All Nonfiction
- Bullying
- Books
- Academic
- Author Interviews
- Celebrity interviews
- College Articles
- College Essays
- Educator of the Year
- Heroes
- Interviews
- Memoir
- Personal Experience
- Sports
- Travel & Culture
All Opinions
- Bullying
- Current Events / Politics
- Discrimination
- Drugs / Alcohol / Smoking
- Entertainment / Celebrities
- Environment
- Love / Relationships
- Movies / Music / TV
- Pop Culture / Trends
- School / College
- Social Issues / Civics
- Spirituality / Religion
- Sports / Hobbies
All Hot Topics
- Bullying
- Community Service
- Environment
- Health
- Letters to the Editor
- Pride & Prejudice
- What Matters
- Back
Summer Guide
- Program Links
- Program Reviews
- Back
College Guide
- College Links
- College Reviews
- College Essays
- College Articles
- Back
Gay Marriage
Marriage: the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life.
When you love someone you just want people to accept your love, you don’t want someone questioning it. So if love is so important and simple, why does it matter who is in love? I believe that gay marriage should be legal and encouraged by heterosexual people. There are many people who are against gay marriage because they believe that it affects them personally. I would like to know why and how that is true. Unfortunately, there are many people who believe that in this country and therefore in most of the United States, gay marriage is illegal.
There are many different reasons why I believe gay marriage should be legalized. First of all, how is gay marriage different than “traditional” marriage? It’s very much the same thing. The “traditional” marriage is no different than gay marriage than the fact that there are 2 people of the same sex. However, there is also the fact described by an Anonymous Writer who says that the only difference between them is the fact that the “traditional” couple has more rights than a gay couple (Anonymous, Redefining Family). Doesn’t that seem like something over which gays have no control? Though this fact is out there many people still believe that gays are the ones to blame. They believe it is unconstitutional for two people of the same sex to get married. However, there is nothing yet in the Constitution about marriage, or gay marriage for that matter. Nevertheless, there is the fact that all people deserve equal rights in the Constitution, and if homosexuals can’t marry then that is taking away one of their rights and that is, indeed, unconstitutional. Once again, marriage is marriage no matter who it is between, because it’s truly a record of permanent commitment and trust.
Many people are under the impression that if gay marriage is legalized, then it will ruin the “traditional” marriage. I disagree 100% with that statement. How is it possible that someone’s marriage life, can affect a different couples marriage when they don’t even know each other? Though I am pointing out mostly what people think is wrong with gay marriage, there are still many U.S. citizens who do, indeed support it. Some statistics show that over 74% of 4,000 gay marriages held in San Francisco, during the one-month period which gay marriage was legal there, were between two people over the age of 35 and 69% held college degrees (Anonymous, Marriage Rates for Opposite Sex and Gay Marriages). Therefore, the homosexuals who got married in that period time were more educated and more serious than those heterosexuals who got married without ever going to college or thinking it through all the way. Consequently, those who got married after going to college and waiting a while are, most likely going to stay together longer than those who didn’t. Another issue is the fact that gays can’t bear children. However, they can adopt. Adopting is probably actually a better thing to do than having a child, because there are so many children without families. As well, because they can’t bear children at all, they can’t have an accidental child and have to give it away. There are arguments saying that if a child is brought up in a gay environment they are more likely going to become gay, however, there is no physical evidence supporting that. Besides, the fact that gays can’t bear children doesn’t mean that they have to adopt, they may simply not want a child. Overall, the decision to adopt or stay childless is their decision and does not affect the rest of the families in the United States.
Ultimately, homosexual’s lives should not be a public issue though some people believe otherwise. Many arguments are debated on the issue of gay marriage, such as that it is unconstitutional or that it will demolish “traditional” marriage. There are many gays who are married and there is still the “traditional” marriage. Therefore, you can already see that people are overreacting on this issue. Over 82% of the United States oppose gay marriage. Why can’t America just be a little more understanding and cooperative? This is very much like the time when there were laws that prohibited colored people to marry white people. Do we have to have an entire Civil Rights Movement again just for those to realize that all people are equal?
Works Cited
Gay Marriage: Why Would It Affect Me? No Gay Marriage
January 26, 2010 http://www.nogaymarriage.com/tenarguments.asp
Marriage Rates for Opposite Sex and Gay Marriages. 2010. LifeTips Move Up In Life.
January 26, 2010 http://gaymarriage.lifetips.com/cat/64319/gay-marriage-facts-
statistics/
State By State: The Legal Battle Over Gay Marriage. Dec. 15, 2009. National Public Radio (NPR)
January 26, 2010
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112448663
Anonymous. "Redefining family". Canada and the World Backgrounder. 01 Oct 2003: 10. eLibrary. Web. 08 Feb 2010.
February 8, 2010
http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/elib/do/document?set=topic&dictionaryCli
ck=on&groupid=1&requestid=conquesttopic&resultid=1&ts=B9BD6E9899C41
60647C6C061639B79F1_1265689422460&urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3B
BCLib%3Bdocument%3B88367973
Similar Articles
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
This article has 7 comments.