Gay Marriage. Why it Should be Legalized | Teen Ink

Gay Marriage. Why it Should be Legalized

September 3, 2010
By AllieJo2619 SILVER, Denver, Colorado
AllieJo2619 SILVER, Denver, Colorado
6 articles 0 photos 0 comments

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In a world where you can be anything, be yourself, original and unique. Never sellout and become the one you copied from. be the person everyone wants to copy.


Gay marriage should be legalized because it is uncivilized and unmerited. Our civil rights and the Constitution give us many liberties. One of our civil liberties is the pursuit of happiness, which homosexual people are not allowed to chase. They cannot be married to the person they love and it violates their freedoms. According to professorshouse.com, “In Alaska, Nevada, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Nebraska, Missouri, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama, not only is gay marriage banned, but so are civil partnerships.”

Others might ask why gay marriage should be legalized, but my question is this: why should other people be able to choose who marries who? If a man and a woman get married, no one seems to care. They are two people who feel affection for one another and those two people want to start a family. If we change the scenario a little bit and a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, try to get married it causes uproar. They are not allowed to be married or raise a family together.

Imagine waking up one day to a world that was completely opposite from the world we went to sleep in, meaning gay people are now straight and all straight people are now gay. Do you think the newly straight people would fight for the newly homosexual people’s rights? America is the land of the free, but we are not free to marry whomever we would like. After everything straight people have put homosexual people through, in this scenario, homosexual people would most likely vote for their rights because they would want their rights to be voted for. We are equals in this world whether we are Black, White, Hispanic, Indian, or any other race for that matter. Why should we not be equals based on sexual orientation?

The 1st amendment of the Constitution states that a person’s religious beliefs or a lack of thereof must be protected. Legislatures also cannot discriminate against marriages of the minority party which, homosexual people fall into that category. There is also an amendment stating there is separation of church and state, so you cannot declare that a marriage is a gift from God.

In a marriage there is one thing that truly matters: love. Yes, other things are important too, but not one couple would make it to even asking someone to marry them if there was not some love. Las Vegas, Nevada is also known for being the place where many weddings occur which are annulled within one week. These marriages are not based off love, but simply a drunken night in Vegas. High divorce rates weaken what a marriage is defined as. Why are we not able to rewrite what a marriage stands for and make it include a homosexual marriage? The definition of love, according to dictionary.com is as follows: “Very strong affection: an intense feeling of tender affection and compassion.” If gay people feel this way then why shouldn’t they be able to be married? If they are happy with each other, said persons should be able to marry.
California, Hawaii, New York, and the District of Columbia all have domestic partnership laws and civil partnerships meaning it is almost a marriage without the matrimony. 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.
Marriage benefits should be available to all couples, no matter what. In places where gay marriages are banned, the gay couples are not able to have the same benefits as others. When filing for health care or insurance through a job, gay couples are not able to add each other on. Most loved ones, such as a spouse or a child, in a straight marriage, can make life altering decisions in a hospital if need be. Since gay marriage is not legal, said person’s spouse is not recognized as their next of kin and care is delayed.

Who would be affected if homosexual marriage was legalized? No one. Everyone believes there is one person who is out there to love us. Gay people feel the same way. Parenthood is a benefit of marriage and gay couples cannot have children by themselves, without some type of help, so they look to adoption agencies. In some cases gay couples are put on longer waiting lists or denied completely. There are other benefits to being married as well, such as tax breaks. On the website professorshouse.com it reads, “When we hit our mid-thirties, we wanted only true friendships- friendships that were durable.” This is a perfect example of matrimony and what it should be based on. . According to dictionary.com a marriage is, “The legal or religious ceremony that formalizes the decision of two people to live as a married couple, including the accompanying social festivities.” If this is a marriage why are gay people not included in this?

Even though gay marriage should be legalized, some people have different beliefs. In most religions including, Christianity, Islam, and Orthodox Judaism same sex preferences are a sin. People believe in procreation to repopulate the world, but are against gay marriage and homosexuals adopting children because they cannot procreate on their own. If this is a stand point on making or breaking gay marriage then only people who are fertile and want to procreate should be able to get married according to this bias. America has never really 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.” Others are fearful for children’s futures and they fear being raised by two fathers or by two mothers may compromise children’s mental capacities.

Even though to most people gay marriage should be illegal and should stay in its current state, I believe we need to change the world for future generations. 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 equals. If it is possible to overcome such fierce obstacles then we can overcome the boundary obstructing gay marriages and straight marriages alike. Gay marriage should be legalized for these reasons. Evolution will always continue and at any given point in time, something will occur that we will not like in this world, but we can overcome this. Gay marriage is a controversial issue that people have been fighting for years and it has finally come to the surface. We should take charge of it.



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This article has 83 comments.


N0@H201402 said...
on Mar. 25 2015 at 4:43 am
Christians are not supposed to judge, yeah everyone will be judged on judgement day. The christians are supposed to come from a loving perspective, they're supposed to warn the gay couples, out of love and because they don't want them going to hell, but a lot of christians or any religious people are mislead and don't always know that. Thats why a lot of people look down on religion, they look like they judge (and some do) but the christians are not supposed to judge they're supposed to warn. CHRISTIANS ARE SUPPOSED TO HATE THE SIN NOT THE SINNER. Meaning we hate the actions people commit but we love the actual person. Thats the real Christian way. If anyone says they hate gay people, they aren't a REAL Christian and God will handle them on judgement day

N0@H201402 said...
on Mar. 25 2015 at 4:32 am
i just said it VIOLATES peoples rights to practice religion because if a pastor or priest does not want to marry a gay couple (because it says in the bible but nothing about atheist getting married) then they are forced by law. Otherwise they could be taken to court for "discriminating gay people".

on Mar. 18 2015 at 9:00 pm
@N0@H201402 Ff you live in Australia or many other English speaking countries outside of America, "legalising" is in fact spelled with an S and not a Z.

budi said...
on Mar. 16 2015 at 12:33 pm
Stfu. Only because it has spelling errors, it doesn't affect the meaning of the article. Stop being a close minded asshole and open up your mind. You go read a book or something instead of worrying about others too much.

dd23 said...
on Mar. 13 2015 at 12:02 pm
When was your article published? Also, would you be able to provide me with your name? I'm using this article as a citation for my research project.

