Gay Marriage
Introduction Gay marriage is one of the social issues that are hotly debated in the United States of America. Gay marriage has a long history. Bible stories record instances of homosexuality.
Famous people in history have also been associated with the practice of homosexuality. There have been many legal debates concerning the legality of homosexuality. When homosexuality was first practiced cannot be traced simply because this is an act between two people which can be kept as a secret and there might not be known forever. According to Neill (Pg 8), in the bible times there was a practice of homosexuality. He gives the example of the famous cities in the bible times, Sodom and Gomorrah, as places where this practice was a norm.
In our times famous people such as Shakespeare among others have been associated with homosexuality (Williams, Pg 68). Moving from the relatively far recent past to the near present time, homosexuality has rapidly developed so fast to gain acceptance especially in the developed countries though the influence is gaining momentum in the other countries. However, various laws and doctrines on the land do not partially or fully support the legalization of gay marriage. This essay clearly discus some aspects that need to be changed in order to make gay marriages legal and acceptable in the American society. Gay marriage The opposition to various fundamental rights of gays has been a cornerstone of the Christian Right political strategy.
For instance, the evangelical activists ranked the gay rights organizations first on their opponent lists, a position which is even above the Planned Parenthood. The anti-gay projects that are being sponsored by these Christian organization forms part of the vast infrastructure that leads to such political successes by the movement. The gay rights is opposed by these groups because they serve as rich metaphors for the kaleidoscope of conservative that makes it one of the highly condensed symbols in political mobilizations at times of rapid sexual culture rapid change with regards to the gay social inclusion. The heterosexual nuclear family preservation, traditional gender relations and conservative sexual morality are at the core of the contemporary religious cultural politics and beliefs and the fight for the gay rights has been put at the epicenter of the political battles that are made of cultural wars. In the United States of America, the conservative efforts of restricting sexuality target the areas such as gay rights. For example, the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts in the year 2004 raised stakes and intensity of such battles (Irvine, J.
., Pg 5).To accomplish their mission, these anti-gay organizations use the website to share their distinctive features with other people in the United States of America. The information on these websites promotes anti-gay activism through advertisements, petitions and opportunities to directly email the government officials such as the president (Irvine, J..
, pg 8). Therefore, the internet is undeniably becoming a formidable weapon for fighting the gay practices by the anti-gay organizations (Irvine, J.., pg 15) To stop this, the use of websites to fight gay marriages should be stopped and the sole way of achieving this is through the action of the government. In America, people are confronted with sizable classes of parents who ar raising the children who have no access to civil marriage and its protection because they are not allowed to procure marriage licenses. The same parent children are harmed with these marriage bans and therefore they should be removed in order to help the children.
Further, it is contended that including gay couples in the civil marriage will lead to trivialization or destruction of the traditional marriage. This perception should be changed because the gay people never support the abolition of marriage and they do not attack the marriages’ binary nature, provisions of the marriage laws and consanguinity provisions. The same sex legalization do not diminish the validity of the opposite sex marriage than recognizing the individual rights of marrying a person of from different race devalues the marriage involving people of same race. The extension of civil marriage to the people of same sex should be perceived as a reinforcement of the significance of the gay marriage to the individuals and some communities. Therefore, people should change their perception and know that the gay couples may be equally willing to embrace the obligations of marriage exclusivity, commitment to one another and mutual support (Mello, M.
, Pg 8-10).The policies in the United States of America should be changed in order to allow for gay marriages. For instance, there are seven venues in which the same sex policy making takes place in America. They include the state courts, local governments, the congress, state constitutional amendments, state legislatures and the federal constitutional amendments and all these venues are included in the same sex debates in the country. All these venues should be changed to deal with the challenges that uphold the prerogative of restricting marriages only to opposite sex couples. For instance, the constitution has some clauses that render the gay marriages illegal.
Currently, some states have amended their constitution to allow the legislatures to ban the same sex marriage, the courts do not legalize gay marriage and some states such as Hawai have told all the same sex opponents across the country that the same sex marriage legislation in one state will have a direct impact on other states through the Faith and Credit Clause of the united states constitution. This practically implies that all states may be compelled to recognize the marriages that take place in other states even if the involved couples are not eligible to get married in a new state (Duncan, W. A & Jones, L. S., Pg 45-6). Further, the law makers should come up with laws or amend the existing laws so as to provide all the benefits and legal rights that are awarded to the heterosexual couples to the same sex couples in the United States of America (Duncan, W.
A & Jones, L. S., Pg 48). Although a greater percentage of the Americans disapprove the homosexual acts, there are others who strongly believe that the gay couples as well as the different sex couples deserves the fundamental level of civil rights protection. Therefore, the civil rights package should be changed in order to favor the same gay couples including the right to marry. These legal marriages will bring with it very significant benefits and serious obligations including the spousal health insurance, tax advantages, various inheritance rights, shared retirement benefits and the intangible important benefit of conveying to the society that the couples are truly families (Andryszewski, T.
, Pg 9-11). In addition, people should be allowed the fundamental right of making choices. The opening up of marriage to the couples of same sex implies that they have a choice. For instance, it reflects the political choices on the part of the gay rights movements. Another choice aspect is that there are some legal options of recognition of states either a same sex or different sex couple. Once any couple lives together for a certain period of time, the government and other authorities should recognize that they are one unit for certain purposes.
The couple can then add into the set of default responsibilities and rights through the signing of wills and cohabitation agreement (Badgett, L. V. M., Pg 15-19). Another important aspect that needs to be changed in the United States of America is the stigmization against the gay couples. This stigmization makes the gays especially the African American gays to fear disclosing their sexual orientation.
The studies have showed that the whites were more likely to disclose their sexual orientation. According to other authors, the disclosure differences between is characterized by higher social stigma of being a gay in the African American community which is sometimes exacerbated for more educated men. To minimization or complete elimination of the stigmization will make the gay couples confident in the society. Therefore, various measures should be taken to end the problem of stigmization. For example, all the American citizens should be informed about the fundamental rights of the gay people so that they stop having negative perceptions towards them (Belgrave, Z.
F., Pg 234-5). In the field of education, the tutors or teachers’ responsibilities should be changed to ensure that all the students/children are secure learning environment. For instance, the students should be given equally treatment regardless their support or opposition to gay/homosexuality. This avoids the cases whereby some people are rendered incapable of challenging others who would discriminate or stigmatize against them. Also, the gay parents should in the forefront in teaching their children in the values and practices that they believe in (Blum, L.
, 148).Conclusion In conclusion, the same sex marriage is one if the cultural issues that leads to the divisions among the Americans in this century. The descriptions of this marriage controversy seems to vary across the sides with the opponents finding such unions trying to violate their religious and moral values while the proponents view same gay marriage as an issue of equal rights. The various policies in America need to be changed in order to allow for same sex marriages. This can be achieved through appropriate engagement of the local governments, state courts, the congress, the state legislatures and the federal constitutional amendments. The gay couples should be perceived just as other couples and be given their fundamental level of civil protection.
I support the legal gay marriages because they bring with them significant benefits and obligations that includes tax advantages, various inheritance rights, retirement benefits and positive perception that the couples are legitimate families. Finally, the gay marriages should not be opposed by religious groups because America is a multicultural country whereby all people including the secular groups should be allowed to exercise and enjoy their marriage rights and choices.
