Throughout history marriage has been an important part of
society for various reasons. The earliest societies formed marriage to ensure
there would be enough children born for their group to continue existing. Many
children didn’t live past infancy and there was no guarantee too many adults
would live to old age. Later marriage began involving property and many other
legal rights. Partly because of this, it just makes no sense to say marriage
cannot be redefined for the modern world, and it’s a very important for a
society to give the same rights and protections to all its citizens. Countries
that don’t produce a population of second-class citizens and an environment
open to discrimination. Every society that has participated in marriage has
done it for different reasons and redefined it in some way. For instance, in
traditional Chinese society it was acceptable for girls to enter into
“nonmarrying pacts” with one another. It wasn’t considered a marriage in the
same way a man and a woman’s contract would be, but it did give many similar
rights and lifestyles. “In the drawing up of the contract, both sides must
agree…one will prepare gifts of respect to symbolize her sentiments...after
this they are inseparable, day and night, and happier than any married couple.”
(Sullivan, 25) These women could even “adopt” a daughter to succeed to their
estates. Marriage-like ceremonies between people of the same sex were even
adopted by the early Christian church. It was only when the religion became
more established that the church began effacing the ceremonies. (Sullivan, 9)
The argument most anti-gay marriage advocates
seem to stand on most is religion. They believe the USA in particular was
founded on the ideals of Christianity and gay marriage goes against Christianity.
The first issue is that the USA isn’t founded on Christian principals at all.
John Adams even said flat out in his first attempt to submit the Treaty of
Tripoli, “The United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the
Christian religion.” What’s funny is that even if the USA had been founded on
the ideals of Christianity, there would be a much bigger change than even most
anti-gay marriage people would anticipate. The section of Leviticus that
forbids homosexual intercourse also forbids failing to keep Kosher dietary laws
and eating seafood. If they fight against gay marriage, they should also be
fighting against eating pigs and picketing seafood restaurants. They might then
say those are Old Testament laws and they are invalided by the New Testament,
but Jesus never so much as mentions homosexuality, as well as pigs or seafood.
(Sullivan, 47) On the other side, some religious people have embraced
homosexuality and gay marriage as part of the religion. An Episcopalian bishop
said, “A homosexual orientation is a minority but perfectly natural
characteristic on the human spectrum of sexuality. It is not something one
chooses, it is something one is.” (Sullivan, 67) His church now performs gay
weddings and blessings. Not only are Christians becoming accepting, but several
Jewish temples have begun allowing gay couples to be married. The members of
these religions don’t believe religion is a good argument against gay marriage
anymore and some even resent their beliefs being used to deny rights to an
entire group of people.
Perhaps
the most important reason we have for fighting for gay marriage is the legal
implications and what it gives to gay Americans. Without being legally recognized
as a couple, many terrible things can happen to them. If someone gets sick,
their partner may not be allowed hospital visits or to make important decisions
for them if they’re not able to. A gay couple might live together in a house
for decades, but when one person dies, the other might find themselves no
longer allowed to live in the house because the law sees the house as having no
owner now, so it might go to the next of kin despite the person who’s lived
there for so long is still residing there. If a gay couple has a family, the
entire family could be split up. (Stewart, 33) Many children are only the legal
offspring of one of the parents, so if the biological parent dies the child
will find himself being raised by someone else and the person they consider the
other parent might not even be able to see them. Anti-gay marriage proponents
might say this is better for the child, but being separated from your family
shows negative effects on a child, and living with gay parents does not.
(Stewart, 41) Not all these effects on gay couples just comes from simple
oversight, some of it is outright hostility. In some US states, it’s still
legal for a landlord to refuse a potential tenant on the basis of sexual
orientation. If a landlord later finds out his tenant is gay, it’s also legal
to evict them for it. In many other states, and sometimes the same state, it’s
legal to pass someone over for a job based on sexual orientation and even fire
them for it. (Stewart, 46) Until fairly
recently homosexuals were banned from the military. Because this made them a security
and blackmail risk this also barred them from jobs in the CIA and FBI. Even a
couple years after the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” a certain percentage of
the population wants the policy reinstated.
One
phenomenon seen in countries that have legalized gay marriage is the rate of
hate crimes decreasing. The USA currently has no federal gay marriage laws, and
hate crimes are still a serious issue. Of reported hate crimes, 50% of victims
were injured, 25% had serious injuries, and 2% were killed. (Stewart, 49) One
of the most serious consequences of a young gay person coming out or being
found out by their parents is the possibility of reparative therapy. Gays are
subjected to mental torture and sometimes even electric shocks. (Stewart, 55) One
reparative therapy institution “Exodus” claimed to have a 71% success rate in
1994, but refused to let anyone see the reports or submit them for peer review.
A few years later, the founders of the institution, Michael Bussee and Gary
Cooper divorced their wives and married each other. After a public apology for
the inhumane treatment of thousands of
teenagers, they admitted they had no idea what the success rate might be, but
they did know many “graduates” went on to commit suicide. They also admitted
covering up several instances of the people performing the reparative therapy
raping their young patients. (Stewart, 56)
Gay
marriage has been celebrated and accepted throughout history in many areas, and
it’s still a controversial topic today. The argument has its roots in religion,
and people have even found that religion can be used to support it. Gay couples
that don’t have the option of marriage can never be sure their families won’t
be torn apart or that they won’t lose their homes or their jobs. Some even face
violence if a society is opposed to homosexuality. Awful abuses of human rights
are considered acceptable if it seems to erase a sexual orientation that isn’t
accepted. For this reason it important and logical for gay marriage to become
legal in the USA, and in other countries.Works cited:
Sullivan, Andrew. Same-Sex Marriage, Pro and Con: a Reader. New York: Vintage Books, 2004. Print.
Stewart, Chuck. Gay and Lesbian Issues. http://ebooks.ohiolink.edu.cscc.ohionet.org. ABC-CLIO, 2003. Web. 30 October. 2013.
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