Gay marriage?

Question

My boyfriend is doing a report for college on why gay marriage is okay, we need some help on reasons.. please dont get offended, im not against gays or anything, just some reasons for a report, thanks so much

Answer 1

A primary reason is "equal protection under the law", a spouse has legal rights and privileges denied to those not joined in law. In the case of incapacitation, the spouse may speak for the patient over family members, after all, you can't pick your family, you do pick your spouse. In the event of death a spouse automatically retains custody of children, a spouse inherits all joint property, the list goes on. A gay couple has none of these protections. If one of a gay couple dies, the survivor has no rights, the family of the deceased can take custody of children, seize assets and property, anything, and the law is on their side, even if the couple had been together for decades. The only objection is that it violates Christian law, M/M marriage is forbidden because it involves M/M sex, which the Bible declares an abomination. W/W marriage is forbidden because, under Christian law a marriage is a transfer of property (the woman) from one owner (her father) to a new owner (her husband), and, being property herself, a woman cannot own property. The subject to address is whether, given the long established principle of separation of church and state, it is appropriate for Congress to make laws establishing and enforcing the Christian faith above all others.

Answer 2

Why isn't it ok? I'm all for it. 1. Their not harming anyone or anything. 2. I think they have a right as to be with the person they love just as much as a heterosexual couple. 3. I hear people are against letting gays adopt, but why? Just because your parents are gay doesn't you will be. And they''ll corrupt the child. Bull. What makes a good parent is not if they're straight or gay, it's the type of person they are. Are they loving and caring or neglectful and harsh? 4. It's unnatural. W/e. Who the hell died and gave you the right to say what's natural or not. What i think is unnatural is yo *** denying someone the right to be with the person they love when they did nothing wrong. 5. Stop bringing religious crap into it.(no offense to anyone or anything) Seperation of the State and Church remember?? Geez.

But really all personal opinions aside, what real solid reason for bush or whomever to decide people cant marry because they're simply the same sex? Other than some bull about being bad a bad influence on a child or just cause you think it's nasty. Really, cause i never heard a good reason for people not liking gays. Main one, they nasty. Wtf ...
B*itch i think yo face is nasty, does that mean i get to take your rights away? lol.

Answer 3

According to the US General Accounting Office Letter on the 1049 federal rights and responsibilities denied to same-gender couples.

To give readers a sense of the kinds of federal laws in which marital status is a factor, we classified the laws on the list into the following 13 categories4:

Social Security and Related Programs, Housing, and Food Stamps
Veterans' Benefits
Taxation
Federal Civilian and Military Service Benefits
Employment Benefits and Related Laws
Immigration, Naturalization, and Aliens
Indians
Trade, Commerce, and Intellectual Property
Financial Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Crimes and Family Violence
Loans, Guarantees, and Payments in Agriculture
Federal Natural Resources and Related Laws
Miscellaneous Laws

This does not include any of the 50 state laws.

You must have enough with this.

Answer 4

How about fairness? If I am with a partner for 20 years and she is placed in the hospital in the intensive care unit, I cannot go in and see her because I am not her family member. If we were a man and woman and had lived together for that long, we would be considered common law spouses. Therefore, we would be able to see each other. What makes the two couples any different? If 2 people are in love with one another, are of legal age and are self-supporting why should it matter what type of sex the two of them have in the privacy of their own room? If a couple made it open to the world that they were "swingers" and that the man loved watching his wife with another man or woman...would that be reasons to tell them they could not be married? No one would stop them, but If I want to commit to 1 person for the rest of my life I can't because that person happens to be the same sex as me. It is not fair, it is not right. I want the government out of my bedroom. I want the right to marry my partner so that I can share the same rights that all married , committed couples share. Those, my dear, are some good reasons.

Answer 5

For one thing, married couples have rights that unmarried couples don't have. For example, I am covered by my husband's insurance (paid for by his employer). Since he is employed by a university, as his spouse I get a discount on classes. Well, they actually discontinued that recently, but it used to be a spousal benefit. We file taxes jointly. If one of us is hurt, the other can get into the ICU for visitation and make legal decisions for the other. These are all rights that are denied to people who are not married, regardless of how long they've been together.

