It seems as though there is a lot of fuss about homosexuality and the right of gays to get married in the news. But why?
Gay marriage is immoral.
What is it that is really immoral about gay marriage? Is it harming anyone? Forcing anyone to do anything against his or her will? Destroying the environment? None of these? So what is it that makes people say gay marriage is immoral?
It boils down to religious conservatism. In the Bible, God orders those who participate in homosexual behavior to be put to death. This has been the default view of homosexuality from the church. Some churches go so far to claim that homosexuality is caused by gay demonic possession and that it can be cured through prayer and fasting. Some clinics, like the one supported by Marcus Bachmann, support a form of therapy dubbed by the media as "praying the gay away."
Homosexuality is found in thousands of species of animals; homophobia is found in only one—us.
Gay marriage is not immoral; it simply goes against what God says in the Bible.
Gay marriage would ruin the holy institution of marriage.
Wrong. Marriage was never a holy institution; it was invented by the government/church back when the church and the government were one in the same. But that doesn’t make it holy. In the beginnings of Genesis, marriage was simply choosing a partner, consummating love with that partner, and then never consummating your love with a different partner.
And with the divorce rate hovering around 50% and the adultery rate for men and women not far from that, it seems like heterosexuals are ruining the holy institution of marriage before we even give gays the chance.
Gay families don’t work out.
Gay families have just as many problems as straight families do, but we’re not going to take the right to marry away from heterosexuals. Actually, children who grow up in gay households turn out to be fairly well-adapted and more accepting of others than some children raised in heterosexual households. Growing up a minority gives you insight into that lifestyle and allows you to empathize more with others.
Also, the “fact” that children raised in gay households are more likely to become gay themselves is a myth. In fact, an article on Medscape, a medical news site, titled "Children of Same-Sex Couples Do as Well as Other Children" (http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/514477) claims that children raised in gay households turn out virtually the same as children from heterosexual households--and may even have certain advantages over them.
Gay couples don’t really love each other.
Sure they do. Shakespeare loved men as much as—if not more than—he loved women. Read his sonnets. Love between two men was once thought to be more pure than love between a man and a woman. Think of it this way: Who is the girl or guy in high school everyone wants to date? It’s usually the popular ones. We’re attracted to people of class. It’s a subconscious drive that stems from evolution and survival of the fittest. We all want alpha males and females as mates. Well, way back when, women were seen as the weaker sex, so it makes sense that a man could be attracted to another man.
Some try to claim that gays choose to be gay. Who would voluntarily choose to be a harassed minority not granted the same rights as everyone else? That’s absurd. Almost as absurd as gay demons.
The real harm gay marriage poses to society.
There’s not. Unless acceptance, tolerance, openness, and thinking for one’s self are bad things.
Glen Miller - I am currently a junior studying writing and legal studies at the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana. I am due to graduate in ...
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