!"##$%&'%%()*+,& Why all the fuss about Gay Marriage?

Our civil rights and the Constitution give us many liberties, including the pursuit of happiness, which homosexual people are not allowed to chase. According to gaymarriage.procon.org, to date, 17 US states have legalized gay marriage, while 33 states have gay marriage bans through either laws or constitutional amendments or both. The gay rights movement in the US can be traced back to the Stonewall Riots that occurred (at instead of on) on the Stonewall Inn in NYC on June 28, 1969. This marked the beginning of a political movement for gay rights during a time when it was illegal to have homosexual sex in all states except of Illinois. Between the years of 1969 and 1974, the number of gay organizations in the country swelled from fewer than 50 to nearly a thousand. The current national debate on gay marriage was sparked by the Supreme Court of Hawaiis 3-1 ruling on May 5, 1993 that the state could not ban same-sex marriages without "a compelling reason to do so. The issue then gained national attention and prompted over 40 states over the next decade to pass Defense of Marriage Acts (DOMAs) that defined marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. (I like how you told the reader what restarted the debate) The arguments provided by those opposing gay marriage are weak, empty, and have no solid ground to them whatsoever. Many are misguided as well, due to the plummeting amount of ignorance taking place in our country. (plummeting means going down, so maybe say that ignorance is increasing) Immoral you say? Well, who decides what is moral and immoral? Love is love, right? If you are a straight person, does it affect your life in any way if your neighbor is gay and chooses to marry his/her lover? Well the

!"##$%&'%%()*+,& answer to that is No. Sexual orientation of others does not affect any of us personally. The majority of homosexuals, which are people just like the rest of us, who choose same sex relationships, are just as uncertain in their relationship choices as straight people are. In a day and age of equality, why is gay marriage such a major issue? We are continuing to make headlines that regard an issue about personal rights and freedom. I personally believe there are much greater issues that our countries government could be focusing their time and energy on such as such as education, debt, or war. People may ask the question, why should gay marriage be legalized? but my question is why should it not be legalized? America is the land of the free, but we are not free to marry whomever we want. We are equals in this world weather we are White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, or any other race in the world. Why should we not be equals based on sexual orientation? The first amendment of the Constitution states that a persons religious beliefs or a lack thereof must be protected. Legislatures also cannot discriminate against marriage of the minority party, and this is the category that homosexuals fall under. The first amendment also states that there is separation of church and state, so you cannot declare that marriage is a gift from God. The word marriage has too many definitions to count. According to law.cornell.edu the 1 U.S Code 7-Definition of marriage and spouse states that the word marriage means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word spouse refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband and wife. But in marriage there is one thing that trumps all and that truly matters and that is love. Of course there are other important things but love is what brings two

!"##$%&'%%()*+,& people together no matter their gender. According to dictionary.com, the definition of love is, Very strong affection: an intense feeling of tender affection and compassion. Gay people, just like every other person, have just as much of a right as straight people do in having these feelings. According to hrc.org, same-sex couples living in California, the District of Columbia, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state can take advantage of broad domestic partner laws that offer access to the state-level and responsibilities of marriage, much like a civil union. In addition, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, and Wisconsin offer limited statewide spousal rights to same-sex couples within the state. A domestic partnership is a legal or interpersonal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by marriage nor a civil union. Civil partnerships also give couples the ability to have joint bank accounts, live in the same house, and pay bills together. Homosexual couples are not entitled to this in most states. The Defense of Marriage Act (no need for you to write out what DOMA stands for every time you use it) (DOMA) actually excludes married gay couples from 1,138 federal protections and rights, such as: social security benefits, the Family and Medical Leave Act, health insurance continuation of health coverage, immigration law, Medicaid, retirement plans, federal tax laws and more. LGBTQ people have been openly struggling and fighting to achieve legal recognition of their relationships for almost half a century. Straight couples get married for love, but in doing so they get to claim access to the more than 1,000 legal protections and benefits that come with marriage licenses to safeguard their families and protect themselves; being gay comes with a price to pay.

