some ancient history about this topic out and I think that's new!
Poupae,You can proceed your story smoothly.Start with the creative idea and, in the final,end with the strong opinion.there're only 3 words that I can give to you "WOW WOW WOW!"
Thank you Cherry for your praise:))In fact I still have some weakpoints in my writing such as fluency and vocabulary's choice. However, your comment is very encouraging and cheers on me very much!
DeleteHmmmm... once I see your title of your blog post, I think it shows the basis of your mind and thought to think about such thing like this..., NO! I'm just kidding, hahaha! ;D
ReplyDeleteOkay let's talk about something more sensible=*=. Errrrr...I disagree with you that you say in the introduction "...transgender seems to be unusual for normal people like us...", for me it's normal as many people around me are transgender, from my young age till now I feel normal to this and I once (or still? I'm not sure) transgender too. I totally agree with your paragraph 5 because it occur to me when I was in girl school as primary. And in 7th paragraph it concerns much deeper knowledge, I'm very admire you that you can beautifully link it with biology, do you think that it can be natural selection for the increasing of transgenders? (I've already forget much of that so if I'm wrong please tell me, thank you.)
And Pam has now explicitly stated an important question: is being transgender, gay or lesbian normal or abnormal?
DeleteThe different but perhaps closely related question that I wondered about as I read Poupee's post is whether homosexuality is natural or unnatural.
And one more question: does it even matter whether it's natural or unnatural? That is, does being natural make anything good or right? And the converse: does being unnatural mean that something is less good?
Pammmm
DeleteI am very surprised at the moment you say you used to be a lesbian! Though I has already known that your personality is sometimes like a boy, I don't think you would love girls hahaha. Moreover, now you are not only a cute girl but you also crash on a ... boy!
Another thing is... natural selection
DeleteWhen I was writing I also thought about natural selection too, but I am not sure if becoming a transgender helps human specie to survive more? Finally, I think it does not since I have never seen any couples of transgender who can reproduce!
Now I think I'm bisexual =*=. And Thanks about the answer on natural selection :)
DeleteBefore I'm going to say about the topic, I would like to say that I really like this blog post of yours! I like the way you write it smoothly and gradually tell us more details. Moreover, I really admire you to write this long! LOL >w<
ReplyDeleteFor me, I agree with you that for most people transgender is unusual but I think it is acceptable and really normal. Like you said, I am the one who is in a girl school since I was young. I think that lesbian is usual since I'm a 6 grader so I totally agree with Obama that same-sex marriage should be legal.
Although your thought is different from me, it is useful><
DeleteYou also answer Peter's question. You believe being transgenders is normal and marriage between them should be legal.
However,do you think a transgender is natural? Or whether it is natural or not is unmatter?
Thank you Poupee.
DeleteAlthough I think both questions are very challenging, I hope someone answers your repeated request for some answers. It's a good test both of our critical thinking skills and of our ability to clearly and precisely state our ideas in English sentence, which is what we are here to practise.
Wow!!!!!! O_O
ReplyDeleteYour topic is very interesting.When I read your first statement I want to read more and more.I got new knowledge from your information about Why they become Gays?.The reason is lacking of another sex.
Now transgenders are increasing more than the past. Sometimes I am very jealous because some transgenders look more beautiful than meT^T.
So,I agree with you that same-sex marriage should not be legal because God wants a man and a girl to marry together.
Which god? There are so many of them.
DeleteDo they all want the same sort of marriage, of one man and one woman together?
What about the Moslem god? And Zeus, and other gods? I think the gods have very different ideas about how many partners should be in a marriage and who may marry whom.
This is a very interesting topics to me, I've read this kind of story before.
ReplyDeleteI think same-sex marriage is fine. I think things that you do in your life and don't bother other you can do it. Same-sex marriage could be riduculous topic in Thailand. I think most of Thai people agree with a transgender but not a same-sex marriage. Could you imagine if you have same-sex marriage be legal what would happen too the next generation. I think population would certainly decrease.
