um...well, they used procreation in the courts. as in: marriage is there so that people can/will have kids. (which is really lame, but it's their argument).

also, marriage is between a man and a woman, that's how it's always been, that's how it should remain.

you could also take sort of the easy way out and say that gays can have civil union, but 'marriage' is a religious institute.

oh, and gays already have domestic partnership, so why do they need marraige?

i'm going to go take a long shower to rinse all that crap off of me now...good luck with your debate! :D

Bulldyke
"I've never written a love song, that didn't end in tears." ~P!nk

Well...you could use the "slippery slope" argument. You know, if we start recognizing "sinful" or "unnatural" marriages, we will also have to recognize incest as valid - if gay couples have rights, so should sibling couples. (People usually also go to bestiality, but animals can't sign a marriage contract so that argument is stupid as well as bullshit).

You can also use pedophilia for slippery slope, though again...children aren't consenting adults.

"When the people begin to reason, all is lost" - Voltaire

Gay couples shouldn't adopt because then there won't be a parent of both genders (I know there are many families that have adult(s) of only one gender, but work with me here). Gay people shouldn't be protected by anti-discrimination laws because they aren't born that way (we actually don't have scientific proof yet). Gay people should be excluded from employment in the public sphere, especially schools, because they will convert innocent bystanders. Gays shouldn't serve in the military because 1) Male military members will emasculate the forces 2) Female military members will try to break the glass ceiling of female military service and will disrupt military gender roles 3) Lovers do not make the best armies; they simply distract from one's celibate duties. Gays shouldn't marry because it's unnatural. If you can't have sex the old-fashioned way, how will you consummate your union? Gay media should be censored because anything gay automatically has to do with sex.

No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless; there is too much work to do.--Dorothy Day

Don't use religion as an argument, if the opponent is smart enough it's easily refuted and will make you end up looking like a closed-minded bigot anyway.

Gay rights spread right across the spectrum, it could be equal job opportunity, protection laws, or even go as far as marriage and adoption rights.

When talking about protection from discrimination, you can say this is already achieved by conventional law. If it is already preceded by existing laws that protect everyone, there is no reason to supercede it by introducing laws that seem to be favouring "special interest groups".

You can also discuss the individual's right to choice. There's this ideal that everybody should love and get along with each other, but that is unrealistic. How someone feels about someone else for any reason is a universal right, and the ability to express that is crucial to having free speech, as long as it doesn't compromise the safety of the other person. That's for the argument dealing with general discrimination.

Marriage and adoption is a little harder. But I think you might have to somehow label homosexuality as an unconventional type of relationship - much like polygamy and other forms of relationships that are not legal. This way you can say for a state or nation to be stable and thrive, it must be made of conventional and similar units - and that is the nuclear family with a mother and father. Acknowledge that other forms of relationship will still exist, but the state or nation should not encourage (or discourage) it. Obviously the state cannot cater for every possible form of relationship deviating from the norm, because then it would be impossible to draw the line.

That's just some ideas. And please note, I do not hold those views. I can easily rebut them myself, but they are reasonably sound arguments for the other side.

Hope that helps.

- Uncertain