The one argument I keep hearing against gay marriage is that gays can't have kids. Know what? Neither can my husband and I. I had a tubal ligation several years ago. My mother-in-law recently remarried, and she's post-menopausal and can't have children. Her mother, widowed for 15 years, is dating a man and talking about getting married. She's 85 years old and can't have kids. My sister's ex just got remarried and he's had a vasectomy and can't have kids. Plenty of heterosexual couples can't have children, or may simply decide not to have children, yet they're allowed to marry. So why shouldn't people of the same sex have the same right?

Answer 6

Lots of good answers here on civil rights. I think that is most likely the best way to go. You could also check out scientific studies by Dean Hamer (Genetic basis for homosexual orientation) and Alfred Kinsey's research into human sexuality. Both of these would support your boyfriend's thesis - there is also research that suggests low levels of testosterone delivered to the male fetus via the mother could feminize the brain. I can't remember the person's name who conducted this research, sorry. All these basically point to the fact that sexual orientation is predetermined in the womb. If a gay or lesbian person is living in a mutually loving, consensual relationship, then who is to determine who can get married. Plenty of heterosexual persons marry for reasons other than love (power, money, etc.), and these marriages tear at the foundation of marriage more than anything else (just my opinion there).

If your boyfriend thinks that the religious community (primarily Christians) would object, he need not worry. There are 2 references in the O.T. that prohibit homosexuality. However, in the same book (and in surrounding passages) similar prohibitions are levied against wearing clothing made of different kinds of fabric, sowing 2 kinds of seed in one field, having intercourse with your wife while she is menstruating, and the same law advocates stoning unruly children. Consistency is the issue here. Picking and choosing what is relevant out of the Levitical code is arbitrary and intellectually dishonest.

In the N.T., similar prohibitions are found in Romans, I Corinthians, and I Timothy. The problem here is that no one is sure what the words mean that have tradtionally been translated as 'homosexual.' The first word, 'arsenokoitai' is most likely a compound word that relates to some form of male sexual immorality. It could refer to pedophiles, male rapists, male temple prosititutes, etc. To render the term simply as homosexual is sloppy and irresponsible translation work.

The second term, 'malakoi,' certainly does not mean homosexual. It refers to effeminate men. At this juncture, perhaps one could postulate that this means 'gay.' At the same time, to adopt this stance would mean that this same person would have to understand 'effeminacy' as first century Christians understood it. A man would be considered effeminate back then if he cried in public (not including when he is mourning), speaking to women in public, doing housework, etc. To discriminate against gay and lesbian persons as it relates to marriage on religious ground is cruel and is the result of either their own prejudice or their own ignorance of the biblical text.

On that subject, you may want to check out books by Walter Wink, John Shelby Spong and Victor Furnish. There are others, but this would be a good place to start. If your boyfriend knows Greek, or knows of someone who could help him there, it would also be helpful to check out a "Theological Word Book of the New Testament" in order to do further research on those words.

Just one more things as an aside. It may also be helpful to determine what a 'traditional' marriage is. It is interesting to me that many conservatives will point to N.T. marriage as what is normative. However, since our nation is not a theocracy, we shouldn't privilege any one religious tradition. Marriage, in the beginning was a property rite. Men gave up wealth or property in exchange for a wife, who then became his property. Many times, it was traditional for the new couple to move in with the groom's parents. I'm not sure many on the conservative side of the issue would adopt this stance. This may also be another area to investigate.

Good luck! He is taking a brave but admirable stance, I wish both of you well.

Answer 7

I did an arguement paper in my college comp class about gay marriages....i'm totally for them and i got a B+.....in my book that was an A+ because in high school basic english i was an F student

Answer 8

The fight for Gays to have the right to marry is no different than the civil rights movement of the 50's and 60's. Just as African-Americans deserve the same rights as whites because we are all human, the same applies to homosexuals. Color, Race, Religion or sexual preference should NEVER matter, period! Just as the U.S Constitution says nothing about color, it also says nothing about sexuality. ALL people deserve the same rights.

Answer 9

What gives anyone the right to legislate marriage? If more people minded their own business we'd be in a whole lot less trouble as a sosciety. My personal view is that any consentual act is fine with me.

Answer 10

Because just because ppl are gay doesn't mean that shouldn't be given the oppturnity to share there love with each other . Everyone should have equal rights.