Mrs. Griffin
CP English 12
6 December 2009
Gay Marriage By not allowing same-sex couples to marry, society is discriminating on the basis on sex. “If I had to pare marriage to its essential core, I would say that marriage is two people’s life long commitment, recognized by law and society to care for each other. To get married is to put yourself in another person’s hands and promise to take the responsibilities, which expects both to keep your word” (Kafka 31). People do not understand what marriage is all about to gays. Homosexuals are only asking what all heterosexuals posses: the legal right to marry someone they love. Love is very strong and powerful, and homosexuals are willing to endure this for a life time. It would mean so much to them if people would at least give them the right to marry and were able to show people their love for each other. Those who argue in favor of gay marriage say that marriage serves an even greater purpose in society for them (Equal Marriage). Gay marriage is a political, social, moral, and religious issue in many countries today. Gay marriage should be legalized. Gays should be able to have marriage benefits, be allowed to have the same rights, and the churches should not discriminate against them. All homosexuals should have the ability to have marriage benefits. Once a couple is married, the spouses are expected to take care of each other for the rest of their lives. They should not have to worry about whether or not they will be able to care for their loved ones. Married couples care for each other when one spouse becomes ill or incapacitated. This relieves society in general of the burden and responsibility of caring for millions of people. Every couple that wants to get married has the right to have all benefits as a heterosexual married couple has. These include social security, financing, Medicare, medical leave, tax benefits, emotional stability, property inheritance, the right to visit their spouse in the hospital, make a medical decision, and provide security for their children. By giving them benefits, it does not affect society in a bad way. Society would greatly benefit from gay marriage, because it would then be able to depend on millions of married homosexuals to get rid of these financial and emotional burdens. The Vermont Civil Union Law, which went into effect a few years earlier, also providing same-sex couples with many of the same benefits of marriage, including the right to make medical choices for partners and the ability to file joint state tax returns (Kranz 26). In early 2005, California’s domestic partnership law went into effect. It was a law that granted same-sex couples, who register as domestic partners, all the legal benefits and responsibilities of married spouses. They also include the ability to make health-care and end-of-life decisions for a spouse (Bello 3). Federal benefits are also granted to married couples. They inherit each other’s social security and pension benefits when a spouse dies. Gays should be allowed to have all rights as heterosexuals do. Gays stand together to fight for their rights. It is not just homosexuals that want to fight for their rights, people that are alone and the people that have a traditional family try to fight for them as well. Some beliefs of same-sex marriage are that homosexual couples are less serious or committed to a monogamous relationship. In today’s society, homosexuals are just as committed if not more than heterosexuals. If marriage is supposed to promote responsibility and commitment in a same-sex marriage, then marriage will promote responsibility and commitment for homosexuals. “If states were to just legalize same-sex marriage, it would resolve a lot of potential discrimination because then they could have a defined line, if you were married or not” (Simmons). To deny marriage to same-sex couples removes an important human right: the right to