Gay Marriage

Love Doesn 't Discriminate, People Do Imagine today the United States Government denied one hundred thousand people certain rights and benefits that are written in the constitution, rights given to every human being. Just because those hundred thousand people are different, their rights have been taken away. This group of people didn 't break any laws or rules but because of their difference in society their rights have been restricted. The thought of whether or not gay marriage should be legalized in the United States has been an on going debate. I personally do not understand why it hasn’t been legalized already; Not allowing homosexuals the right to marriage, their rights to freedom of speech have been taken away. It is wrong to treat them with such inequality for being different. Marriage should not be just between a man and a woman, if same-sex couples are together and in love and want to spend eternity together, they deserve the right to do so through marriage. Marriage can come along with many benefits such as tax, medical, family and government benefits that they are unable to enjoy or experience, just because they have been denied the right to marry. In the article, “Gay Marriages: Should They Be Legalized?” by Thomas B. Stoddard, he states that "marriage is not only a symbolic state. It can also be the key to survival, emotional, and financial stability." I think he makes a great point in his article because by not legalizing gay marriages we are taking away all these rights from the couple, and they are unable to receive the benefits that heterosexual couples do. In the United States each individual has the right to chose who they want to marry and that should be regardless of the sex or gender. "The decision whether or not to marry belongs properly to individuals, not the government" said Stoddard, which therefore marriage should not be limited between a man and a woman just because the government says so it should be open to same-sex marriages, if that is what an individual wants. People who oppose gay marriage have many different reasons why they feel that way. I have never heard a homosexual being against gay marriage. As a heterosexual it is hard to understand exactly what they are feeling. How could it be right for someone to tell you that you can not get married because you are gay? That you don 't deserve the rights that all heterosexuals couples receive. It just seems very unfair in my opinion, especially when there is research and studies proving that you can be born gay, which I believe to be true. Also it has to be hard enough for homosexuals to admit something like that to the world. In a society that is so heterosexual, but to take away there right of marriage is completely unfair. In the article "Gay Marriage, an Oxymoron" by Lisa Schiffren she does not believe that homosexuals should have the right to marry. I disagree completely with her arguments to why gay marriage should not be legalized. She stated that "inheritance rights, benefits of taxes and employee benefits do exist to help couples raise children" which may be very true, but there are many married heterosexual couples who cannot or chose not to have children that are receiving all these benefits. Therefore if gay couples cannot receive these why should couples without

children be able to? Many people argue that gay marriage is "anti-family" but how could this be true when gay couples can raise children whether it 's through adoption or a surrogate? Just because you are gay does not mean you do not desire to have a family. Denying gay couples the right to receive the benefits, makes it twice as hard for them to raise a child. Lisa Schiffren also states that "society cares about stability in heterosexual unions because it is critical for raising healthy children and transmitting the values that are basis of our culture. I think that legalizing marriage will not affect the health of children at all because homosexuality is seen everywhere in the media today from magazines, TV shows, the internet, ect. Our country is definitely more accepting now than it was years ago and kids are going to grow up aware of homosexuality, and I see no difference in how it will affect them if gay marriage is made legal. People act as if making gay marriage legal will turn everyone gay and that people will stop reproducing children. This is a laughing matter to me, nobody wants to be gay, and heterosexual couples will still remain the dominant couple. There will still be those people and religions that still look down on homosexual couples and not be accepting of it, but at least they will be given the opportunity to unite there love with marriage and receive all the benefits and legal rights that come along with it. There are many stereotypes about gay relationships, and I think the biggest misunderstanding of marriage is as a whole. Unfortunately about seventy percent of people in the united states oppose gay marriage. They feel that marriage is for procreation, same-sex couples with the most common argument being against gay marriage is that it’s against God, that most religions consider homosexuality to be a sin. Since marriage is a legal matter, and there is a separation of church and state in the United states and religion. Arguing that extending marriage to homosexual couple 's undercuts the conventional meaning of marriage in various traditions, and does not fulfill and procreation role. The state and federal government should not be involved in the religious practice. This could be viewed as a governmental intrusion into religion; that the word "marriage" should be replaced with "domestic partnership" and bypasses the controversy over the issue of gender. Those views shouldn’t have an impact on whether or not gay couples should get married. Today in this controversial topic several states have passed the law of same-sex marriage in the United States. Nine of the fifty states have legalized this issue through court rulings, legislative actions and popular vote. American history scholar, Nancy Cott, "there really is no comparison, because there is nothing that is like marriage except marriage." The support of gay marriage and the amount of people that continue to fight for this equality in the United States is growing. A Washington Post News Poll showed the support for gay marriage hitting an all-time high at 58 percent, with support having risen by 21 points over the last decade alone. This is good it’s nice to see the support of the people over this laughing matter of a topic and I feel that eventually this issue will not totally be forgotten about but will become a common understandable way of living as it should be. There will still always be those people and religions that still look down on homosexual couples and will not be accepting of it, but at least with time same-sex marriage will be a full opportunity for couples to unite as loved ones with marriage and be able to receive all the benefits and legal rights that everyone deserves no matter their gender.

Works Cited
"Gay Marriage: An Oxymoron." Gay Marriage: An Oxymoron. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
"Gay Marriages Make Them Legal." Gay Marriages Make Them Legal. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
"The Problem with Gay Marriage." - The Daily Princetonian. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.

Cited: "Gay Marriage: An Oxymoron." Gay Marriage: An Oxymoron. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. "Gay Marriages Make Them Legal." Gay Marriages Make Them Legal. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. "The Problem with Gay Marriage." - The Daily Princetonian. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.