A loving man and woman in a committed relationship can marry. Dogs, no matter what their relationship, are not allowed to marry. How should society treat gays and lesbians in committed relationships? As dogs or as humans?
The institution of marriage conveys dignity and respect towards a couple that make a lifetime commitment to support each other. Same-sex couples deserve this dignity and respect.
Denying marriage to same-sex couples removes from one group a fundamental, important human right -- the right to marry the person that one loves and to whom one has made a commitment. That is unfair and unjust in a democracy.
Denying one group the right to marry has many adverse emotional and financial consequences. Examples are Social Security, Medicare, medical leave, and other benefits; property inheritance; the right to visit their spouse in hospital, and make medical decisions if they are incapacitated; security of the couple and of their children.
Ask just about anyone. They'll all tell you they're in favor of equal rights for LGBT. Just name the situation, and ask. They'll all say, yes, LGBT should have the same rights in housing, jobs, public accommodations, and should have equal access to government benefits, equal protection of the law, etcetera, etcetera.
Then you get to same-sex marriage.
And that's when all this talk of equality stops dead cold.
Nearly seventy percent of people in the U.S. oppose same-sex marriage, almost the same proportion as are otherwise supportive of LGBT rights. This means that many of the same people who are even passionately in favor of gay rights oppose gays on this one issue.
The values that such gay couples exhibit in their daily lives are often indistinguishable from those of their straight neighbors. They're loyal to their mates, are monogamous, devoted partners. They value and participate in family life, are committed to making their neighborhoods and communities safer and better places to live, and honor and abide by the law. Many make valuable contributions to their communities, serving on school boards, volunteering in community charities, and trying to be good citizens. In doing so, they take full advantage of their relationship to make not only their own lives better, but those of their neighbors as well.
A benefit to heterosexual society of gay marriage is the fact that the commitment of a marriage means the participants are discouraged from promiscuous sex. This has the advantage of slowing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, which know no sexual orientation and are equal opportunity destroyers.
These benefits of gay marriage have changed the attitudes of the majority of people in Denmark and other countries where various forms of gay marriage have been legal for years. Indeed, in 1989, when the proposal to legalize marriage between gays first was proposed in Denmark, the majority of the clergy were opposed. Now, after having seen the benefits to the partners and to society, they are overwhelmingly in favor, according to the surveys done then and now.
When LGBT people say that this is a civil rights issue, they are referring to matters like the fact that they cannot make medical decisions for their partners in an emergency. Instead, the hospitals are usually forced by state laws to go to the families who may be estranged from them for decades, who are often hostile to them, and totally ignore their wishes for the treatment of their partners. If that hostile family wishes to exclude them from the hospital room, they may legally do so in nearly all cases. It is even not uncommon for hostile families to make decisions based on their hostility -- with results actually intended to be inimical to the interests of the patient! One couple uses the following line in the "sig" lines on their email: "...partners and lovers for 40 years, yet still strangers before the law." Is this fair?
If their partners are arrested, they can be compelled to testify against them or provide evidence against them, which legally married couples are not forced to do. Is this fair?
In most cases, even carefully drafted wills and durable powers of attorney have proven to not be enough if a family wishes to challenge a will, overturn a custody decision, or exclude them from a funeral or deny them the right to visit a partner's grave. As survivors, they can even seize a real estate property that they may have been buying together for years, quickly sell it at a huge loss and stick them with the remaining debt on a property they no longer own. When these are presented to a homophobic probate judge, he will usually find some pretext to overturn them. Is this fair?
These aren't just theoretical issues, either; they happen with surprising frequency. Almost any older gay couple can tell you horror stories of friends who have been victimized in such ways.
These are all civil rights issues that have nothing whatever to do with the ecclesiastical origins of marriage; they are matters that have become enshrined in state laws over the years in many ways that exclude LGBT from the rights that legally married couples enjoy and consider their constitutional right. This is why it is very much a civil rights issue; it has nothing to do with who performs the ceremony or whether an announcement is accepted for publication in the local paper. It is not a matter of "special rights" to ask for the same rights that other couples enjoy by law, even by constitutional mandate.
What are your thoughts on Same-sex marriage? Are you for it or against Homosexuals having the right to marry? Why?
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Comments (30)
I support gay marriage. They have the right to be just as miserable as the rest of us.
@TexasTidbits@xanga - Agreed.
