Point/Counterpoint: Pro Gay Marriage

The forefathers of our country came to America for one main reason: natural rights. These "rights" have been debated and fought for since the dawn of America. First came the women's rights movement, followed by the civil rights movement. Throughout America's history we as a country have fought to be able to say that we respect all people, that we are all equal. In retrospect, equality is a debatable word. Our generation is experiencing something huge. Within the past ten years, the "gay movement" has started a revolution throughout the United States. Ten years ago, the show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy would never have hit cable television and channels such as Logo and Here!, were not even a blip on the radar. However as of late, homosexuality has taken a new role in the American lifestyle. It is on our televisions, magazines, and newspapers and is no longer a source of jokes and insults, but is slowly taking on a more serious role. Despite the fact that being a homosexual is okay throughout popular culture and that former "gay idols" such as Ellen Degeneres no longer feel the need to only speak about their sexual preference, this newfound acceptance and understanding still does not remedy the major lag in equality of rights.

It was in 1978 that the U.S. Supreme Court declared marriage to be "of fundamental importance to all individuals" in the case of Zablocki v. Redhail. At this point, marriage was described by the court as "one of the basic civil rights of man" and "the most important relation in life." Also, the court claimed that "the right to marry is part of the fundamental right to privacy" in the U.S. Constitution. No matter what anyone's sexual preference may be, we are all humans and therefore all deserve the same basic equal rights. We look back on the blemishes of our history and shudder with embarrassment because of many of the things America has overlooked or ignored. After all, a mere forty years ago interracial marriages were illegal. With clear vision, we now see just how wrong and unjust our past has been. But the mistakes we are making now can easily be remedied before they too become an embarrassment to the law we have created. Without the same rights that marriage entails, same sex couples cannot have next-of-kin (the right to make decisions for sick persons that cannot make medical decisions themselves); they cannot share insurance, taxes and salaries. They cannot visit their partner's child in a hospital, cannot inherit without a will, cannot enter in joint rental agreements, choose a final resting place for a partner, obtain wrongful death benefits, gain a division of property in the event of separation, have joint custody over a child, have spousal social security or Medicare, obtain spousal veteran rights, apply for immigration and obtain domestic violence protective orders (such as restraining orders). Can you imagine not having these rights? If America was built on these "basic human rights"- are we therefore not to grant them to all humans?

Many argue that "civil unions" (legally recognized and voluntary union in which same sex partners receive the "same rights, protections, benefits, and responsibilities of those within the ties of marriage") are acceptable, but marriage- because it is a religious institution- should be banned. Marriage can be a very religious act, but not every religion adheres to the bible and not every religion takes the bible literally. Therefore to say that gay couples cannot join their souls together within a ceremony would mean that atheists, agnostics and anyone else who does not practice religion can also not have the right to marriage. Not only that, but if the main concern with marriage is the religious aspect, then there should be no difference legally between marriage and civil unions, otherwise there is no separation of church and state- thus the state is imposing its idea of moral and religious standards on citizens. On this same chord, many have argued that if we allow same sex couples to marry, it is a slippery slope and soon- who knows! People could marry objects and animals and- wait…are we forgetting, or just being ignorant to the fact that homosexuals are humans?! There is a huge difference between a couple of the same sex committing their love to each other and a woman marrying a lamp, and hopefully we can all agree on at least that fact. Another popular criticism of gay marriage is that homosexuality has fueled the rise of sexually transmitted diseases. I won't even begin to get into the argument that the whole point of marriage is to devote and commit yourself to one person, and that if anything, this would lessen the spread of such epidemics by encouraging loving relationships and discouraging high-risk sexual lifestyles.

Science has proven lately that homosexuality can often be attributed to biological causation- that homosexuality is a predisposed genetic trait and thus could be deemed a non-decision. Rights are given to those born with every other genetic trait, despite their differences. Minorities have rights, handicapped have rights, those who can roll their tongues, those who are double jointed- all genetic traits, all with rights. So why can't homosexuals? Is America really that afraid of sexuality, even after the sexual revolution and our claim to being open minded? Denying gay marriages is the same as denying minority marriages, or different religious marriages. To deny this right is a form of minority discrimination, however this denial is not receiving the same consequences as those other cases that break the law.

If we claim to accept minorities and to have a stern separation of church and state, and to bestow basic human rights to every American, why are we not pulling through? There should no longer be the filter of prejudice over our eyes, but instead we should be proud to look into the eyes of our fellow Americans and know that no matter what they choose to do in their sexual lives, they have the ability to love and care for another human being just as any straight person. As a country, we should no longer let the fact that not every American has the same rights pass us by without a care. The question of gay marriage should not even be a question, it should automatically be a right, and to deny that would not only be ignorant but also blind, rude, and simply, un-American.