Same Sex Marriage Research Paper

Submitted By crazyknuck
Words: 1135
Pages: 5

Love is the Answer? How would you feel if you had to ask over 260 million people for the right to marry? Our society boasts about of equality and equal opportunity. Yet society still discriminates against gay people, and their right to marry. There are positive and negative reasons society thinks gay marriage should be legal or illegal. Gay marriage should be legalized because it gives same sex couples the same benefits as heterosexual couples, it is not a sin, and allows children to have families. According to Merriam Webster dictionary the two definitions of marriage that are listed are : the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law and the other is the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage. There are seventeen states that allow first cousins to marry but only five that allow gay marriage. Many people believe a casualty of the acceptance of gay marriage would be the very definition of marriage itself. “For thousands of years and in every Western society marriage has meant the life-long union of a man and a woman” (Benne and McDermott 299). Another point they make is if they change the definition of marriage to include gay marriages it will soon also embrace marriages involving more than one person. If the definition of marriage is between a man and a woman why are many sources, including Merriam Webster, adding gay marriage underneath the definition. People say if gay marriage is accepted then polygamy will also come into effect. Polygamy has been going on long before gay marriage right here in the United States in Utah. “Simply put, the word ‘marriage’ itself is not discriminatory…and neither should we be” (Blair 305). Society says gay marriage would be bad for children. Family structure is important for children and according to society the family structure that helps most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage. Apparently the divorce rate with couples that have children was not taken into account here. It is also stated that God intended marriage for a man and a woman to procreate. So there are a lot of marriages out there that are not gay marriages that are illegal. What if one parent or the other is sterile how are they able to procreate? Also how do you tell people what God they can worship or cannot and what values they can have. Who is to say a gay couple cannot give the same love and nourishment to a child that a heterosexual couple cannot. Children raised by homosexuals are less satisfied with their gender and suffer a greater rate of molestation. “This is particularly alarming because, according to a 1991 scientific survey among 12-year-old boys, more than 25 percent feel uncertain about their sexual orientations” (Benne and McDermott 301). Why is research from 1991 even a factor when it is almost 20 years later? Those points are based on what research. Children can be dissatisfied with their gender and suffer molestation with a heterosexual couple. With all the children in foster care and orphanages gay marriage will be a great asset to helping them get homes. As long as a child gets loved and treated right what does it matter gay parents or heterosexual parents. A lot of people think gay marriage in a whole will bad for society and harm Americans including those in heterosexual marriages over the long run. Right now in the US as a society we are having troubles maintaining stability in marriage and family life. Gays are not at fault for this so why punish them. By allowing gay marriage, society worries that it will introduce more instability and uncertainty. Just because there is already instability and uncertainty in marriage does not mean gay marriage will add to that. It will bring couples together and allow them to have the same rights. So as a society we know it is wrong to