RSS
Home
The right to marry
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
A photo from the first gay marriage in Beverly Hills
It isn’t a surprise to most of us that most Americans are iffy on gay marriage. Some hold religious observances in which their holy texts vilify homosexuals, some are traditionalist and would like marriage to continue to be between a man and a woman; but how much do we all really understand about gay marriage?
There is an imperative need for understanding about a topic as sensitive (religiously and legally) as this one. First, we must understand that there are two kinds of marriages: religious and civil. Religious marriages are performed by places of worship and civil marriages can be performed by the state. Marriage had long been more similar to business deals, rather than love. But now, we recognize that marriage is an agreement between two people who love each other.
We must now take a look at why the ability to marry is so important. Due to the inability to marry, there are 1,400 rights that are denied to homosexuals according to the GAO. These include things like: Social Security Pension, Survival benefits, continuation of employer-sponsored health benefits, Making, revoking, or objecting to post-mortem anatomical gifts, etc. So, as a result of not having the right to marry, LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, and Transgender) couples are not guaranteed these rights and more.
Along with the issue of gay marriage, there are also many other, non-marriage related tribulations that LGBT people must go through. For example, nineteen states (including Missouri) do not have anti-discrimination laws for LGBT people. This means that in Missouri, and 18 other states, an employer can refuse to hire you based on your sexual orientation. Ten other states only have state employment anti-discrimination laws.
Another atrocity is that up until only about a month ago federal law did not include sexual orientation as a hate crime. This new law, according to Senator Leahy, also improves previous laws to make it easier for federal authorities to investigate and prosecute hate crimes, now including hate crimes based on sexual orientation.
The truth is, is that there are no valid reasons to not allow same sex marriage. One common argument is that same sex marriage would destroy families. This ploy was also common in the battle for interracial marriages. Another common argument is that a child needs a mother and a father. If this were true, then the next logical step would be to ban single-parent households and criminalize divorce. In fact, one of the members of the successful Prop 8 battle in California (which re-criminalized same sex marriage) has now co-authored the 2010 California Protection of Marriage Act which does, in fact, criminalize divorce. Some hot posts on their website: Traditional Godless Socialism, “Jesus still loves you if you get divorced – just not as much as before”, and teaching your child that, “Sure, divorces happen – but they don’t need to know that”. The founder of this new proposition claims that this is the next logical extension of Prop 8.
Related Articles:
Comments
