In the recent news, the President of the United States, Barack Obama openly stated on ABC News to Robin Roberts that he supported gay marriage, "Same sex couples should be able to get married". It appears that this has caused what some could call a controversy. It has been all over the news in the world and there is no hiding from it. Articles on this are everywhere on the internet with the video clip of this interview attached to it. You and I can very easily gain access to this clip and can either agree or disagree with his viewpoint.

One thing that has struck me though is that, why in countries like the USA and the UK (from which I am from) have not already allowed same sex marriages? If most US states and the UK accept gay relationships, why can’t they get married? If two people love each other, why can they not get married? Do certain people think that because two people in a relationship happen to be the same sex that they can’t have the same opportunities that two people in a relationship who are both of different sexes can have? It is not only a question of law, but one on equality.
Although my personal opinion of same sex marriages might be different to yours, I will very clearly say that same sex marriages should be allowed.

TV programmes like Modern Family show that gay couples can be very happy together and that they show the love and care that is reflected in marriage as any other couple who are of the opposite sexes. Keeping to this example, the gay couple in the show, Mitchell and Cameron, have an adopted daughter, Lily, who although like any other parents have their ups and downs on raising a child, do a perfectly good job of looking after her. I’m not saying that every gay couple should have a child and that if they do have a child that they should get married, but if gay couples are capable of raising a child, why can they not get married? Yes, being married and raising a child isn’t exactly the same thing, but they do share similar traits. An obvious common trait of this is love. If they can love each other why shouldn’t they be able to get married?

As everybody is entitled to their own opinion, I am going to comment about another US politician about the same topic. This politician is Mitt Romney, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for the 2012 general election. On the same day, hours later after Obama’s interview, Romney stated that "I have the same view on marriage that I had when I was governor. I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman," Perhaps this viewpoint could be because of religious beliefs, I don’t know really, but in most, possibly all religions, marriage is between a man and a woman. This religious belief has been acted out for many, many years and some may be uncomfortable of changing this. I do not wish to objectify religion as I have nothing against people being religious and that if they believe in certain things, that they should practice them. Religion, in terms of politics, can be hard to argue about as not everyone shares the same view and so can cause dilemma in society. Some may think that the idea of gay marriage should be allowed, as expressed by Obama and others may disagree, like Romney.

At the end of the day, who knows how long it will take for the debate of gay marriage to be allowed in the US, as well as other countries or not allowed. In some countries, like The Netherlands, gay marriage is allowed, so why not in every country? Will the issue of gay marriage ever be solved or will it just be an ongoing problem of who can and who can’t get married?