Essay Same Sex Marriage

Submitted By ksmith163
Words: 1436
Pages: 6

Same Sex Marriage
Kelsey Smith
Baker College
April 15, 2013
Composition 102 T
Same Sex Marriage Darity defines marriage as, “the exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support” (2008, p 1). There are many definitions of marriage including ones that say between a man and a women, but this definition explains not only what marriage is but what marriage should be like. The definitions with the words man and women in it is a religious belief not one that should be used for political and legalization reasons. Same-sex marriage has been seen in the news and in congress recently, a very opinionated topic that I believe is not ours to decide but the two people wishing to be together. I believe that same-sex marriage should not only be legal but recognized in every state. There are many things to look at when deciding if same-sex marriage should be legal including but not limited to social risks, what states have civil unions, benefits for the state and benefits for the individuals themselves and the opposing points. Heterosexual couples brought up an argument for social risks, “reckless sexual relations between unmarried heterosexuals can produce unintended offspring, which are a potential burden to society, whereas reckless sex between homosexual doesn’t pose this threat” (Blessing gay marriage 2013). I agree with this argument because of the many teen moms that our tax money is paying for but we do not make it illegal for them to have sexual relations and do not put a stop on the teens have sexual relations. Our tax money does not go to homosexuals for having sexual relations, but we decide we need to stop there sexual relations that do not harm society in the same way. Darity says that “other supporters worry that recognition of same sex marriages would be too costly to the state or would somehow devalue different –sex marriage” (2008 p. 3). Heterosexual marriage has already been devalued from divorces and people committing adultery, legalizing same-sex marriage would not devalue heterosexual marriage anymore that it already is. Same-sex marriage would not be any more costly to the state than a teen mother of two children who does not work and depends on the state to support her children. Social risks are few and most of the arguments can be refuted. There are six states that allow same-sex civil unions and nine states that allow same-sex marriage. The six states that allow civil unions are Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey and Rhode Island. The nine states that allow same-sex couples to marry is Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia (Stark 2013). There are fifteen states that allow same-sex couples to be together, there biggest problems are not because of same-sex marriage. You do not hear that there economy is bad because they allow same-sex marriage or the crime rate rose because of the government legalizing same-sex marriage. Instead of focusing on same-sex marriage it should be legalized and the politicians could focus on actual problems like gas prices, crime and the budget. There are benefits that which same-sex marriage have on the state level, which are non-financial but have an impact. They are medical decisions, showing society commitment is important, and security (darity 2008). Medical decisions are important for a spouse to have so if one becomes incompetent to make such a decision the spouse can without having to fight for the right. Another reason to legalize gay marriage is for the couples that get property together or buy cars or have each other on their works insurances there is no way for same-sex couples to divvy it up and for it to be done fairly. Ther is a risk that that aprty will be treated unfairly through the loved ones family or government if no family is around (Darity 2008). There is benefit for the government if they allow same-sex couples