!"##$%&'%%()*+,& Who would be affected if same-sex marriage were legalized? No one, and definitely not anyone in a negative way. Parenthood is a benefit of marriage and gay couples cannot have children by themselves, obviously without some type of help such as adoption agencies. Most gay couples do not get top priority in these situations and are even put at the bottom of the list or they are denied completely. Though many believe that gay marriage should become legal, there is (are) a number of people who think otherwise. In most religions including, Christianity, Islam, and Orthodox Judaism samesex preferences are a sin. These particular people have the belief of procreation to repopulate the world and are against gay marriage because gay couples are incapable of doing so. If this is a standpoint on the decision of legalizing gay marriage then only people who are fertile and want to procreate should be able to get married. There are hundreds of couples that are physically unable to reproduce or just choose not to, which makes them no different than homosexuals. America, as a whole, has never given gay marriage a chance, but they believe gay marriage will weaken its institution by leading to high divorce rates. On loveandpride.com I read, One reason legislatures are denying gay marriage is because they are fearful that opening the door to allowing gay marriages will open the door to polygamy as well. This would also mean reopening cases about polygamy in the past which they are not willing to do. (Elaborate on your quote about polygamy) However, according to apa.org, 40-50% of marriages end in divorce and this is not within the gay community. (Consider moving the divorce quote up to the paragraph above where you are talking about divorce.) This is something that has destroyed the institute of marriage in our country, not gay marriage. It is without a doubt bound to

!"##$%&'%%()*+,& happen for many couples but if it happens to a homosexual couples, that makes them no different than heterosexual couples. Others are fearful for childrens futures and they fear being raised by two fathers or by two mothers may compromise childrens mental capacities. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), a number of studies and articles have suggested that research shows no difference in outcomes between children whose parents have same-sex relationships and their peers raised by heterosexual parents. The opposition towards gay marriage holds no ground, and is supported only by prejudice and intolerance. It would be a sorrowful day if America succumbs to this hatred and band gay marriage. The fate of society relies on the open minds of its people. Do not forget that rights, marriage included, are for all individual human beings, because we are all created equal. I believe that this country has the opportunity to change the world for future generations, on this matter. We feared that different religions were going to clash, but now all of the religions coexist. White people had Black and Hispanic slaves, but we overcame the odds and now White men, Black men, and Hispanic men can be equal. I believe that if we overcame such obstacles over the course of history, then we can overcome the boundary obstructing gay marriages and straight marriages alike. Gay marriage is a controversial issue that people have been fighting for years and it has finally come to the surface. Its time to take charge.

Overall you have a very good start, Brooke. I think that your paper should try to come from a more neutral point of the debate. It seems like you are shoving it down the throats

!"##$%&'%%()*+,& of your readers and thats why a lot of people shut down when you start talking about this topic. In your paper maybe consider how homosexual marriage would influence the economy in a positive way. When you are trying to contrast the topic try to see how it would be a negative thing.

Work Cited "American Psychological Association (APA)." Http://www.apa.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 27 Mar. 2014. <Dictionary.com "Legal Information Institute." Cornell University Law School. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar 2014. <http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/marriage>. Lipp, Murray. 7 Ways the U.S.A. Benefits From the Legalization of Gay Marriage. (2013): n. page. Web13 Mar. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/murraylipp/gay-marriage-is-great-for_b_3370173.html>. ProCon.org. "Gay Marriage ProCon.org." ProCon.org. 24 Mar. 2014. Web. 27 Mar. 2014. Revel & Riot. N.p., Web. 13 Mar 2014. <http://www.revelandriot.com/resources/marriage-equaltity>. The Human Rights Campaign Questions about Same-Sex Marriage 2009 http://www.hrc.org/issues5517.htm