Gay Marriage. Why it Should be Legalized | Teen Ink

Gay Marriage. Why it Should be Legalized

September 3, 2010
By AllieJo2619 SILVER, Denver, Colorado
AllieJo2619 SILVER, Denver, Colorado
6 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
In a world where you can be anything, be yourself, original and unique. Never sellout and become the one you copied from. be the person everyone wants to copy.


Gay marriage should be legalized because it is uncivilized and unmerited. Our civil rights and the Constitution give us many liberties. One of our civil liberties is the pursuit of happiness, which homosexual people are not allowed to chase. They cannot be married to the person they love and it violates their freedoms. According to professorshouse.com, “In Alaska, Nevada, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Nebraska, Missouri, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama, not only is gay marriage banned, but so are civil partnerships.”

Others might ask why gay marriage should be legalized, but my question is this: why should other people be able to choose who marries who? If a man and a woman get married, no one seems to care. They are two people who feel affection for one another and those two people want to start a family. If we change the scenario a little bit and a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, try to get married it causes uproar. They are not allowed to be married or raise a family together.

Imagine waking up one day to a world that was completely opposite from the world we went to sleep in, meaning gay people are now straight and all straight people are now gay. Do you think the newly straight people would fight for the newly homosexual people’s rights? America is the land of the free, but we are not free to marry whomever we would like. After everything straight people have put homosexual people through, in this scenario, homosexual people would most likely vote for their rights because they would want their rights to be voted for. We are equals in this world whether we are Black, White, Hispanic, Indian, or any other race for that matter. Why should we not be equals based on sexual orientation?

The 1st amendment of the Constitution states that a person’s religious beliefs or a lack of thereof must be protected. Legislatures also cannot discriminate against marriages of the minority party which, homosexual people fall into that category. There is also an amendment stating there is separation of church and state, so you cannot declare that a marriage is a gift from God.

In a marriage there is one thing that truly matters: love. Yes, other things are important too, but not one couple would make it to even asking someone to marry them if there was not some love. Las Vegas, Nevada is also known for being the place where many weddings occur which are annulled within one week. These marriages are not based off love, but simply a drunken night in Vegas. High divorce rates weaken what a marriage is defined as. Why are we not able to rewrite what a marriage stands for and make it include a homosexual marriage? The definition of love, according to dictionary.com is as follows: “Very strong affection: an intense feeling of tender affection and compassion.” If gay people feel this way then why shouldn’t they be able to be married? If they are happy with each other, said persons should be able to marry.
California, Hawaii, New York, and the District of Columbia all have domestic partnership laws and civil partnerships meaning it is almost a marriage without the matrimony. Civil partnerships also give couples the ability to have joint bank accounts, live in the same house, and pay bills together. Homosexual couples are not entitled to this in most states.
Marriage benefits should be available to all couples, no matter what. In places where gay marriages are banned, the gay couples are not able to have the same benefits as others. When filing for health care or insurance through a job, gay couples are not able to add each other on. Most loved ones, such as a spouse or a child, in a straight marriage, can make life altering decisions in a hospital if need be. Since gay marriage is not legal, said person’s spouse is not recognized as their next of kin and care is delayed.

Who would be affected if homosexual marriage was legalized? No one. Everyone believes there is one person who is out there to love us. Gay people feel the same way. Parenthood is a benefit of marriage and gay couples cannot have children by themselves, without some type of help, so they look to adoption agencies. In some cases gay couples are put on longer waiting lists or denied completely. There are other benefits to being married as well, such as tax breaks. On the website professorshouse.com it reads, “When we hit our mid-thirties, we wanted only true friendships- friendships that were durable.” This is a perfect example of matrimony and what it should be based on. . According to dictionary.com a marriage is, “The legal or religious ceremony that formalizes the decision of two people to live as a married couple, including the accompanying social festivities.” If this is a marriage why are gay people not included in this?

Even though gay marriage should be legalized, some people have different beliefs. In most religions including, Christianity, Islam, and Orthodox Judaism same sex preferences are a sin. People believe in procreation to repopulate the world, but are against gay marriage and homosexuals adopting children because they cannot procreate on their own. If this is a stand point on making or breaking gay marriage then only people who are fertile and want to procreate should be able to get married according to this bias. America has never really given gay marriage a chance, but they believe gay marriage will weaken its institution by leading to high divorce rates. On loveandpride.com I read, “One reason legislatures are denying gay marriage is because they are fearful that opening the door to allowing gay marriages will open the door to polygamy as well. This would also mean reopening cases about polygamy in the past which they are not willing to do.” Others are fearful for children’s futures and they fear being raised by two fathers or by two mothers may compromise children’s mental capacities.

Even though to most people gay marriage should be illegal and should stay in its current state, I believe we need to change the world for future generations. We feared that different religions were going to clash, but now all of the religions coexist. White people had Black and Hispanic slaves, but we overcame the odds and now White men, Black men, and Hispanic men can be equals. If it is possible to overcome such fierce obstacles then we can overcome the boundary obstructing gay marriages and straight marriages alike. Gay marriage should be legalized for these reasons. Evolution will always continue and at any given point in time, something will occur that we will not like in this world, but we can overcome this. Gay marriage is a controversial issue that people have been fighting for years and it has finally come to the surface. We should take charge of it.



