Marriage is a symbol of serious commitment for two people in love. Society has taught us that marriage is between a man and a woman. The gender of a person, and the gender of the person they’re in love with, should not be held against them. I would like to see marriage legal for couples of the same sex.

Some Americans are uncomfortable seeing people of the same sex together when they are kissing or holding hands. They need to realize that times are changing. Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered people are done hiding. People need to be more open-minded and less judgmental. These people are no different from us. CNN stated, according to the U.S. census in 2010, 646,000 same-sex couples live together. Living in hiding is no way for a person to have to live and these couples should be able to marry and be open about their lives. The Williams Institute in UCLA estimated that 9 million (3.8%) of Americans identify themselves as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender). If others learn to accept these beautiful people, they would feel the same way I do. They would understand that LGBTs deserve the same rights.

If you were kept from marrying the love of your life, you would be distraught. These LGBT couples aren’t allowed to have a legal document to show their marriage. This isn’t fair, and doesn’t make sense. The financial benefits of different sex couples are the same as same-sex couples including joint ownership and medical decisions (balancedpolitics.com). Refusing the choice of sex-same marriage is nothing but mean and rude to LGBT couples. Gaymarriage.procon.org states that gay marriage is protected by the constitution’s commitments for liberty and equality. These couples are being judged by their personal life and not being included, or considered equal with straight people. In America we strive to have equal rights for everyone, so why is this still being held back? This should be a human right for everyone, not just straight couples.

A straight person will never understand the struggles of LGBTs, but they could try. They don’t go through years of denial, religious practices, and all the judgment after coming out to others. Our country has taken giant steps in accepting gays by cracking down on bullying in schools, removing the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy in the military, and the subject has become more open in the public and media. If straight people can’t try to understand the difficulties LGBTs face, there isn’t a chance they would be able to look at them and accept their love, and marriage. If these close-minded people would look at the love they know, between a man and woman, they should know there is no difference in the love straight people have compared to LGBTs.

The United States of America is supposed to be a country pushing equal rights, but we are not there yet. Minorities and women have suffered in the past and look how far we have come from that. Women and minorities suffered with the same judgments, hate, and unequal rights every day. I believe in the future we will look back on all of the discrimination concerning LGBTs, just as we did towards minorities and women, and realize how foolish it is. There will not be freedom until all of us are equal.