Annie Nguyen
Mr. Montalbano
AP Language and Composition, Period 4
21 February 2016
What’s Wrong with Gay Marriage? Questions
Meaning Questions:
1. What three arguments against same-sex marriage does Pollitt summarize in her first three paragraphs, and how does she refute each argument? The three arguments that Pollitt summarize against same-sex marriage is that marriage is all about making the future generations, causing men to be less violent, and how marriages of different kinds occurred throughout history without anyone complaining. Pollitt refuted the argument of marriage just being a threshold for procreation by stating, “There’s something creepily authoritarian and insulting about reducing marriage to procreation, as if intimacy mattered
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She states is directly at the end of the essay, “Gay marriage--it’s not about sex, it’s about separation of church and state” (Pollitt 562). In the paragraph before the thesis, Pollitt examines marriage in the term of religion and in the term of the state/government. It is given that marriage though occurs before God and a minister is still affected by the government. People who marry must fill out papers to receive a marriage certificate. Those who are divorced can remarry someone else even though it is frown upon by Catholics. Religious beliefs only affects the approvement for marriage. Just like what Pollitt stated, “It’s not about what God blesses; it’s about what the government permits” (Pollitt …show more content…
Why she decide to write about gay marriage as well as giving readers background to how the issue has affected the world and what people think about it. She challenges people to think more on why they are opposed to gay marriage stating, “Will someone please explain to me how permitting gays and lesbians to marry threatens the institution of marriage? Now that the Massachusetts Supreme Court has declared gay marriage a constitutional right, opponents really have to get their arguments in line” (Pollitt 560). It sets up her main idea of the essay and of each paragraph. Her questions help lead her thoughts into what people have been using as an excuse for opposing gay