Free Essays,College Free Essays,Free College Essays at Anti Essays

Same Sex Marriage and the Voice of Ignorance
"Each individual's journey through life is unique. Some will make this journey alone, others in loving relationships - maybe in marriage or other forms of commitment. We need to ponder our own choices and try to understand the choices of others. Love has many shapes and colors and is not finite. It can not be measured or defined in terms of sexual orientation."
--Statement of Affirmation and Reconciliation by the Quaker meeting in Aotearoa.

What have you heard about same sex marriage? Do you know the basic facts and reasons? If not, this is the right thing to read. My purpose is to answer any questions you might have.
To start off, let’s look at the history of same-sex unions and relationships. In Japan and China, single-sex relationships among men were relatively common. Older men would marry younger men in lavish ceremonies to celebrate their love and partnership. This continued among the samurai (Japanese warriors) until the 19th century . In early European cultures, single-sex bonding ceremonies were prevalent in Europe until 342 AD. In the middle ages, sometimes priests would become spiritually, emotionally, and sexually bound together in a process known as vellamaria, or “brother bond. ” Egypt, however, is where one of the first public single-sex relationships was: Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum were two public officials during the Fifth Dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs. In North America, the Native American tribes had persons (usually biologically male) known as “two-spirits”, who we would call transgendered (more on this later) in today’s terminology. The men would take on feminine aspects and become a wife to a powerful chief; they also were regarded as great shamans and holders of wisdom. In more recent times in the US, the 19th century was full of “Boston Weddings”, when two women would make a long term commitment and cohabitate. Socially, however, it was rude to imply that...