To this popular and sensitive topic,homosexuality, I am totally on Fair side. Same-sex marriage is fine, why not! I agree to President Obama's version of "treat others the ways you would want to be treated" so we should respect homosexual friends, of course, they can live the way they want, even marriage,BUT on the premise that homosexual couple should not have their children. The reasons are not only what Fair mentioned above, population would decrease, (I'm not sure for this part due to high developed medical science nowadays)but another important worry is that they can not offer children a normal and healthy family may have bad effect on the next generation. According to the knowledge from book and deep-rooted thought, that the healthy sex relationship between male and female in the natural world is normal. Therefore, I am against same-sex marriage couples have child.
ReplyDeleteRainbow gaga,
DeleteThe same-sex marriage will definitely not have a chance to give birth. Men do not have a uterus, a place where baby can grow. Moreover, even a test-tube baby whose fertilisation occurs outside the uterus, it has to grow in woman's body afterwards. Therefore, no couples of men can give birth.
Actually, I can't see any very good reason why any adult should not be legally allowed to marry any other adult, including more than one person at a time. Many human societies have survived perfectly well with marriages that included multiple partners, so we know it works. These real examples show that the word marriage can, and often has, meant a lot more than "one woman and one man".
ReplyDeletePerhaps what is really needed is to remove all references to sex and numbers from marriage laws. Maybe the real problem here is that the governments is again unjustly interfering in people's most personal affairs.
For some more opinions, including a clear and well supported exposition of exactly what the Christian Bible says about marriage and gay sex (Obama seems to be seriously wrong on this), you might like to read "North Carolina begs the question too" in this week's Economist.
ReplyDeleteIn Thai society today, there are many couples that are same sex and most of Thai people accept this. I don't think that it is illegal because they didn't cause any problem to us. It is their right to love someone. I have seen a TV program called 'Woody ked ma kui' on Sunday. The story is about a ladyboy named 'Poi Trichada' and her boyfriend. Poi is a famous actress in Thailand and everyone knows this. Once she was driven out from her ex-boyfriend's family because she was a 'male'.But her boyfriend's family now accept her and welcome her to be a part of the family. I don't think that we can judge a person just by his or her appearance because I think the most important think is a 'heart'. There are many people who have good appearance but use that to rob somebody else's things, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteHere is a video about that. It's in Thai. So sorry.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2dGdB7BJbI
I really like your comment particularly "It is their right to love someone" and "The most important thing is a heart"
DeleteAnd now that we have read Hartmann on the relevant terms (2007, p. 173), would she say that homosexuality is normal or abnormal? Would she argue that same-sex marriages are normal or abnormal?
ReplyDeleteDo you agree Hartmann? Has she persuaded you? Why or why not?
And what about the naturalness of homosexual behaviour and feelings, and of same-sex marriage? Are these things natural or unnatural? After reading "What is Abnormal?" (Hartmann, 2007, p. 173 - 174), what do you think we need to do to answer this and similar questions? How would you proceed?
References
Hartmann, P. (2007). Quest 2 Reading and Writing (2nd. ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
From what I think, there are both good and bad things behind the law of same-sex marriage. The first thing I am about to mention is the good side. The advantage of same-sex marriage is the human right. Is it not want our ancestors fight for? I think it is really important for human to have the liberty to do what they want as long as it does not harm others in the era of globalisation. Nevertheless, the negative-impacted consequential outcome from such a law is that there may be a unknown disease, which it probably repeats the way that how AIDS began.
ReplyDeleteThere is an excellent essay on this topic in today's New York Times: "The Meaning of Same-Sex Marriage" by Ralph Wedgwood, a philosopher. Wedgewood's approach is via a careful analysis of the meaning of marriage - something we have already seen this term in Hartmann's analysis of the meaning of the term abnormal and Law's discussion of faith.
ReplyDeleteWedgwood is an academic, so even though he is writing for a newspaper, the style remains academic. It's challenging, but you might also find his essay interesting, and it's certainly good reading reading practice. It's also fairly short.
It is also a good example of one approach to persuading readers, something that is relevant to our discussion of Hartmann's controversial idea for solving drug problems in society.
Delete