High School Debate on Gay Marriage

[IndependntLogic]

I help with the Speech & Debate team at my daughter's hs as they are members of "the NFL" (I have won Toastmasters International International speaking contests in multiple
categories to the highest levels). So the teacher asked for subjects for this quarter's debate. Someone brought up Gay Marriage. Here was the comment that came from one of the "church kids" (I know them all pretty well).

"We've already beat this one to death. Resolved: The Constitution
guarantees religious freedom and our laws are not to be made or
enforced based on religious beliefs, whether Christian, Muslim or
otherwise. The argument for DOMA is the "Sanctity" of marriage.
Sanctity means "holy" and is specifically religion based. Therefore,
the government interferring in private marriages is the
UnConstitutional regulation of private citizens personal lives through
the enforcement of religious beliefs."

Pretty strong. Counterpoints? I can't come up with any. Of course, I never wore a tie or carried a briefcase to highschool...

 

[Big Black Dog]

Personally, I don't think this is an appropriate subject for a high school debate team.

 

[IndependntLogic]

Personally, I don't think this is an appropriate subject for a high school debate team.

Why? Do you think 15 - 18 year olds are unaware that homosexuality exist? That they don't see this issue on the news and internet every day?

These kids are members of the National Forensic League. They discuss the most complex social and political issues out there. What would you find "acceptable" for such debates?

 

[DiamondDave]

World English Dictionary
sanctity (ˈsæŋktɪt&#618

— n , pl -ties
1. the condition of being sanctified; holiness
2. anything regarded as sanctified or holy
3. the condition of being inviolable; sacredness: the sanctity of marriage

 

[GuyPinestra]

I'd have to agree with the student... And I'm glad to see that not ALL our kids are so dumb they can't name or number America's neighbors...

 

[g5000]

I help with the Speech & Debate team at my daughter's hs as they are members of "the NFL" (I have won Toastmasters International International speaking contests in multiple
categories to the highest levels). So the teacher asked for subjects for this quarter's debate. Someone brought up Gay Marriage. Here was the comment that came from one of the "church kids" (I know them all pretty well).

"We've already beat this one to death. Resolved: The Constitution
guarantees religious freedom and our laws are not to be made or
enforced based on religious beliefs, whether Christian, Muslim or
otherwise. The argument for DOMA is the "Sanctity" of marriage.
Sanctity means "holy" and is specifically religion based. Therefore,
the government interferring in private marriages is the
UnConstitutional regulation of private citizens personal lives through
the enforcement of religious beliefs."

Pretty strong. Counterpoints? I can't come up with any. Of course, I never wore a tie or carried a briefcase to highschool...

It is an excellent argument.

One could use the anti-gay arguments to make an argument that the marriage between a black man and white woman is unholy (Gen 9:25-27) to get the point across as well.

 

[Skull Pilot]

I help with the Speech & Debate team at my daughter's hs as they are members of "the NFL" (I have won Toastmasters International International speaking contests in multiple
categories to the highest levels). So the teacher asked for subjects for this quarter's debate. Someone brought up Gay Marriage. Here was the comment that came from one of the "church kids" (I know them all pretty well).

"We've already beat this one to death. Resolved: The Constitution
guarantees religious freedom and our laws are not to be made or
enforced based on religious beliefs, whether Christian, Muslim or
otherwise. The argument for DOMA is the "Sanctity" of marriage.
Sanctity means "holy" and is specifically religion based. Therefore,
the government interferring in private marriages is the
UnConstitutional regulation of private citizens personal lives through
the enforcement of religious beliefs."

Pretty strong. Counterpoints? I can't come up with any. Of course, I never wore a tie or carried a briefcase to highschool...

The government isn't interfering in private marriages.

No one is telling anyone they have to marry a gay person nor is the government telling anyone they have to conduct marriage ceremonies for gay people.

What so called church goers fail to see is that denying others the right to marry indeed is interfering in the lives the people they wish to prohibit from obtaining the legal protection that they themselves enjoy.

This brings up a relevant tangent.

Should the government allow religious institutions to perform legally binding ceremonies?

The obvious answer is no. All Marriages should be performed by the state insofar as marriages are legal contracts. I would argue that the fact that the state has laws that recognize the legality of a religious ceremony is itself a violation of the Constitution as it is the state recognizing religious ceremony as a legally binding contract.

If people feel the need to have their union sanctified by the magic man in the sky then they can have their local shaman perform another ceremony as prescribed by their religious dogma.

 

[Katzndogz]

The argument for DOMA is that one state may not force its views on same sex marriage on any other state through the use of the Full Faith and Credit Clause.

Not only are the students dolts for not knowing this, but so are the teachers.

 

[IndependntLogic]

World English Dictionary
sanctity (ˈsæŋktɪt&#618

— n , pl -ties
1. the condition of being sanctified; holiness
2. anything regarded as sanctified or holy
3. the condition of being inviolable; sacredness: the sanctity of marriage

Thank you for reinforcing the kids' view!

 

[Leweman]

should 12 year olds be allowed to consent to marriage now a days?

 

[IndependntLogic]

The argument for DOMA is that one state may not force its views on same sex marriage on any other state through the use of the Full Faith and Credit Clause.

Not only are the students dolts for not knowing this, but so are the teachers.

Yeah, they're just a bunch of national honor roll "dolts" who have won the state Forensic championships 10 times in 14 years, have 10 MENSA members out of 25 students and have qualified for the NFL every year. And that dumb ol' teacher? Oh hell nm. I'm sure you think all teachers are evil liberal Elitists and his credentials would only reinforce that belief.

I don't know but I believe their argument would be that some laws need to apply uniformly throughout the USA.
But then, you probably believe the Liberal states should be able to ban the ownership and / or possession of a gun, right? Because one state can't force another...

 

[IndependntLogic]

should 12 year olds be allowed to consent to marriage now a days?

LOL!

Um, you realize they only discuss these things, right?
So. Should 12 year olds be allowed to discuss marriage?
BTW, there are no 12 year olds in the High School Debate Class. I believe the youngest is 14.