Essay on Original: Same-sex Marriage

Submitted By rmills
Words: 2099
Pages: 9
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Ryan Mills
English 1A
Section #
March 29, 2015

Who’s to Say What Marriage is?

There are many problems in the United States and there are certain issues that we are still trying to find solutions to. Same sex marriage has been an issue to Americans for years now. “ Proponents of gay marriage in the united states have framed gay marriage as an “equal rights” issue emphasizing same-sex couples’ lack of access to the fundamental rights and legal securities associated with marriage” ( Gay Marriage as a Religious Right 298). Meaning that gay marriage doesn’t get the same type of treatment as heterosexual couples like adopting children and being able to be married.
The real issue is how people are taught to view homosexuality, but I’m focusing on the religious community. By defining marriage, showing how homosexuality is not a choice, the harm done when not accepted by others and looking at what the interpretation of the bible says about homosexuality. These factors can come to finding a solution of the issue of same sex marriage in the religious community and looking at same sex differently in order to accept it. Homosexuals are looked at as if they are a threat to our nation but they’re not due to the fact that they did not choose what sexuality they are. Also there is even a proposition that kept couples of the same sex from marriage in some states which was prop 8. In 2008 the proposition 8 was passed which restricted same sex couples to marry in 9 different states which is talked about in the article prop 8 hurt my family – ask me how:
Not only did not LGBTI people lose their right to marry, but they were verbally assaulted, had property vandalized and destroyed, received death threats, and several people reported being terminated from their jobs because they were gay and/ or due to their opposition to Prop 8 (Marriage Equality USA 71).
People are attacked and abused because of their sexual orientation and now that they have a prop that restrict same sex couples from being married it gives them more to be scared of.
People that are highly religious think that homosexuality is a choice and isn’t genetically determined or developed at an early age. “People who exist high levels of religious behavior are more likely to agree that homosexuality” Michaelson states. But homosexuality isn’t a choice, if it was a choice then homosexuals wouldn’t think that it something to be a shamed of because of what they think that others will think of them. Also an American lawyer Theodore B. Olson, his article “The Conservative Case For Gay Marriage: Why Same Sex Marriage is an American Value”, argues how same sex marriage is an important value to what Americans believe that equal rights are and how we’ve fought for equal rights in history such as women’s rights and the right for colored and whites to be treated equal. He states that people don’t choose to be homosexual just as people don’t chose to be heterosexual. “Science has taught us, even if history has not, that gays and lesbians do not choose to be homosexual any more than the rest of us choose to be heterosexual (Olson 79). Both Michaelson and Olson are right that people don’t choose their sexual orientation and they both make good points in both of their quotes that I represented.
Also being homosexual brings out the fear of being able to be themselves and be able to express their true personalities because they feel that they are being judged, not accepted for themselves and also not accepting of themselves because of what others told them. These issues lead to suicidal thoughts, “Gay persons face a steady battle against prejudicial views, discrimination, harassment, and even assault” ,is stated in The attitudes of black and white college students toward gay and lesbians that talks about how different college students of different races deal with homophobia. Michaelson also states in his scholarly journal is that the suicide rate among teen is high. Michaelson feels that if
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