Tenshinai wrote:Eyal wrote:Every one of those arguments applies equally to heterosexual marriages where the couple is infertile for whatever reason.
Indeed. And "mental problems from break ups", that depends on how badly the people involved handle it, something that is less likely to involve everyone if there´s more people involved at all.
Not necessarily; I can imagine scenarios where a more complex marriage would have more complex fallout, since everyone is affected (unless you're talking about a group marriage which is so large that it's effectively more like a series of seperate marriages where each individual belongs to more than one subgroup).
For example: Imagine Anne, Bob, Charlie and Diane are all part of a polygamous marriage. Charlie and Diane's relationship deteriorates to the point where she gets fed up and leaves the group. As Anne and Bob love Diane, their relationship with Charlie becomes more acrimonous as they see him as responsible for the break.
For all the talk about "redefinition of marriage", SSM fits neatly into existing legal structures, as for the most part there is no difference between a gay couple and a mutually infertile heterosexual couple. Group marriages, OTOH, require a major change in existing structures with all the porblems inherent in that.