Gay Marriage ... does it represent the dawn of a new era?

Dear all,

In Portugal, the country I live in, the Government has recently passed a law legalizing gay marriage, thus allowing gay couples to enjoy the recognition as well as all the privileges until recently only available to heterosexual couples. Nevertheless, the right to adoption in barred to gay couples, meaning their family will only extend towards themselves and their respective ascendant relatives.

Despite this law being supported by the leftist majority in parliament, the conservative society has managed to unite and gather the 75,000 signatures required to force the parliament to discuss the possibility of a referendum on the subject. Needless to say that the Catholic Church is strongly opposed to this new law, as well as the more radical conservative members of the parliament.

What is my opinion, then? Well ... personally I think that a referendum would be completely out of the question. How can we validate such an outcome when we ask a majority if they agree on the rights of a minority, moreover when that majority feels like this new law offends their way of being? What do you think the outcome would be if, at the time of Martin Luther King, America had held a referendum asking its entire population if they agreed on equal rights towards the black community?

Personally, and perhaps shortsightedly, I'm opposed to gay adoption but I do not see any sort of potential anthropological hazard coming from gay marriage. Furthermore, ancient societies were far more acceptive of same-sex relations than most modern societies. Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, Imperial China, Feudal Japan and even Persia were very permissive in what concerned homosexual interaction. In all cases, it was either religion or political doctrine that put such practices to an end. Over the following decades or even centuries, we came to be less and less accustomed to homosexuality to an extent where it became a matter of shame, disgrace and ostracism. So, does this mean that the time has come for us to finally burn down this veil of shame or should we stick to our newly acquired civilization values where homosexuality should not be condemned but, on the other hand, should not be promoted either?

Some say that legalizing gay marriage will lead to a demographic catastrophe especially on a quickly aging Europe, but to put the burden of demographic expansion on the shoulders of homosexuals would be similar to give the responsibility to control global warming to coal companies ... both ideas are, at the very least, absurd!

So, my final statement on this is ... let them marry! What's the problem with that? It will take a while before I'm personally ready to uphold gay adoption, but I have absolutely no reason to deny them the right to unite and to live their lives the way they want to. Why should we stick to society values, like if they haven't been continuously changed in the past?

Homosexuals deserve to be retrieved from the mists and to live their lives under the clarity of the sun and marriage, to my opinion, is the best way to impose this acceptance on the overall society.