So no, we don't go around chasing 13 year old girls to put on our harems.
I don't think he meant to imply that you did, or meant to slam your laws. I believe the point trying to be made is that, technically speaking, a pedophile from the USA could hook up over the net with some little girl who has just turned 13, fly on over there and spend the night with her in a hotel.
the question being, that while that would be legal (as long as he didn't violate your list of negating conditions), would it be any more moral than finding a 13 year old here? moral and legal are not the same thing.
we do make laws regarding morality. but not everything we find immoral is illegal. we try to be as tolerant as possible with the ones that are less offensive and less tolerant with the more offensive.
pedophilia is a good example because the vast majority of us are on the same page with how immoral it is. so we can say "see how you feel about pedophilia, that is similar to how I feel about homosexuality". we can pretty much all agree that pedophilia is morally wrong, but to the thousands of degenerates who practice it, it probably looks somewhat different.
the point being, why is it ok for us to make laws concerning pedophilia, but not homosexuality? is it not ok with gays because that doesn't offend some of you? how many people have to be offended? is there a set number? I know, I know "age of consent, age of consent", before you type that in go back to the top and read the first 2 paragraphs again. repeat as necessary.
so we do, as a society, have a right (obligation) to make laws regarding morality.
but again some of you miss understand the issue. no mater how much the gay rights people want to distort it, NOBODY HAS SUGESTED OUTLAWING GAY MARAIGE. no swat team is going to raid Dave and Ted’s wedding and try and 'cure ' the degenerates. there will be no fines for performing gay marriages. what has been suggested (by bush) is an official definition of what is and isn't legally considered a marriage in this country (and pushing for that definition to be 'between 2 members of the opposite sex')
another point, the concern isn't for my marriage in particular, as stated by thrawn. it's for the institution as a whole.
and the institution is already in trouble. my son graduated highschool this spring. out of the 500+ kids in his graduating class he was the only one he knew of who’s parents where married at the time of their graduation, the only one who’s parents shared the same address. granted he didn't know every kid in that class well enough to know all of their situations, the fact that in 4 years he never ran into another kid who he found to be in the same situation as him, does say something though, doesn't it?
when I married in '84 I intended it for life, after a few years of marriage my wife tells me that with most of her friends parents being divorced she went into the marriage with the "for as long as it's fun" outlook. it wasn't until after we went through some hard times and I didn't bail out, she asked why and I told her I was here 'for better or worse', that she started looking at it as a permanent situation.
marriage is often seen as a temporary situation, or a legal decision, or an economic decision. it isn't. it's a commitment to a life long partnership in raising a family together.
the legal requiring of all to treat these obscene gay marriages as if they are the same as a real marriage is profane to many, is mockery of the institution of marriage and further confuses the issue as to what exactly you are getting into when you say "we're married".
the institution of marriage is a cornerstone of our society, and it is in danger. most would agree that, while you can find examples of exceptions on either side, children develop better in a loving environment where both parents are there and happy to be there. and marriage is the best way to accomplish that.
as divorce rates and children without marriage rates climb you see a lot more trouble with kids, and as they age trouble as adults. having your citizens develop to adulthood in a setting resembling normal is crucial to survival as a society.
and again if gays want to say they are married and go play house somewhere, nobody is trying to outlaw that. it's just a push to clearly define what a marriage is.
Edited for my horrendous spelling
