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Created on: December 04, 2007 Last Updated: January 19, 2009
Gay marriage is a term that is used to describe a relationship between two men or two women who wish to be joined together and share each others' lives. The rights and liberties gained from the term marriage in the eyes of the government are very lucrative and beneficial to those who have them and want to gain them. Marriage is a religious term used to describe the relationship between a man and a woman in most denominations. The key is that it is a religious term, there for because of separation of church and state this term should not be allowed no matter who is getting married. A simple solution for the government is to call any and all unions between man and man, woman and woman, or woman and man a civil union. This allows for equal rights and benefits to be shared between all parties. The government needs to get out of the spotlight on gays and lesbians because it is not their place to regulate what goes on in the bedroom at night.
Many of those who oppose homosexual marriages argue against the term marriage because of its religious implications. This argument realizes on biblical stories and lines that discuss that a man and a woman should be together. Further more because a homosexual marriage violates the teachings in the Bible the government should outlaw this practice. This argument is fine but fails to recognize that not everyone is a Christian. The government, because of the establishment clause can not ban homosexual marriages on the grounds of the Bible. Marriage has been a term in the church used to describe a relation between a man and a woman for thousands of years and it was just assumed homosexual couples would not exist or would be very minimal.
Another common argument against gay marriage is that marriage has been defined as being between and man and a woman and that is the tradition and if homosexual individuals are allowed to marry this will lead to polygamy being legalized as well (Kurtz). This argument has no ground to stand on. Slavery was a tradition for thousands of years before people united and realized that everyone is equal. It is likewise time to realize that homosexual couples are equal to heterosexual couples and deserve to be recognized the same way in the eyes of the law.
Furthermore critics argue that children who are brought up in homosexual homes will be more likely to pursue the homosexual path when they grow up. Also, these children will be confused about the idea of marriage and members of the opposite sex given they
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