Same-sex marriage is one of the most controversial and heated debates in the United States. Legal marriage brings with it serious obligations. It also brings significant legal benefits for married couples: health insurance benefits, shared pension rights, tax advantages, adoption and inheritance rights, and much more. This is what many homosexuals are working so hard on; trying to persuade society for what should be basic rights. They go through everyday getting signatures or conveying outlooks on matrimony to people who have no right to intervene in their relationship status. Same-sex marriage is clearly not universally accepted. Gay Marriage shouldn’t be banned because that would be unconstitutional, and this would lead to stigmatization of the gay community, and a decrease in their acceptance.
Equality is a civil right everyone is born with. Homosexuals are entitled to marry on constitutional grounds. According to the Equal Right Amendment written by Alice Paul, “All people are equal and this right should not be denied” (1). Gay marriage is protected by the Constitution’s commitments to liberty and equality. Same-sex couples simply want the rights that many documents have took away such as Proposition 8. American Foundation for Equal Rights president Chad Griffin said, “The message it sends to young LGBT people, not only here in California, but across the country, is that you can’t strip away a fundamental right” (www.cbnews.com). The proposition has stolen away the right many homosexuals cherished and loved. Many people believe with time the ban will be withdrawn since it’s on a stand-still pending further appeal. Griffin later said, “That the ban reaching the Supreme Court is historical” (www.cbnews.com). Another historical case in the Supreme Court is 1974’s Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur. The longstanding renowned case declared that the freedom of personal choice in matters of marriage and family life is one of the liberties protected by the Due Process Clause. US District Judge Vaughn Walker wrote on August 4, 2010 that Proposition 8 in California banning gay marriage was “unconstitutional under both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses” (Andryszewski Same-sex Marriage Moral Wrong or Civil Right?). A government that allows bias among its citizens is unethical, and unconstitutional. The unconstitutional infringement of rights is a disgrace to gays.
Denying same-sex couples the right to marry demeans gay and lesbian families. “There is no such thing as traditional marriage; given the prevalence of modern and ancient examples of family arrangements based on polygamy, communal child rearing, the use of concubines and mistresses and the commonality of prostitution, heterosexual monogamy can be not normal in terms of evolution” (www.gaymarriage.procon.org). Many people in society still judge various relationships. A Japanese man married his video game girlfriend, yet homosexuals still are denied marriage in most parts of the world. Thus labeling them as inferior and send the message that it is acceptable to discriminate against them (www.gaymarriage.procon.org). Homophobia and stigma are still flourishing throughout the United States. For instance, everyday a person uses the word gay as a substitute for something typically negative; using these belittling derogatory expressions diminishes homosexual approval universally. As of February 14, 2012 there are only 10 countries worldwide that allow marriage between homosexuals (www.gaymarriage.procon.org). Legalizing same-sex marriage acknowledges the legitimacy of gay relationships. Same-sex couples seeking rights are obviously determined to make their relationships last, otherwise they wouldn’t care about marriage so deeply. Preventing homosexuals from marrying disables them from filing income taxes jointly, visiting each other in the hospital, and inheriting one another’s property (Head Four Reasons to Support Gay