Question: Same-Sex Marriage: How Do You Feel?

At this writing in 2013, about 94 million Americans (nearly onethird of the population) live in states that allow same-sex marriage.70 Worldwide about 585 million people (about 8 percent of the global population) live in countries where same-sex marriage is lawful.71 Those numbers represent extraordinarily rapid changes in American and global views of gay and lesbian marriage, but the debate is far from settled. Morally and ethically speaking, which side is "right" about same-sex marriage? How do we decide? Consider some questions that help us sort through this moral thicket:

1. What issues should one consider in deciding whether gay and lesbian marriages are morally defensible?

2. Is a civil union arrangement an acceptable "middle ground?

3. If the American people ultimately favor gay and lesbian marriage, could we then consider a morally defensible practice?

4. Are children at moral risk if raised by same-sex couples?

5. If scholarly studies ultimately demonstrate that homosexuality and lesbianism are substantially commanded by genetic characteristics, would we be morally required to permit same-sex marriage?