Same sex marriage

• Polygamy refers to the practice of marrying more than one person
• Polygamy is accepted in some cultures, such as in some Islamic, Hindu, and even Christian countries
• Polygamy is illegal and even criminalized in many parts of the world, including the UK and the USA
• Polyamorous


  To have open intimate or romantic relationships with more than one person at a time
• Polyamorous relationships can include people of different sexual orientations
• Polyamory should not be confused with bigamy or polygamy, which involves marriage to more than one person
• Types of polyamorous relationships

  • Triad
  • Quad
  • Vee (or "V")
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) discontinued polygamy over a century ago and excommunicates anyone who practices it
• Fundamentalist Mormons still practice polygamy in the 21st Century
• In Jewish legal tradition, polygamy was at least tolerated, as long as one spouse was not supported at the expense of the other
• In Islamic legal traditions, a husband can marry multiple wives under certain circumstances, but Muslim women are generally barred from marrying numerous husbands
• The Roman Catholic Church considers the practice of polygamy to be an offense against the dignity of marriage and in opposition to the religion's moral values
• The creation accounts in Genesis present monogamy as the ideal in Christianity
• Polygamy in Islam


  It is a provision for special circumstances, such as in wartime situations to support widows and orphans
• The Hindu law books made provision for polygamy under special circumstances, not for the purpose of carnal pleasures, but for procreation and continuation of family lineage
• Social movements around the acceptance and rights of LGBT or queer persons began as responses to centuries of persecution by church, state and medical authorities
• Throughout the majority of Christian history, most Christian theologians and denominations have considered homosexual behaviour as immoral or sinful
• Christian views on homosexuality

  • The Catholic Church and Orthodox churches officially condemn homosexual activity as sin
  • Certain Christian denominations do not view monogamous same-sex relationships as sinful or immoral, and may bless such unions and consider them marriages
  • LGBT-affirming denominations regard homosexuality as a natural occurrence
• Roman Catholic view of homosexuality


  The Catholic Church views as sinful any sexual act not related to procreation by a couple joined in marriage, but does not consider the homosexual tendency itself to be sinful
• Jesus affirmed the covenanted union of one man and one woman as the only normative expression of human sexuality
• In the Bible, St Paul condemns "sodomites" as unrighteous and sinners
• Arguments against homosexuality


  • God made male and female to complete each other and to procreate
  • Homosexual practice is forbidden in the book of Leviticus
  • In some of Saint Paul's letters, he condemns homosexuality as "unrighteous" and claims that men who practice homosexuality will not inherit the Kingdom of God
• There is much speculation that the Leviticus passage referring to "man lies with a male" may instead refer to man lying with a boy, rather than homosexuality
• There is much speculation that 'man lies with a male', rather than referring to homosexuality, instead refers to man lying with a boy
• Pederasty in ancient Greece was a socially acknowledged romantic relationship between an older male (the erastes) and a younger male (the eromenos) usually in his teens
• Scholars have tended to accept without question or doubt the assertions of ancient pederasts that their activities were beneficial to boys, that they were educating boys in the habits and ways of manhood and of citizenship
• This ready acceptance of the rationale of the Greeks is surprising, given the increasing sensitivity in our own culture to issues of child abuse
• Utilitarianism


  An ethical theory, created by Jeremy Bentham, that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes. It is a form of consequentialism. Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number- if an action causes more pleasure than suffering, then it is considered good
• Bentham presented Biblical evidence for Jesus' homosexuality as part of his theological defence for same-sex love in "Not Paul, but Jesus Vol. III"
• Bentham didn't dare publish it during his lifetime because he feared being labelled a "sodomite" himself
• At the time "buggery" was punished with death by hanging in England
• A number of Hindu texts have portrayed homosexual experience as natural and joyful
• The Kamasutra affirms and recognises same-sex relations, and there are several Hindu temples which have carvings that depict both men and women engaging in homosexual acts
• There are also numerous Hindu deities that are shown to be gender-fluid and falling into the LGBT spectrum
• Same-sex relations and gender variance have been represented within Hinduism from the Vedic times through to the present day, in rituals, law books, religious or narrative mythologies, commentaries, paintings, and even sculptures
• The Vedas frequently mention people who belong to a "third sex," which some readers have interpreted as a not-so-veiled reference to gays and lesbians in ancient society
• The erotic Kama Sutra—not a sacred text but an instruction manual written sometime between the first and sixth centuries A.D.—further supports the contention that homosexuality was somewhat acceptable at one point; the book contains a lengthy section on homosexual fellatio
• Homosexuality remains a taboo topic throughout much of India. Many Hindus frown upon gay and lesbian liaisons, in part because of the religion's emphasis on the sanctity of marriage and its strong disapproval of premarital sex
• Religious conservatives point out one of marriage's chief functions is to produce progeny so as to perpetuate the family-line
• Before the 20th century it was believed that men and women belonged to different 'spheres'. They had separate roles or duties that were based on their gender