[extropy-chat] Gay marriage in Spain, a world of change

[MB]

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005, Evan Hamlin wrote:

> What I'm saying is more in regards to the actual legal aspect of it. In my
> opinion, homosexuality shouldn't be incentivized. The way the (legal)
> institution of marriage is set up, it isn't so much rights as benefits;
> incentives promoting the creation of heterosexual families, as I said
> earlier. To not give homosexuals the benefits of a heterosexual union isn't
> really to deny them any rights, simply to deny them benefits. Except in the
> case of adopting children I suppose, following the logic of the previous
> paragraph.
>
> All of you have provided very good arguments, despite the sporatic off-topic
> rant here and there. I guess inside I feel that homosexuality should be
> treated not as a new race of people, all of us running with open arms to
> give them equal rights, but as the biological anomaly that it is. It just
> seems strange to me how normal it has become.
>

Recently I read Susan Blackmore's "The Meme Machine".  In it she says
the following:

p. 137
| The taboo against homosexuality is especially interesting.
| There is no generally accepted biological explanation of
| homosexuality and superficially it does not appear to be
| adaptive. Nevertheless, evidence is accumulating that there
| is an inherited predisposition for homosexuality. Assuming
| this is the case, the taboos of the past would, paradoxically,
| have favored the survival of these genes by forcing the people
| who carried them, against their wishes, to marry and have
| children.
|
| This suggests an interesting prediction for the future. As
| horizontal transmission [of the meme of acceptance of
| homosexuality] increases, the taboo should lose its
| power and so can be expected to disappear, as indeed it is
| doing in many societies. Homosexuals are then free to have
| sex with other homosexuals, to have long-term relationships
| with their own sex, and not to have children at all. The short
| term effect is much more overt homosexual behavior and
| acceptance of that behavior by everyone, but the long-term
| effect may be fewer genes for homosexuality!

Food for thought... :)

Regards,
MB