{"id":5670,"date":"2013-04-11T23:09:32","date_gmt":"2013-04-11T22:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=5670"},"modified":"2013-04-23T08:54:20","modified_gmt":"2013-04-23T07:54:20","slug":"jeremy-irons-warns-of-gay-marriage-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/jeremy-irons-warns-of-gay-marriage-consequences\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeremy Irons in Gay Marriage Warning"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(function(d, s, id) {\n  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n  js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\";\n  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Jeremy-Irons.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-5673\" alt=\"Jeremy Irons\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Jeremy-Irons.jpg\" width=\"356\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Jeremy-Irons.jpg 1648w, https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Jeremy-Irons-600x506.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Jeremy-Irons-300x252.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Jeremy-Irons-1024x863.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 356px) 100vw, 356px\" \/><\/a>In <a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/politics\/9972011\/Jeremy-Irons-claims-gay-marriage-laws-could-lead-to-a-father-marrying-his-son.html\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>an intriguing interview last week<\/strong><\/a>, actor Jeremy Irons warned that laws to introduce same-sex marriage &#8216;could &#8220;debase&#8221; marital law and lead to a legal nightmare.<\/p>\n<p>Irons told an interviewer with the Huffington Post that he feared men would begin marrying their sons for tax purposes, since the laws prohibiting incest would be hard to defend in relationships that do not (and cannot) involve breeding.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cCould a father not marry his son?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When reminded about laws which prohibit sexual relationships between family members, he responded: \u201cIt&#8217;s not incest between men&#8221;, adding: \u201cIncest is there to protect us from inbreeding, but men don&#8217;t breed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The comments prompted outrage from homosexual activists.<\/p>\n<p>Irons concerns are well-founded. After all, if the institution of marriage is not at least about breeding (whatever else it may be about), then why should a man be prohibited from marrying his son or his sister? Or why should a man be excluded from \u2018marrying\u2019 his brother (if he is a homosexual), or his son\u2019s daughter (if he is heterosexual), or his husband\u2019s daughter\u2019s daughter (if he is bisexual)?<\/p>\n<p>Incest produces genetically unhealthy children, but Tauriq Moosa at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, has already <a href=\"His comments echo concerns that I have already pointed out  If the institution of marriage is not at least about procreation (whatever else it may be about), then why should a man be prohibited from marrying his sister? Or why should a man be excluded from \u2018marrying\u2019 his brother (if he is a homosexual), or his son\u2019s daughter (if he is heterosexual), or his husband\u2019s daughter\u2019s daughter (if he is bisexual)?  Incest produces genetically unhealthy children, but Tauriq Moosa at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, has already pointed out that because of contraception this shouldn\u2019t concern us anymore. He writes:  \u201cpeople claim that incest creates \u2018deformed\u2019 children\u2026..this assumes sex acts are solely for having children, whereas this is nonsense, since we have effective contraceptives and other measures to prevent pregnancy. \u2026why should the sexual activities of two consenting adults concern us? This is the same question we can ask those who are \u2018against\u2019 homosexuality (which is like being against having blue eyes). It is none of our business what two consenting adults wish to do (as long as no one else is harmed\/involved without consent).\u201d  Then there\u2019s the equality angle to the whole thing. Certain adjustments to the rules about consanguinity and affinity will probably seem reasonable within a same-sex context since members of the same sex can\u2019t produce children together. So even if you could justify a prohibition on a woman marrying her brother, this wouldn\u2019t apply if the same woman wanted to \u201cmarry\u201d her sister. However, once those adjustments are introduced, you would either need a two-tier system, which shows that same-sex \u2018marriage\u2019 really is qualitatively different, or else those same adjustments would have to be mapped over onto the laws regulating real marriages. After all, are we going to say that a homosexual man can marry his brother\u2019s son but deny a heterosexual man the privilege of marrying his brother\u2019s daughter? Are we going to allow a lesbian to \u2018marry\u2019 her \u2018wife\u2019s\u2019 sister\u2019s daughter but deny a heterosexual woman the right to marry her husband\u2019s sister\u2019s son? These are the difficult questions that few people are asking.  