Gay Marriage Rights

After the legalizations in Massachusetts and, most recently, California, gay marriage has been a growing trend in the United States. In the 8 months since the legalization, more and more gay couples have been rushing to California to tie the knot. However, California and Massachusetts are not the first to make an effort to strengthen the bonds of homosexual couples some European countries including Denmark, Holland, some Scandinavian countries, and others have legalized same-sex marriage and have found the results positive. Gay marriage has been a contradictory issue since gay men and women began requesting marriage licenses.

However, gays are denied their rights to marriage licenses, which is denying then their rights as American citizens. Gays should be treated equally to heterosexuals and granted their rights to marry the person they love, whether they are the same or opposite gender. Although the idea of a same-sex wedding hasn’t been legal long enough for statistics to be developed on children of same-sex marriages’ developmental upbringing, or that they are harmed by their environment, many people seem to think that they will be less healthy or normal if the couple that raises them are homosexual.

People believe that the children will grow up to be gay, or different from any normally raised child, if they don’t grow up in a “normal” family. The results of studies testing these ideas are quite contrary to the popular belief of heterosexual couples. In fact, the studies show that children raised by gay couples seem to be more adjusted than the “normally” raised ones. The argument that children raised in homosexual households will grow up to be gay is completely illegitimate.

In a study of over 300 children of homosexual parents, there have been no indications that there are any disturbances in the development of the child’s sexual identity, or the lifestyle that the child will live later in life. In reality, most children raised by heterosexuals are not raised in normal households. With divorce also becoming popular we have families with three kids and only one parent. There is no doubt that homosexuals want to have children, and not only is the ban of gay marriage denying their rights to be married, but also denying them their rights to have a two-parent family with children.

Some also say that marriage is between a man and a woman for procreation purposes, and that gays cannot naturally produce children. If this were the case then wouldn’t the state prohibit marriage between heterosexuals when one, or both, are sterile? If the purpose of marriage is, in fact, for procreation then who’s to say that post-menopausal women should have the right to marry? Children in foster care and orphanages are also a problem, so why not kill two birds with one stone and give gays their rights and orphans or unwanted children a home and a family that loves them?

Another argument against gay marriage is that it is against religion. Whose religion? Some religions, such as Buddhism, actually celebrate gay marriage. The fact that gay marriages are illegal goes against not only the gays’ rights, but their rights also. And the fact that people are bringing the bible into their arguments also means that other religions religious rights are being infringed. The bible has no standing in American law, this was made clear by the first amendment of the United States constitution, and no one has any right or authority to set rules based on something they take as a moral injunction stated by the bible.

The Christian and catholic religions cannot speak for all religions, and the United Stated government is allowing them to do just that. The main purpose of our government is to preserve the rights of the citizens, and at this, our government has failed. Homosexuals are not the only people being denied their rights, but also the members of certain religions that support same-sex marriages. Along with this, people also say that gay marriage would force churches that have an objection to perform gay marriage to perform same-sex weddings.

There is no law stating that any church would be required to marry any couple, heterosexual or otherwise, that they do not wish to. Gay marriage would not change the churches right to refuse to sanctify any marriage that they do not wish to. It would only give churches the opportunity to legally wed gay couples if they would like to. None of the arguments above are valid. So now, let us examine the true reasons that people oppose the marriage of homosexual couples.

Most people just are not comfortable with the idea. For years now, society has promoted the idea that two men or two women being married is wrong. This is mostly because of the arguments mentioned previously. However, none of those objections make sense! So neither does the idea that gay marriage is wrong. Being uncomfortable with a proposal is not a valid reason to oppose it.