Gay Rights And Marriage In Our Society example essay topic

Gay Rights and Marriage In our society today, homosexuals are the odd man out. They are treated unconstitutionally, they are forced to live a secret life, they are forbidden to adopt and raise children and unable to marry the person they love. This is just a start to the many inequalities that homosexuals have mounted up against them in everyday life. The constitution guarantees the right to free speech and the right to pursue happiness to everyone, although homosexuals do not get to live their life by their choice.

Most Americans will claim that they are in favor of equal rights for homosexuals. They will all say that gays should have the same rights in housing, jobs, and public accommodations and they should have equal access to government benefits and equal protection of the law. The average American thinks that homosexuals deserve all the rights that heterosexuals, but gay marriage is dead wrong. Many people also believe that homosexuality is about nothing but sex. If homosexuality was all about sex, why would they fight so hard to be able to marry? The reality is that homosexuality is much more about love and affection than it is about sex.

Nobody can come up with a good reason to deny gays the right to marry. Homosexual people should be allowed to marry. One argument against gay marriage is that homosexual couples are not the ideal environments to raise children in. Any convicted felon (child molesters, murderers... ) can be married and raise children.

Many scientific studies have shown that children raised in homes with homosexual couples are just as good as those of straight couples. Psychologists tell us that what makes the difference is the love of the parents, not their gender. Gay people can love their children just as well as anyone else. Homosexuals want children just like anyone else wants to be a parent. Some wish to give a child the love of a good, devoted family that they did or did not experience when they were raised, which would be pretty predictable depending on when they came out. Would an orphan be better off waiting longer for a family, or with the better chances of being an adoptee, since there would be so many more adopters?

Because of false stereotypes and prejudice towards them, the process of 'coming out' for lesbians and gay men can be a very challenging process which may cause a great deal of emotional pain. Lesbian and gay people often feel different and alone when they first become aware of same-sex attractions. They may also fear rejection from family, friends, co-workers and religious institutions if they do 'come out'. A pretty common argument against gay relationships is that they are immoral. The freedom of religion gave the right to freedom from religion as well. The Bible has nothing to do with American law, so how could anybody make laws against gays by means of the bible with the 'Separation of church and state?' Some religious leaders are the most powerful allies of same sex marriage.

In Hawaii, many faiths, including the Reform branches of Judaism, Quaker, Buddhist, Episcopal and many other Protestant Congregations are all about the pro-marriage campaign. There still are many faiths that are very against gay marriage. They feel that these people defy the Bible. Although this has nothing to do with gay rights due to the 'Separation of church and state,' gays still want to have respect in American society for their homosexuality. Many homosexuals think that gay marriages would show heterosexual people how much two people can love each other even if they are of the same sex.

Homosexual relationships are about more than just sex. 'People have become used to the idea of defining gay people solely in terms of sexual acts,' says Gregory Herek, a research psychologist at the University of California, Davis. Many heterosexuals are uncomfortable thinking of gay people in terms of relationships, because it objects to their average American perception of homosexuals. 'They said, they are against gay marriage because they would not want to recognize stable gay relationships,' says Herek 'When gay people say that this is a civil rights issue, they are referring to matters like the fact that they cannot make medical decision for their partners in an emergency.

' The hospitals usually have to, by state law, go to the families who may have disowned them up to decades ago. If their partners are arrested, they can be pressured to testify against them or provide evidence against them, something legally married couples are not forced to do. Even the most carefully drawn wills and the best of attorneys seem to not be enough if a family wishes to challenge a will, a custody decision, or keep homosexuals out of a funeral or deny the right to visit a partner's grave. They can even take real estate that a gay couple may have been buying together for years, quickly sell it at a huge loss and stick the homosexual with the remaining debt on a property they no longer own.

Marriage rewards the two individuals with valuable economic and practical advantages. Married couples can file joint tax returns, social security provides benefits for surviving spouses and their dependents. They can inherit money and property from one another without a will. They are immune from testifying against a spouse.

Another advantage would be health insurance provided by employers. Gay marriage is definitely a civil rights issue. It has nothing to do with how performs the ceremony or whether an announcement is accepted for publication in the local paper. It is not matter of special rights to ask for the same rights that others enjoy by law, even by the constitution.

If same sex marriage is made legal the next generation would not think of is as taboo. It will just be another way of life. All of the controversy has opened the door to discuss families, parenting, and equality for lesbians and gays. They believe that they will be able to raise children in a stable, loving household as most children have with heterosexual marriage.

Lambda Defense and Education fund says ' Winning or losing any particular battle over marriage is not all that's at stake here. What's at stake is a historical moment to change the position of gay people in society. If we do the work right, all kinds of gains will come from it, apart from the outcome of any particular battle,' he says.

Bibliography

BooksSberman, Suzanne. 'Lesbian and Gay Marriage. ' Philadelphia: Temple university press, 1992.
Rotel lo, Gabriel. 'Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the destiny of gay men. ' New York: Dutton, 1997.
Gallagher, John. 'Perfect Enemies. ' New York: Crown publisher, 1996.
Internet: web Alert Andrew's Business Site (2000, April).