In response to George Hammond re:
"On the subject of the Church performing "Gay Marriages"
I would say that the Church should restrict the marriage
ceremony to exclusively XY's marrying XX's.
It is certainly legal for XX's OR XY's to enter into a
variety of legal relationships, including a Legal Partnership
if they so desire. However, I see no reason why "marriage"
shouldn't be legally restricted using DNA testing to the
legal union of XY's with XX's. Tell me I'm wrong?"
As with many things in life, the relationship between phenotypic and
genotypic sex is not as simple as one might think at first glance. There
are people who have all their lives believed themselves to be female, but on
genetic testing are shown to have XY chromosomes--a situation known as
androgen insufficiency syndrome. The opposite situation has also been known
to occur with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. And what will you do with
individuals who are XO, XXY, XYY etc.?
Years ago the Catholic church decided to accept such people on the basis of
phenotype and the gender identity in which they were raised i.e. XY
individuals who look like females and were raised as females are not
considered to be in homosexual relationships if they marry males.
Judy Toronchuk
Trinity Western University
British Columbia, Canada
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