Same-Sex Marriage

Same-Sex Marriage

It is unbelievable that the United States of America, the land of the free, still has laws that ban the marriage of homosexual couples. Many states within the United States have been debating over this issue for years. Massachusetts was the first state to legalize gay marriage in May of 2004. As of November 7, 2012, eight more states made gay marriage legal in the United States. "I saw with so many of the gay couples, they were so devoted to another. I saw so much love. When this hearing was over, I was a changed person in regard to this issue. I felt that I understood what same-sex couples were looking for" (Kach). Homosexuality occurs in over 450 species. Homophobia only exists in one. Which seems unnatural now? When it comes down to it, we are all people with emotions and feelings regardless of our sexual orientation. We should give homosexuals the right to have marriage without putting labels on it, like a "civil union" or "gay marriage". Legalizing homosexual marriage will stop discrimination, won't have a negative impact on heterosexual marriages, and will not cause others to ask for outrageous requests to be legal. A marriage is between a spouse and a spouse not a gender and a gender.

To deny homosexuals the right to get married is like the United States going back to the times of segregation. As our founding fathers stated in the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (Declaration of Independence). If a man's happiness is to be with another man that he loves, who are we to say it is wrong? Many think that homosexuals should not be allowed to marry because they cannot produce children. However, if having children were to be the case of getting married, why are infertile couples allowed to get married and stay together or why do some couples just not have children at all? Getting married means much more than just having children. It takes devotion and true love for a couple to get married.

Not giving homosexuals the right to get married is a form of discrimination and gives people the mindset that it is perfectly fine to bully people that are different from them. "Every day I went into school I knew that something new was going to happen. Goodness knows how many times I put a knife to my wrist" (Daniel Shepphard). Is it fine for a 13 year old boy to cut himself for being the way he is? No one should feel so out of place and be so bullied that they would want to harm themselves or try to end their life. Almost two-thirds of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) students are scared to go to school because they are bullied. School is a place to learn and be the best that you can be, not a place to battle and stand up for a right that "straight" people are just given. If we make laws that make homosexual marriage legal, more people will realize that it is not okay to bully someone because of their sexual preference. If the