A Request

To all those who propose that homosexuals have a "right" to be married. If you are going to propose such a thing, at least be able to provide a coherent explanation of what rights are and where they come from.

What is a right? A legal fiction? A natural faculty?

The definition will inevitably lead to a discussion of the origin.

If rights come "from the people," then no such right exists currently because "the people" have by and large, albeit not unanimously, seen fit to deny such a right to homosexuals. Therefore, there is no right.

Moreover, if rights come "from the people," what are the limits on how far these rights go? And please spare the amorphous comeback of "as long as they don't infringe/restrict/harm others" because then you are left defining each of those terms, which means coming back to defining what a right is and where it comes from.

Let's skip straight to Godwin's Law and just ask that, if the people agree that there is a right to gas Jews, what is to stop them? Judges who happen to agree that this would be a bad thing?

If rights don't come from the people, do they come from lawmakers in general? That simply changes the definition of "people" to a more restrictive one that previously mentioned.

I bring this up because so many proponents of homosexual marriage seem essentially to rely on ad hominem yelling in addressing these topics without actually trying to come up with reasons or explanations. Perhaps that is intentional. Really, though, I think it is a perfect example of how reason has largely been abandoned in modern culture, especially by those who claim they are the most enlightened and reasonable of us all.