Then there\u2019s the constitutional angle, which parallels issues that arose last year in the debates surrounding the constitutionality of Obamacare. The four liberal Supreme Court justices claimed that the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act should be upheld as part of Congress\u2019 power to regulate interstate commerce delegated to it in the Constitution. Critics pointed out that if the federal government could force people to buy health insurance as part of commerce regulation, then in principle it might also be able to force people to buy vegetables or certain cars as part of this same authority. In a similar way, it needs to now be pointed out that if the 14th Amendment really does allow the federal government authority to force states to recognize same-sex unions in the legal definition of marriage, then in principle the constitution also allows the federal government authority to force states to accept many other unions as legal marriage, including those currently prohibited by the laws of consanguinity and affinity. - See more at: http:\/\/instantanalysis.net\/afa-blogs\/2013\/04\/04\/qa-about-same-sex-marriage#sthash.lOyzvO0C.dpuf\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>pointed out<\/strong><\/a> that because of contraception this shouldn\u2019t concern us anymore. He writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cpeople claim that incest creates \u2018deformed\u2019 children\u2026..this assumes sex acts are solely for having children, whereas this is nonsense, since we have effective contraceptives and other measures to prevent pregnancy. \u2026why should the sexual activities of two consenting adults concern us? This is the same question we can ask those who are \u2018against\u2019 homosexuality (which is like being against having blue eyes). It is none of our business what two consenting adults wish to do (as long as no one else is harmed\/involved without consent).\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Then there\u2019s the equality angle to the whole thing. Certain adjustments to the rules about consanguinity and affinity will probably seem reasonable within a same-sex context since members of the same sex can\u2019t produce children together. So even if you could justify a prohibition on a woman marrying her brother, this wouldn\u2019t apply if the same woman wanted to \u201cmarry\u201d her sister. However, once those adjustments are introduced, you would either need a two-tier system, which shows that same-sex \u2018marriage\u2019 really is qualitatively different, or else those same adjustments would have to be mapped over onto the laws regulating real marriages. After all, are we going to say that a homosexual man can marry his brother\u2019s son but deny a heterosexual man the privilege of marrying his brother\u2019s daughter? Are we going to allow a lesbian to \u2018marry\u2019 her \u2018wife\u2019s\u2019 sister\u2019s daughter but deny a heterosexual woman the right to marry her husband\u2019s sister\u2019s son? These are the difficult questions that few people are addressing, and we applaud Jeremy Irons for his courage to bring some of these complications to the public debate.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-comments\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/jeremy-irons-warns-of-gay-marriage-consequences\/\" data-width=\"470\" data-num-posts=\"10\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/embed.live.huffingtonpost.com\/HPLEmbedPlayer\/?segmentId=514cd2cdfe3444427d0002b9\" height=\"270\" width=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Find out how to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings (clicking on the link below does not commit you to join)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/wp.me\/P1OVTZ-gb\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3940\" style=\"border: 0px;\" title=\"Join Today!\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Join_donate_Logo2.jpg\" width=\"185\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Please note that persons wishing to comment on this story must enter a valid email address. Comments from persons leaving fictitious email addresses will be trashed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an intriguing interview last week, actor Jeremy Irons warned that laws to introduce same-sex marriage &#8216;could &#8220;debase&#8221; marital law and lead to a legal nightmare. Irons told an interviewer with the Huffington Post that he feared men would begin marrying their sons for tax purposes, since the laws prohibiting incest would be hard to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[234,758],"class_list":["post-5670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homosexuality-trans","tag-gay-marriage","tag-jeremy-irons"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Robin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/author\/robin\/"},"rttpg_comment":8,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/homosexuality-trans\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Homosexuality &amp; Trans<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"In an intriguing interview last week, actor Jeremy Irons warned that laws to introduce same-sex marriage &#8216;could &#8220;debase&#8221; marital law and lead to a legal nightmare. Irons told an interviewer with the Huffington Post that he feared men would begin marrying their sons for tax purposes, since the laws prohibiting incest would be hard to&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}