What is your stance on gay marriage?

There is a global movement to legalize same-sex marriage and other marriage-equivalent

domestic relations. Today the issue of same-sex marriage is one that is frequently debated and it
has been the main focus of gay activists for the past decade and the area where they have
achieved most progress. The case for same-sex marriage has been politically triumphant, and its
victory looks inevitable. It nonetheless is curiously incomplete. It has succeeded, not because the
most sophisticated opposing arguments have been considered and rejected, but because those
arguments have not even been understood. Those arguments rest on complex claims, either about
what sustains the stability of heterosexual marriages or about what those marriages essentially
are. The most familiar claim, that recognition of same-sex marriage jeopardizes the heterosexual
family, demands an account of the transformation of family norms in the past half century. Major
social change should not be undertaken without a full awareness of what is at stake. Same-sex
marriage has continuously been contradicted throughout our nation and so the arguments never
seem to cease. Some argue the legality of same-sex marriage while others suggest that it
compromises the sacredness of marriage. Various religious groups and their supporters in the
U.S. tend to either support same-sex marriage or greatly oppose it, depending on their viewpoints
and beliefs. Thus, the constant, bitter arguments between these parties. These two groups
constantly argue over the validity of same-sex marriage and never seem to come to an
agreement. Each group presents valid and reasonable arguments to support their belief. Both
hold their beliefs strongly and, therefore, aren’t willing to compromise. The reason for this is
because people have been taught that only a relationship between a man and a woman should
exist. The thought of anything else is repulsive. How could a man be with a man and a woman
with a woman? It’s disgusting to imagine that these people don’t care about the rest of the
population. They are being selfish and sending out the wrong message to everyone. Society has a
specific mindset and, therefore, has guidelines for the way people should behave. Legalizing
same-sex marriage contradicts these guidelines and this immoral behavior affects everyone and
causes them to be uncomfortable with the idea of same-sex marriages. Marriage is a legal
contract: Marriage is legally defined as, “a legal contract entered into between a man and woman
who intend to become husband and wife. Marriage creates a legal relationship between husband
and wife with rights and obligations governed by state law. 

Should gay couples be given rights to a family, that is, adaption of children as
straight couples?

It is difficult to obtain an accurate count of same-sex parent families because many lesbians and
gay men are not open about their sexual orientation due to fears of discrimination, such as loss of
employment, loss of child custody, and antigay violence. There is not a “usual” gay family.
Some same-sex couples may decide to have a child within their relationship, while others may
bring children from previous heterosexual or same-sex unions. The rise in same-sex parenting is
partially due to the increase in options available for same-sex couples to become parents.
Although most children of same-sex couples are biological children of one of the parents, a
growing number are the result of donor insemination, surrogacy, foster care and adoption. The
number of same-sex couples has grown significantly in the past decade. The Civil Marriage Act
(Bill C-38) legalized same sex marriage in Canada on July 20, 2005. Some provinces and
territories had already adopted legal same-sex marriage, beginning with Ontario in June 2003. In
2011, Statistics Canada reported 64,575 same-sex couple households in Canada, up by 42
percent from 2006. Of these about three in ten were same-sex married couples compared to 16.5
percent in 2006 (Statistics Canada 2012). These increases are a result of more coupling, the
change in the marriage laws, growing social acceptance of homosexuality, and a subsequent
increase in willingness to report it.

In Canada, same-sex couples make up 0.8 percent of all couples. Unlike in the United States
where the distribution of same-sex couples nationwide is very uneven, ranging from as low as
0.29 percent in Wyoming to 4.01 percent in the District of Columbia (U.S. Census Bureau 2011),
the distribution of same-sex couples in Canada by province or territory is similar to that of
opposite-sex couples. However, same-sex couples are more highly concentrated in big cities. In
2011, 45.6 percent of all same-sex sex couples lived in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal,
compared to 33.4 percent of opposite-sex couples (Statistics Canada 2012). In terms of
demographics, Canadian same-sex couples tended to be younger than opposite-sex couples.
Twenty-five percent of individuals in same-sex couples were under the age of 35 compared to
17.5 percent of individuals in opposite-sex couples. There were more male-male couples (54.5
percent) than female-female couples (Milan 2013). Additionally, 9.4 percent of same-sex couples
were raising children, 80 percent of whom were female-female couples (Statistics Canada 2012).

While there is some concern from socially conservative groups, especially in the United States,
regarding the well-being of children who grow up in same-sex households, research reports that
same-sex parents are as effective as opposite-sex parents. In an analysis of 81 parenting studies,
sociologists found no quantifiable data to support the notion that opposite-sex parenting is any
better than same-sex parenting. Children of lesbian couples, however, were shown to have
slightly lower rates of behavioural problems and higher rates of self-esteem (Biblarz and Stacey
2010).

In some parts of the world abortion is legalized, is this the case in Namibia?
In Namibia, the state, the churches and other non-governmental organisations can
discourage women from having abortions by a number of positive measures:
• providing family life education in the schools
• making family planning methods more accessible
• providing counselling for pregnant women
• making it possible for young mothers to continue with their education
• promoting options to abortion such as adoption and foster care
• making sure that fathers do their share to support their children
• providing financial assistance where it is necessary.
Such steps as these are far more likely to reduce abortion and infanticide than either moral
condemnation or legal punishment.The question we should be asking ourselves is not whether
abortion is right or wrong. The question is whether the law should decide this issue for everyone.
A police investigation was launched after a 32-year-old nurse from Tsumeb died from a
"backstreet abortion" in which a local shopkeeper injected an unknown substance into her womb.
(Sister, October-November 1993)
Two women were charged with culpable homicide after giving the daughter of one of them a
mixture to drink which was intended to cause abortion but killed the pregnant woman instead.
(Information from Prosecutor-General's Office, 1994) According to a 1993 study of teenagers
aged 13-19, many school girls who become pregnant try to abort, and a few girls have died from
illegal abortions. Some of the methods cited for causing a miscarriage were drinking bleach or
taking certain medications. (P Hailonga, A Study to Identify Adolescents' Knowledge, Attitudes
and Beliefs Towards Teenage Pregnancy, March 1993,pp. 23-24) In June 1995, a 17-year-old
girl was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment (seven of which were suspended) for stabbing her
newborn child to death. (The Namibian, 22 June 1995) In August 1995, a 23-year-old woman
was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for placing her three-day-old baby boy in a plastic
bag and abandoning him in a riverbed. A 24-year-old woman who gave birth to her first child at
the age of 12 was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for strangling her month old baby boy.
A third woman received a suspended sentence of seven years after she pleaded guilty to
murdering her newborn son by slitting his throat. (The Namibian, 8 September 1995).
In Keetmanshoop a mother apparently gave birth to a live baby girl in a field and abandoned the
baby. The body was later mutilated by dogs. (The Namibian, 3 June 1996) In July 1996, a 23-
year-old woman set her newborn baby on fire. (Windhoek Observer, 13 July 1996)
Clearly indicate the Namibian debate in each case, giving practical examples.