Rhetoric is the GOP's entire argument

The Senate Rules and Legislative Procedure Committee voted last week 8-4 to further ban same-sex marriage in Indiana.

Allison Slater of the National Organization for Marriage testified before the committee.
She said the question being debated was not about equality.

“Children are born with a mother-shaped hole and a father-shaped hole in their hearts,” Slater said. “Logic and biology dictate that a woman cannot be a father and a man cannot be a mother, no matter how much they love that child.”

It is this columnist’s opinion that this statement is complete and utter bull.
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First of all, this committee is determining the legality of same-sex marriage within Indiana. If same-sex marriage is legalized, then same-sex couples will be entitled to the same legal rights as heterosexual couples.

At this stage, the issue is a legal one. There is no evident reason why opponents should bring the well-being of a theoretical, and apparently conservative, child into a debate over law.

It’s a purely emotional appeal, and it’s not a very good one. Same-sex couples can still have children even if they are not defined as married under the law, so it is a non-issue.

But let’s make it an issue just for fun.

There is no evidence to suggest that same-sex couples are less fit to be parents than heterosexual couples. In fact, several studies suggest that same-sex parents are just as capable of raising full-functioning children as heterosexual parents. Slater’s claims are completely untrue.

Notice how Slater carefully skirted around the issue when she says a woman cannot be a father and a man cannot be a mother. Perhaps a same-sex couple cannot fit into a strictly-defined category such as “mother” or “father.” This doesn’t mean that same-sex couples cannot be good parents.

For argument’s sake, let’s say that Slater’s statement means that same-sex couples cannot be good parents, as she intends it to be. Even under this false premise, it still doesn’t mean that a child needs a mother and a father.

Her only argument that claims a child needs a mother and a father is in her claim about children having a “mother-shaped hole and a father-shaped hole in their hearts,” which is so obviously unsupported that I won’t waste valuable space refuting it.

Slater and her compatriots need to realize that a child can become a fully functioning, loving human being without the support of both a mother and a father. I know several people who have been raised by two mothers, a single mother or a single father, and they’ve become amazing people.

I have also known several people who have been raised by a loving mother and father and have become complete bums incapable of caring for anyone besides themselves.   
Allison Slater, I will not ask you to change your beliefs because all people in this country are entitled to them, but tell us the actual reason you oppose same-sex marriage instead of hiding behind pseudo-intellectual statements.

Once you’re done, I’ll still disagree with you, but at least I’ll respect you.

— allenjo@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Josh Allen on Twitter @IAmJoshAllen