We should all be allowed the same rights. In the end, it is not our place to judge.
thank you<3
I agree with all the previous comments. Even if you think homosexuality is a sin, do those people truly deserve to be miserable and oppressed just because you don't agree with their lifestyle?
Go for it, who cares if they get married, not like it affects anyone but them.
I'm all for it. It's ridiculous to keep homosexuals from marrying.
@x__RainOnHerParade@xanga - and to add on, if someone believes homosexuality is a sin, they forget that we are all sinners as well. With that logic, we all can get married or we can't.
LGBT rights means *ALL* rights. Not just a select few. They are human, just like me and you and you and you and you *points finger at all people*. Humanity doesn't change just because of sexual orientation. They shouldn't be treated differently for any reason. Pro-gay rights...which includes marriage! :D
BUT HOMOS EAT POO POO
source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V9-y0QWSGY
Also, gay agenda.
I wouldn't consider two people of the same sex to be "married," but I don't see the point in making it illegal in a secular government because, as other people have mentioned, my (imaginary) marriage will not be affected. And it's a lot easier to argue that divorce and out-of-wedlock births are destroying the family unit a lot more than homosexuals marrying.
They aren't hurting anyone by getting married, and they should be able to have the same legal rights that married couples do. Let gays get hitched! and for all those people that spout nonsense about the "institution of marriage" between men and women-- psh. The divorce rate is 50%!
I wish this issue wasnt such a "religious" issue than a realistic issue. I've never heard a con argument for same sex marriage besides religion and the fact that some people think it's "morally wrong".
love is love. let lovers do what they do best and love. who are we to stand in their way and deny them of something only that person can give?
I don't understand why people think they have the right to deny people their fundamental rights, and step in the way of something that doesn't affect them in the slightest.
It bothers me when Christians decide to use arguments such as the bible says that a man is not to lay with another man as they lay with a woman, and that sex and marriage is a only a way to allow people to procreate, so therefore gay people have no right to be married since they cannot procreate.
It seems like a contradiction for these people to have such strong hate against a human population but still believe that they are getting into heaven.
Go California! The other day my gay roommate texted me saying that Prop 8 was overturned and fags are free to marry! It's so awesome!!!!! Homos are people too, just like ther heteros. They are not dogs. They have the same rights as we do, at least that's how it should be, how it's supposed to be. It kills me when people are against gays; there's nothing wrong with it. If someone loves someone else, they should be able to get married. Now, the divorce rate is up to what, 80% now, right? That's for male/female couples. I want to see what the divorce rate for male/male and female/female couples will be! GO CALI!!! I voted no on 8 in November!
If I were a lesbian I would want my partner to make medical decisions for me and handle our property and assets. Just like I would my husband. Who cares if my partner is a girl or a boy they are still the one person that means the most to me.
@Salivarysatisfaction - HAHHAHHA
Since marriage licenses in the States is a state and federal thing, I believe that same-gender couples should have the right to apply and obtain a marriage license to legally finalize their partnership. (And extend the benefits of housing tax, medical issues etc)
However, I think a religious ceremony for a same-sex couple should be at the hands of the individual church. If a same-gender couple wants to have a religious ceremony and a church denies, then the government should not be involved. (Hence the famous words, separation of church and state) If a church wants to perform such a ceremony then it is their choice. If a church is willing to lose parishioners and money they obtain from said parishioners, then so be it, it is their choice.
Bottom line. Let the church do its thing, and let the government do it's thing.
I agree, thank you! I wish all of humanity could have the same common sense as you do.
The mistake the government has made is incorporating religion into the government. Marriage should be a religious ceremony and have nothing to do with rights and both heterosexual and gay couples should have to get a civil union to get the rights that married heterosexual couples have currently. That would solve everything.
I support gay marriage. Great post :3 Really brought some lesser-known things to attention.
Great post! My family is pretty typical for the South; we love our Bibles, damnit, now vote like a Christian! I'm the odd one out in believing that the government shouldn't be able to restrict on same-sex marriage, but I don't see why anyone should stop them. Is it directly causing you harm? No. Is either party underage? I hope not. So why should we keep them from being able to make the same legal ties any heterosexual couple can? I bet more same-sex couples would actually survive a marriage than hetero couples these days, it's scary how many people just up and marry without putting any thought into it. Let's work on stopping them instead, eh?