I just watched this interview this morning and I was frankly flabbergasted. I mean, David Tyree is probably a decent guy - but his reasoning here is flawed and watching the CNN Host actually challenge him over and over again with documented facts that same-sex couples have already been proven to be every bit as nurturing and capable as parents as "Opposite Marriage" was amazing.
Time and time again - she asks a substantive question - and time and time again - he claims - "that's irrelevant".
Watch.
Tyree: A Nuclear Family, that is way marriage was intended. I don't think anyone would disagree with that.
Host: Where is the evidence that gay marriage has any negative impact on other marriages, or the sanctity of marriage, or culture, or children? Where is your evidence?
Tyree: Where is the evidence? I can't give any statistics. But I do know that marriage existed before our country. I'm not interested in a theocracy. We are messing with something that actually God has ordained and set in order. To redefine marriage changes everything. It's something that, just like when you adopt a child, you should adopt it as it is - you don't adopt a child and change their name. Marriage is something that is holy, it's something that is sacred and should not be tampered with.
The Host then points to a 25 year study that shows that children raised by a gay couples have a far greater appreciation of diversity. But that doesn't deter Tyree:
Tyree: I can't appreciate that, but I don't think that has any reflection on my my views. What is a marriage? It's between a man and woman.
Host: Well, you talk about your Dad not being in your home while you were growing up and that had a big impact on you. What if you were raised by two women, or two men who loved you - are you saying that's worse than growing up in a single parent home?
Tyree: I never said anything of the sort. It's unnatural. I don't neccesarily think that it's a healthy model.
Host: Explain "unnatural" to me?
Tyree: The original intent of a marriage is to procreate. It's to spawn off family and to be a reflection of God in that sense.
Host: You're going into your religious perspective.
Tyree: If that's the make-up of every home, can we procreate as a country?
Host: It's Not the make-up of every home. There are many same-sex marriages and relationships that are successful and are raising happy chlidren.
Tyree: It's unnatural.
Host: I'm still having trouble with what's "Unnatural"?
Tyree: I don't understand where you're difficulty [is]. A man and woman come together to procreate. A man and a man will never procreate.
Host: What about infertile couples? Infertile couples can still come together and have children.
Tyree: That has no bearing. That makes no sense. A man and woman are still coming together to raise a children.
Host: Women and women come together to raise a family as well, a man and man come together to raise a family as well.
Tyree: I understand your views. Um..
Host; I'm not expressing my views - I'm Just stating a FACT!
Tyree: I understand you're advocacy for equality, I even understand their battle. But y'now to redefine marriage did not start with our country, It's always been that way through ages. I believe that their are studies that would show that this would give that child the best chances to do well.
No, I don't think there are studies that show that only a male/female parenting pair will succeed or even succeed better than anyone else. Especially when so many of those relationships are dysfunctional, abusive and violent. How many men are in prison for beating and killing their wives? How many wives are in jail for killing their abusive husband?
Certainly this isn't the norm, but neither should it be the preference without any real thought being applied.
Possibly as soon as today there may be a vote in the New York Legislature on Same-Sex Equality. And it's at this time that this Sports guy decides he's going to gift us all with his Moral view that essentially breaks down to at the end of the interview - "If we allow (gays) to marry - the country will unravel into ... polygamy".
It's an old argument, we've all heard it before. It also happens to be BULLSHIT.
Pardon me, but speaking of the subject of polygamy wasn't that long considered a moral tenet of the Mormon Church? We're they persecuted for that view to the extent that many of that faith moved to Mexico, including Mitt Romney's grandfather, and in fact his father George Romney was born in Mexico even though he later served as Governor of Utah Michigan and ran for Vice President.
Wasn't it the same Mormon Church - with a history of being persecuted for it's unorthodox views on marriage - that then instituted an illegally lobbied to implement Proposition 8 to deny the ability to marry of others?
So Tyree's "Anarchy" is that we might have the same rules that the Mormon Church would implement if they had the chance. Time and time again we've seen that those who are pro-polygamy be it David Koresh, to Bin Laden's extreme Wahhabism and his multiple wives to various Neo-Christians Cultists and their multiple underage wives - they are all uniformly homophobic at the same time, so the idea that one would lead to the other is flatly ridiculous. All the polygamist are on Tyree's Side of the debate.
Also speaking of marriage being a certain way thru the ages - just how many wives did King Solomon have again?
King Solomon loved, in addition to the daughter of Pharaoh, many foreign woman, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had warned the Israelites. "You must not cohabit with them, nor they with you, for they will certainly turn your hearts to their gods". Solomon held fast to them in love. He had 700 official wives and 300 concubines....
The Holy Bible 1 Kings 11:1-3
Hmmm.... What Anarchy was it that you were trying to protect us from again?
Being able to marry the person you love, regardless of their gender, does not automatically open the door to marrying multiple people, that has no bearing. Being able to show you're commitment to the person of your choice who also shares that commitment does not open the door to predatory behavior with children who can not consent as an adult, or - heaven for fend - animals.
This is BullShit FEAR-MONGERING.
Hopefully the New York Legislature will put an end to it, if not today - then soon.
Vyan
9:48 AM PT: As I and others in the comments have noted "Traditional Marriage" through the ages was not about procreation of families as it was about contracts and the building of financial dynasties.
Daughters did not choose their husband, they were essentially sold (via dowry) by their fathers and become their husbands Property. They were tied if they tried to run away, and eventually as they finally learned to stay within their bounds the rope was taken from their waist and then placed around their finger to remind them that their were still owned.
This is what people like Tyree is truly trying to protect. Ownership and Property Rights.
As I've long said the true heart of attacks on gays - is really an attack on women. For some Big tough straight guys, their deepest fear is that a gay male - just might considering treating them the same way they treat their girlfriends., And they are NOT HAVING THAT!
This is why they fear and dread equality. It would put everyone truly on equal footing, including them.
Heaven for Fend