by James Kellard

Created on: May 15, 2009   Last Updated: May 17, 2009

The issue of gay marriage hit the national stage during the 2004 elections as a divisive issue meant to drive religious conservatives to the polls. Five years later this issue has not gone away. While it is understandable that some may be uncomfortable with the idea of two people of the same sex getting married, the arguments against it are flimsy at best.

The most recent argument against allowing gays to marry is that we need to protect the institution of marriage. This argument is ridiculous for many reasons. While the main reason people in the US seem to get married is out of love, it is by no means the only reason.

There are people who marry for money, non-sexual companionship, even health insurance, so do those reasons threaten the institution of marriage? We also have to look at marriage historically. For many years a wife was considered the property of her husband. Most royal families would marry their children off for diplomatic reasons, even "lower class" families would marry their daughters off to wealthy and/or powerful families so that they may reap the benefits. Many countries still have arranged marriages. Call me crazy but it appears that marriage is not exactly as "sacred" an institution as some would like to think.

Of course what makes the "protecting the institution of marriage" argument so ridiculous is that the divorce rate in the US is now over 50 percent. If we really want to protect marriage shouldn't we outlaw divorce? Finally, it is extremely difficult to comprehend how a gay couple getting married will effect heterosexual marriages. Will homosexuals getting married be so stressful to heterosexuals that we will all have break downs and divorce our wives and husbands?

Another argument against same sex marriage is that we need to "protect" our children. Are we worried that letting gays get married will double the attendance of the conversion parties to turn all our children gay? If we are talking about the children of a gay couple whether through adoption (that is a whole other issue), artificial insemination, surrogate, or the old fashioned way; then would it not be more beneficial for the children to have a married couple as parents particularly for legal reasons?

Some may say that the "ideal" situation for children to be raised in is with a loving mother and father. While (in my opinion) this may be true, it is not reality. It would be great if everyone had a loving mother and father, but how many children are being raised

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