Should Gay Marriage Be Legal?

Marriage is considered to be the rite of passage from an religious point of view, it is considered as holy matrimony before the eyes of God. Attraction between individuals of the same sex has been a topic of debate. However, over the past few years gay individuals made a decision to our grievances of oppression despite receiving tremendous critics from the public. Initially, gay marriages were in the rise of heated debates between the supporters and critics among the church being at the forefront. However, times are different now , and gays are becoming more accepted in the society as well as all that pertains to daily lives such as marriage, gay events just to mention a few. This argumentative essay focuses on the central issues of gay marriage and evaluating arguments on whether the gay marriage should be legalized.

The current major state and federal law that is affecting same-sex marriage is the Defense of Marriage Act , or DOMA as it also called. The Defense of Marriage Act is a federal law that allows each state to recognize or deny any marriage-like relationship between persons of the same-sex that has been recognized in another state and it also explicitly recognizes for purposes of federal law that marriage is "a legal union of one man and one woman as husband and wife" and by stating that spouse "refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife." When asking the people that I interviewed what their feelings were towards the Defense of Marriage Act and how it currently affects the issue of same-sex marriage and the interviewees who were for same-sex marriage felt that the law was inherently wrong and the person I interviewed who was opposed to same-sex marriage thought the law was good except for one obvious flaw with it.

A gay couple from Indianapolis who have waited to marry for years have been quoted as saying: “We 're positive because the mindset in this nation seems to be that it is unconstitutional to say that our marriages are different from any other marriage.” (pro-con,1) This means that gay people are staying optimistic. Prohibiting gay marriage is considered discrimination to gays because the government is not giving homosexual couples the same rights as gay heterosexuals, which is also unconstitutional. Therefore, same-sex couples should have access to the same marriage benefits and public acknowledgment enjoyed by heterosexual couples. (pro-con,1)

Gay marriage has slowly become a significant factor amongst individuals of today’s society. On June 26, 2015, it was ruled out by the U.S. Supreme Court that gay marriage was now legal. The first thing that I thought was that “Wasn’t it already legal in the United States?” Well, apparently no it has not been legalized in the United States! (Dumb me.) The U.S. is known to be a nation of equality and gives everyone the freedom of the speech, but it is actually a nation full of racism, sexism, and homophobias. Our country gives us the freedom to do many things, but to gay couples they don’t have much freedom as others do. We are violating their freedom because we aren’t letting them marry the one they love, so to say that everyone in the U.S. has the freedom to do anything is wrong. Our civil rights and the Constitution give us many liberties. One of our civil liberties is the pursuit of happiness, which many homosexual people are not allowed to chase, but thanks to the new ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court homosexual people are allowed to chase it. They are being looked down at and are feeling ashamed of themselves because of all the cruelty that they are receiving. Homosexual people haven’t been able to fully express themselves until it was legalized for them to fully do so. They have been fighting for the right to be married to their same sex for about a decade now, and they have finally met their goal. #Lovewins.

The struggle for marriage equality in the United States began in the 1970’s. It became more prominent in 1993 when the Hawaiian Supreme court declared that state’s prohibition against marriage between people of the same sex to be unconstitutional (Weiss, 2013). In response to this, there was significant public outcry and opponents of marriage equality asserted that marriage could only be defined as a union between a man and a woman. This resulted in prohibitive legislation that was enacted in 1996 known as the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) DOMA prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages (Baker, 2013). DOMA also allowed each state to refuse recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states. Be that as it may, in the 21st century, public and legislative support for marriage equality has grown and various national polls conducted since 2011 show that a majority of Americans support marriage equality (Live Science Staff, 2011; Newport, 2011). On May 9, 2012, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to publicly declare support for the legalization of same-sex marriage. The provision of DOMA, forbidding the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages was struck down by the Supreme Court on June 26th of 2013. In the ensuing two years, 36 states, the District of Columbia, 24 Native American Tribal jurisdictions and Guam had legalized same sex marriage. However up

Rahime-Malik Howard Sociology 1301-93431 Gay Marriage Getting married is something that most people do when they find love, which it is an important event in their life. The GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) community now get the legal right of same-sex marriage, which they have fought for throughout the years; on the other hand, some opponents of same-sex marriage have called for a constitutional change towards it. Although there were some countries that allowed gay marriage before the United States, in June 26, 2015 a very important day for the GLBT community and American history since congress voted on making legal same sex marriage in all 50 states. The GLBT community should be allowed to marry as

There has been a huge debate in the United States of America of whether or not homosexuals should be able to get married. Well, most people right now are leaning towards them getting married, but they should be able to, except call it something else, because being “married” is being man and wife, not man and man/ wife and wife.

