The validity of same sex marriage is an issue which is still controversial and still not solved in the
United States. The issue has similarities to the issue of interracial marriages in the 1960s. Both interracial
marriages and same-sex marriages are based on individual's feelings.
Gay people do not choose who they fall in love with, in the same way
as people falling in love with someone from another ethnicity, or anybody who falls in love with anyone. It is
a private matter and I believe that it is obvious that everybody
should have the same rights and denying some people the right to get
married goes against the constitution which says that we are all
equal. You do not choose who you fall in love with and you should not
encounter limitations just because the person you fall in love with
is of the same sex, or of a different ethnicity. I do not believe
that you should be treated differently because of your sexual
preferences.
In
1996, after some states had
permitted
same-sex marriages, congress
tried to prevent same-sex marriages from becoming legal all over the
United States through the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which would
have meant that same-sex marriages performed in other states
would not be legal in states where same state marriages were not
allowed. However, in June 2013, the Supreme Court dismissed DOMA and
declared it unconstitutional. Thanks to the
fact that the constitution states that
if a state or local law conflicts with a national law, the national
law will prevail,
same-sex
marriages all over the United States now have the right to federal
benefits.
Opponents
of same-sex marriage use the
argument that marriage
between a man and a woman is the basis for creating and defining a
family and that same sex
couples can not have biological children together. To
the people that try to hide behind this argument I'd like to first of
all say: This may have been the norm before but things change, get
over it. I'm also wondering how these people relate to people who
cannot or doesn't want to have children. Do
they have the right to get married and have the same benefits even
though they are not creating the “nuclear family”? To people who
do not believe that this is fair to the children because these
children will get bullied etc., I'd like to, again,
state that no child is born a
homophobiac. If people would just stop judging others and teach their
children true values such as respect and the fact that all people are
equal, then this shouldn't be a problem. The problem lies with the
bully and not the bullied.
Considering
the fact that state and church are – and should be – separated, I
do not believe that the fact that homosexuality supposedly goes
against some people's faith should have anything to do with whether
or not same-sex marriage should be allowed in the United States. I
fully support the fact that banning
same-sex marriage is unfair discrimination against a minority group
and the fact that it
is still allowed to go on is helped by the fact that there is no
federal law allowing same-sex marriages. If same-sex marriage was
allowed all over the United States, then I believe that the
discrimination would subside and that homosexuality
would be more and more accepted. Some people would of course still
oppose it, but if the country as a whole implemented a law allowing
same-sex marriages then I
believe that more people would eventually become more positive
towards it because then that view
would be more accepted. Some
people believe that forcing states which have an overwhelming
majority against same-sex marriage will have unfortunate results but
I do not agree with this. If you look back in time to the 1960:s, the
case Loving v. Virginia was taken to the Supreme Court. This
case has similar attributes to today's discussion about same-sex
marriages. An interracial
couple was contesting the
Virgina law which prohibited interracial marriages. The Supreme Court
eventually came to the conclusion that laws against interracial
marriage were unconstitutional. I believe that the fact that
this was made into law – despite a strong opposition – helped
make interracial marriages more accepted and that the same thing will
be the case with same-sex marriages.
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