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 83 comments.


on Apr. 21 2023 at 8:49 am
justarandomguy, Florida, Florida
0 articles 0 photos 29 comments

Favorite Quote:
don't let people define you, only you can.

It does not matter what religion you believe in, people should be equal and stay equal.

on May. 11 2018 at 10:06 am
God said it’s wrong several times throughout the Bible , it’s not up for debate. It goes against everything God has said. Just becouse the constitution you talk about and our rights that does not change what the Bible says about it. It’s of the devil and all who conform to it is being deceived by the devil. If you don’t believe in Gods word then your on a path of destruction anyway. Repent and ask God for forgiveness and guidance.

on Apr. 22 2018 at 12:03 am
emmyrose_ SILVER, Strafford, New Hampshire
7 articles 1 photo 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Books are a uniquely portable magic" -Stephen King

Love is different for everyone, and should remain so. We should not seek to define and restrict such an untamable, uncontrollable thing and nor should we try to prohibit it simply because we dislike the idea.

on Apr. 22 2018 at 12:01 am
emmyrose_ SILVER, Strafford, New Hampshire
7 articles 1 photo 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Books are a uniquely portable magic" -Stephen King

@Brendaaa I get that you think it's a sin and that's what you believe; we don't mean to attack your religion. But I don't understand why you are so upset about others doing it; it doesn't affect you, and if someone wants to do what you consider a sin, why are you trying to stop them? They are just trying to live their life without interference and there is no need to outlaw it

MNCMacworth said...
on Mar. 5 2018 at 8:04 pm
MNCMacworth,
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments
I don't think you know what "love" is, do you?

Easayman said...
on Jul. 15 2017 at 1:03 pm
Yes, I can assist you in your essays.

Easayman said...
on Jul. 15 2017 at 1:03 pm
Yes, I can assist you in your essays.

on Mar. 16 2017 at 9:16 am
littlesis2435,
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
can someone help me with my english paper?????

karabo p said...
on Jan. 28 2017 at 8:32 am
This really helped n with my English essay

on Oct. 11 2016 at 3:05 pm
VulbladeBlitz,
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
Gay marriage should be legal. America was built upon the idea that everyone, regardless of who they are, what they look like, etc., should be treated equally. We never fulfilled that goal, and we still haven't fulfilled that goal. We are so hypocritical. I respect those of you that are Catholic, but it is not your decision to make on who marries who. You DON'T have such authority over a human being. There will never be a day where all the world is Catholic, so consider that. Hating people will only result in unneeded stress for YOU.

on Aug. 30 2016 at 3:23 am
i agree with brendaaa. but you can believe what you want. we are trying to convince you of our opinion out of love for you! we believe in god, and he punishes those who disobey him. it's worth listening to us.

on Aug. 30 2016 at 3:08 am
when you say 'equal rights', it doesn't really work, because (e.g.) Ben can't marry Fred, and neither can Bill! that is still equal.

on Aug. 30 2016 at 3:05 am
i agree. we should follow God's way. he gave us being, and marriage, and we should respect that. call it union, not marriage. gay union is ok, gay marriage should not be a thing.

Aazan BRONZE said...
on Jul. 3 2016 at 4:16 am
Aazan BRONZE, Seoul, Other
2 articles 0 photos 2 comments
Have you heard the story of Sodom and Gomorrah? If not, then here's the story:those two cities were utterly destroyed for their homosexual behavior. We must not forget past historical accounts. Historical accounts are lessons for the future generation.

Silence. said...
on May. 12 2016 at 9:39 pm
Silence., Flower Mound, Texas
0 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Silence is true wisdom's best reply." -Euripides

By your logic, straight couples where one partner is infertile would be "fruitless". Does the world really need more children? Gay couples do something that is arguably more humane than creating new babies: they adopt children. In regards to the entire "preacher being forced" argument, no preacher is being forced. LGBT couples can receive a blessing from a tolerant preacher.

dAVDavid 123 said...
on May. 10 2016 at 11:23 am
Gee Wiz, don't we have enough problems in this world already?

tacos4life77 said...
on May. 5 2016 at 1:01 pm
You shouldn't force your religion on everyone else, so there shouldn't be a law against gay marriage. everyone has their own views on religion and other stuff.

aaaa said...
on Mar. 24 2016 at 6:37 am
come on, human beings are not the same as animals in the wild.

wellduh said...
on Aug. 21 2015 at 12:20 am
homophobes: kids deserve a mom and a dad homophobes: *disown their gay child so they have neither*

on Jul. 23 2015 at 6:43 pm
SomeoneMagical PLATINUM, Durham, New Hampshire
22 articles 1 photo 259 comments
I enjoyed reading this work. I really enjoyed it! You made very clear and knowledgeable comparisons between the economy we have today and that of the science fiction book series The Hunger Games. Great job and I look foreword to reading more of your work!