For many years, gay marriage has been banned in most states in the United States. Today there are 14 out of 50 states who ban same-sex marriage but, things are changing and people are taking a stand in what they believe in (ProCon.org.). However, some people still don’t find gay marriage socially acceptable. In 2008, California’s Congress passed Proposition 8 which claimed that gay marriage was unacceptable. This caused controversy with their views that homosexual relationships were “unworthy of respect, dignity, and status that society accords to marriages”(Olson). Conservatives and fundamentalist suspect that if gay marriages were accepted and legal in all states, our country would eventually become weak and our society would become at risk. They claim that it would somehow lead to legalized polygamy and interspecies marriages which would tear our country apart. The Marriage Debate states that the Supreme Court shouldn’t allow the political processes of the states to debate on whether same-sex marriage should be legal because it would then lead the states to begin to discriminate and cause pain and humiliation to gay men, lesbians, and their kids for as long as they wish. Therefore, the Constitution forbids this. I believe if homosexuals want to express their love through getting their marriage legalized, it should be acceptable in all states.

In 1996, then President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which federally, “defined marriage under federal law as a legal union between one man and one woman” and gave states the right to choose to recognize same sex marriages in other states (Defense of Marriage Act). This act came about because of a Hawai’i Supreme Court case Baehr v. Lewin (1993) which “a Hawaii law prohibiting same sex marriage was unconstitutional.” From then this state court decision caused lawmakers to write DOMA in fear of recognition of same sex marriages from other states. When

Marriage is a very sacred arrangement. It is a lifetime commitment said to be only between man and woman. These two people should love or be in love with each other. Over the years homosexuality has come to the forefront. The question of should homosexuals be allowed to marry each other has had the world in an uproar. Homosexuals, indeed should be able to marry each other with the same benefits as man and woman.

“We’re here, we’re queer, get over it.” In 1990, these words, shouted and displayed proudly on signs waved by the activist group, Queer Nation, were revolutionary. Never, not since the Stonewall Riots, had non-straight, non-cis people been so vocal about their existence and demanded acceptance – something that straight people take for granted on a daily basis. However, in the years since the Riots, LGBT activism has become much more mainstream, no longer whispered about behind closet doors or something to be wholly ashamed of. Gay marriage is legal in all 50 United States, something that has been fought for since the conception of the LGBT movement. In fact, gay couples are routinely being featured on popular television and other forms of media. Some might say that in 2016, the dreams of the rioters in Stonewall have been realized. Marriage rights and the spotlight on nighttime television; equality seems to truly be right on the horizon.

Should gay couples be allowed to marry seems to be the question on a lot of people’s minds these days and the answer to this question is currently being addressed throughout our country. Both gay and straight people share identical desires and outcomes when it comes to love and partnerships. Everyone aspires to obtain the same goals with someone they care about, those being happiness, successfulness and living to a ripe old age. Still, some heterosexual people visualize gay people (particularly men) as only being interested in sex and are incapable of commitment. I happen to know several male couples have been together in excess of 40 years or more. These couples own homes together, work, pay taxes and contribute to the good of the country . Should gay couples be allowed to marry? I say yes.

Of course gay marriage affects society is several ways. Society has always looked upon gay marriage as between a man and a woman, by legalizing same-sex marriage the traditional idea of marriage is revised. If same-sex marriage is legal, should it be taught about in schools? Matt Stick asks interesting questions in his article “How could gay marriage harm anyone?” He brings up the question of “If a parent objects to a school teaching pro-homosexuality and pulls his child out of school and because of it is ridiculed and/or jailed, is he harmed?” Many people who are on the conservative side don’t want their children being exposed to learning about homosexuality. They have been brought up traditionally and their culture will be modified from

“This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united as one” (Genesis 2:24). Marriage is a covenant made between a man and a women. A promise they vow to never break. Today the world is filled with sin such as prostitution, sexual violence, premarital sex, and lust. God created sex to be enjoyed by a husband and wife. Just as God created marriage to be a vow between a man and a women. Same sex marriage denies a child the chance to have a mother or father, it violates natural laws, and if we allow same sex marriage to become glorified what will our world become? When people accept same sex marriage they are going against God and nature.

Since June 2015, Supreme Court declares same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states (npr.org, 2015). This movement caused the nation to be torn between those who were for and those who were against same-sex marriage. Although the nation has made a huge step forward, its’ people still have so much more to learn about what this movement means overall. In regards to same-sex marriage, people only think just as it states same-sex marriage, but how about the others who do not quite fit into either heterosexuality or homosexuality? Outside from heterosexuality, there are so many other types of sexual orientation. The current stereotypes of homosexuality and other types of sexualities have a negative connotation. In today’s society, it is perhaps the lack of education, and religious beliefs that caused this rift. Many people do not realize that there is a difference between gender identity and sexual orientation. As well that there is many different types of sexual orientations and what they all mean. The country, itself, has presented itself has proudly heterosexual for a long time. This causes the people who are not heterosexual to feel discomfort in their own cities.