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Gay Marriage Essay, Research Paper

Marriage: Who Deserves It?

You have fallen head over heels in love with your partner and you can not, imagine not being with him or her for the rest of your life so the two of you decide to take it to the next step. You join together in front of your family and friends and state your love for each other and then the two of you are joined together as one in holy marriage. Once your ceremony is over, you are able to enjoy life as all other married couples do and share medical benefits from work and know that each of you are able to make important decisions for and about each other. Although all of this sounds simple, it is another story when you and your partner happen to be of the same sex. Because of one s preference to be with someone of the same-sex, one is denied the privileges and the act of marriage.

Legalizing gay marriage is the long-overdue correction; failure to do so dehumanizes and excludes a significant portion of the human race ( Separate ). When someone says the word marriage most people imagine a man and a woman being joined together not two of the same sex. James Wilson, gay activist, states that the social stigmata attached to homosexuality is different from that attached to any other race or ethnicity because it attacks the very heart of what makes a human being human: the ability to love and be loved (34). Homosexuals do not choose their condition; indeed, they often try desperately hard to avoid it ( Let ). And just as anyone else they need

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emotional and economic stability no less than heterosexuals ( Let ). But to grant homosexuals all of the substances of marriage and then deny them the rights is just not moral ( Separate ). James Wilson points out that taking away these rights just because of one s sexual preference shows that the modern society resists homosexual marriages entirely out of irrational prejudice (34).

Sharon Driedger comments that gays and lesbians as a group are still among the most despised minorities (43). The only way to get around this is by hiding your sexuality, and for some that is hard because their sexuality helps them express who they are and to be asked to suppress it is hard. So many homosexuals face the consequences about being out of the closet. James Wilson revealed that if homosexuals were open about their sexuality they would be denied two things: joining the military as an avowed homosexual and marriage another homosexual (34). But from Joe Roaly s libertarian view the terms of a marriage contract should be the partners business, not the states ( Let ). But Eric Stoltz points out that fifty women can vie on national television to marry a man they ve never met for his money but if two people of the same sex want to establish rights of inheritance or become legally empowered to make healthcare decisions for one another, we are told that the entire structure of Western Civilization will come to an end (31).

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Many people state that the purpose of marriage is to procreate and that is why they are against gay marriage, although James Wilson points out that if homosexual

couples marry without procreation, they are no different from a sterile man or woman who marries without the hope of procreation (34). And to deny a marriage license to two

people of the same sex are no different from denying a marriage license to two people of different sexes (Wilson 34). Society tries to back up their opinion by saying a gay couple may live like they are married but not receive any of the benefits that married people do. The Supreme Court has found it discriminatory to deny a married couple their benefits such as tax breaks, inheritance rights, and health insurance although they do not grant any of theses privileges to gay couples ( States ).

In the Roman Catholic Church marriage between two heterosexuals is upheld as a revered union between two people. Although Andrew Sullivan, editor of the New Republic, notes that the Catholic church has deepened its understanding of the involuntary that is, in some sense genetic basis of homosexuality, the church has attempted to keep homosexuals involved within the church as objects of affection and nurture, while banning homosexual acts as perverse (Wilson 34). And Chuck Colbert, who serves on the board of the Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association, suggest that Catholics in California have the chance to send their bishop a clear message by voting on the Knight Initiative which will no longer tolerate or finance this less than charitable downright unjust attack on gays and lesbians (19). Sharon Doyle, Maclean s/CBC

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pollster, writes that when the general public was surveyed forty-six percent say they personally believe homosexuality is a sin, which is something ungodly (43). And Mubarak Dahir, director of training for the national Gay and Lesbian Task Force, feels that this is a danger to homosexuals, because assorted anti-gay groups will organize a concerted national effort to go back to states that already ban gays and lesbians from getting married and start passing even more restrictive laws that would deny homosexual s domestic partner benefits and recognition of civil unions (17).

As civil marriage is currently conceived and practiced in America, it contains no requirements and holds out no aspirations that homosexuals cannot achieve as easily as heterosexuals ( Separate ). Supporters of equal marriage rights will accept a somatic compromise that would grant homosexuals every benefit and responsibility of civil marriage but deny them the word of marriage ( Separate ). Although a state still passes laws to deny couples the right of marriage. Chuck Colbert defines Proposition 22, which reads: Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized (19). This would forbid states from recognizing same-sex unions performed in other states if

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