Quote:
Originally Posted by HPLovecraft
I'm hoping this won't be some sort of infinite regression!
Brothers and sisters can't get married because of their close genetic similarities -- they share half their entire genetic make-up. Compare that to first cousins, where people only share around 1/8th of their genetic make-up. It's a big difference when it comes to recessive diseases and other bad things. First cousins produce children with around a 5% risk of birth defects compared to over 30% for first degree relatives like brother and sister.
And, before you ask, I personally have no problem with gay brothers or gay sisters being married.
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All the arguments I've heard about Gay marriage inevitably can be used for every other taboo marriage out there. Of course it's ridiculous to consider Uncles marrying their nephews, or Grandmothers marrying their Granddaughters. It used to be ridiculous to consider a man marrying another man. Wasn't even commented on it was so ridiculous. Now, your a bigot and a homophobe if you disagree with it. These goalposts are moving so bloody fast, no one in their right mind knows where they will end up.
That is my biggest issue with the whole thing. Once govenrment and society is allowed to change a definition most people have held sacred (or at the very least, incredibly important to them personally), the definition is up for grabs. It's too important a thing to let it change for any reason at all, no matter how good your intentions are.