Forgays said...
on Mar. 12 2015 at 9:59 pm
How does it violet people's rights to practice religion? Atheists get married.

curly said...
on Mar. 9 2015 at 2:55 pm
And how is gay marriage affecting you?

jollygrad said...
on Mar. 5 2015 at 2:34 am
Everybody that disapproves with gay marriage and judge gays are sinners. God said that we shall not judge everyone will be judged when we go to him when we pass. So everybody should just let people live they're lives and not judge.

N0@H201402 said...
on Mar. 4 2015 at 12:23 am
marriage was created by God and it just shows how ignorant you are and how childish you are "hahahahah idiots" are we in middle school still? Go read a book or something and get educated. Like I said in past comments it does affect everyone around, not only the LGBT community. oh and by the way "Legalising" is spelled LEGALIZING with a Z.

biancaaaaa said...
on Mar. 1 2015 at 2:35 am
CAN WE JUST TAKE GOD OUT OF THIS?! God doesn't have to be involved in this topic....GOD isn't part of the millions of people who have to constantly withstand verbal and physical abuse, inequality and discrimination just because of their sexuality. Everyone in the LGBT community deserve the same rights as everyone else, which INCLUDES MARRIAGE. If they pay the same tax as the rest of us, then why don't they receive the same treatment as us as well? Legalising gay marriage literally affects no one but those in the LGBT community, so why are some people still against it?! It's really shows how idiotic people are when they base their opinions on OTHER people's lives based on God. hahahaha IDIOTS

N0@H201402 said...
on Feb. 27 2015 at 5:07 am
People like you like to twist and counter with technicalities but no matter how technical you get, your avoiding the main point that God says "Those who practice HOMOSEXUALITY will not inherit the kingdom of God"

N0@H201402 said...
on Feb. 27 2015 at 5:04 am
First of all, when you mention God make "G" a capital. Second God didn't make people into homosexuals, it's a choice and it's people's sinful nature (you can look that up about sinful nature and feeding our flesh). God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Obviously there was a reason to making one man and one woman. I feel the author is not coming from a logical point but more a pathos point of view and the article lacks facts and evidence. e.g "Who would be affected if homosexual marriage was legalized? No one." If the author did research he would know that this act violates people's right to practice religion. If a pastor or priest does not want to marry a same sex couple, the couple has the right to take that pastor or priest to court for "discriminating a same sex couple" when it is simply practicing religion and not doing something they don't believe in.

N0@H201402 said...
on Feb. 27 2015 at 4:52 am
Nowhere in the Bible does it say he is against love I agree, but He does warn against HOMOSEXUALITY clearly. So if He says "Those who practice homosexuality will not inherit the kingdom of God" Im pretty sure its crystal clear that homosexuality is wrong. So stop pretending like you know the Bible because it clearly states that homosexual people will not inherit the kingdom of God and people like you TRY to twist his words.

Drew said...
on Feb. 26 2015 at 9:35 pm
you are right but if you are gay you need to realize that you are making a mistake. The bible says to not expect eternal grace. That means don't sin your whole life and then expect God to forgive you of your sins. HE WILL, but God specifically tells us not to do that. The man next to Jesus on the cross that was a sinner his whole life was saved right before death and he went to heaven, but if you are blessed with external resources, you should consider what God says about gay and homosexuality.

on Feb. 21 2015 at 5:35 pm
I believe in god, and your blatant lack of human compassion sickens me (ppl in comments). God made all people equal, and he made homosexuals too. To think they don't deserve a happy life is sad. Getting married and driving drunk are different, and you know that. Don't be childish, if you truly consider yourself a believer how could you say that Jesus or even god himself would ever shun anyone for being the way they were born. I applaud the authors courage here in writing this, all of us here in the likeminded state of Maine think you're seeing it right!

carl223 said...
on Feb. 19 2015 at 1:49 pm
Clearly you choose to only read the parts of the Bible or else you would know that John 3:16 includes all people, not just straight people. I hope that God removes the scales from your eyes that make you think you are better than people who are gay. God does not measure sins and all of us are sinners.

beth47 said...
on Feb. 19 2015 at 1:44 pm
John 3:16 " For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life" WHOEVER believes, not whoever believes and is straight

John3:16 said...
on Feb. 19 2015 at 1:42 pm
if anything is bogus about this article it's your comment. Also God loves all people, and no where does it say that He is against love. Also you can't compare drinking and driving to gay marriage. Whether or not I marry a man or a woman has no affect on you or your personal life. If I drink and drive, I am putting other people in danger. completely different scenarios.

N0@H201402 said...
on Feb. 18 2015 at 4:02 pm
This article made me laugh, this is all bogus. Mentioning God and acting like he supports it? haha. Also it violating peoples freedom? some laws need to be made, there can't be unlimited freedom. There has to be a line where it stops, Say a highschooler wants to drink and drive, should he be allowed to even if its against the law? it violates his freedom but should it be allowed?

private said...
on Feb. 18 2015 at 3:53 pm
(1 Corinthians 6:9) clearly states “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality” notice the word homosexuality. and this answers your other question. (Genesis 2:18, 20)."Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" notice man and wife, not man and man. ADAM AND EVE NOT ADAM AND STEVE!!!!!!!