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Hundreds of countries are pushing to legalize same-sex marriage, and equality is slowly spreading throughout the world, but everyone knows that it will never fully be accepted. I’ve heard various reasons as to why same-sex marriage is presumably “wrong” and to this day, the hypocrisy is still apparent. From personal experience in high school, a lot of my male friends would talk about how they believed that being gay was “disgusting,” but being a lesbian was, “hot” and “sexy,” and to this day, I know lots of people still hold the same belief, which makes me disappointed with my generation.
Another reason that has been brought to my attention is how “religiously and immorally wrong” it is to be a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, but I see Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and Christians (etc) all around me that do “religiously and immorally wrong” things all the time, but put a blind eye to them because they believe that they will be “forgiven.” In my eyes, that is what is considered “immorally” wrong.
According to the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the United States Supreme Court has declared fourteen times, that marriage is a fundamental right for all, since 1888. Everyone in the United States has the basic right to marriage, no matter who it may be because that is one’s right as an American, and I feel that people don’t exercise that enough.
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We all use our freedom of speech and religion, and in Texas, the right to bear arms, but nobody acknowledges marriage as a right within itself.
We get the choice, as Americans, to choose whom we marry; why does their gender/sexuality matter too? Love within itself is already a hard concept for some to grasp; but what about having to deal with people judging you for who you’ve fallen in love with? Amnesty International states that “this non-discrimination principle has been interpreted by UN treaty bodies and numerous inter-governmental human rights bodies as prohibiting discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. Non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation has therefore become an internationally recognized principle.” Now that it has been legalized in all 50 states, it is clear that it is becoming more accepted into society by the younger generation, so why can’t it be more socially acceptable amongst all generations?
J. Matt Barber, Associate Dean for online programs at Liberty University School of Law, stated that “Every individual engaged in the homosexual lifestyle, who has adopted a homosexual identity, they know, intuitively, that what they’re doing is immoral, unnatural, and self-destructive, yet they thirst for the affirmation.” This belief stems from religion and the thought that gay marriage is, “inconsistent with nature and nature’s law,” according to Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee. Understandably, if your religion forces you to believe so, I feel that one should comply with all of what their religion deems acceptable. For example, I know that abstinence is a popular belief within the Christian community, but most practicing Christians (that I know, and have spoken to), do not stay abstinent because they don’t believe in abstaining from sex. Another example is one’s physical appearance. In multiple religions, they believe that altering one’s appearance is against God because he produced us as we are, and we can’t change what He created, such as, tattoos, piercings, dying one’s hair, wearing makeup, cutting your hair, etc. Pope John Paul II once signed a set of guidelines at stated, “There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family…Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law.” Statements like that disappoint me because this belief is still strongly held by the conservative community and if we have already established that marriage has been declared a fundamental right, how could one believe that it is immoral or unholy?
One thing that most people don’t think about when it comes to same-sex marriages is how they bring financial gain to federal, state, and local governments, and how they do, in fact, help boost the economy. The government collects money from the marriage licenses, higher income taxes (sometimes), and decreases in costs for state benefit programs, which contributes to our economy. Weddings, no matter between what gender, are always very expensive, and the companies all pay taxes to the government. In 2012, the Williams Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) found that in the first five years after Massachusetts legalized gay marriage in 2004, same-sex wedding expenditures (venue rentals, wedding cakes, etc) added $111 million to the state’s economy. The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2004 that federally recognized gay marriage would cut the budget deficit by about $450 million a year. Same-sex marriages have helped the economy enormously since its legalization, but since the inauguration of President Trump, companies are now allowed the right to refuse service to homosexuals if they do not feel comfortable with them within their establishments, and that’s genuinely sad to me. I know somebody personally who was at a restaurant with their significant other of the same gender and was asked to leave the establishment, and they had never felt so disrespected and heartbroken in their lives. Having to hear about something like that was difficult for me, honestly. It’s hard to hear about that happening to somebody that you care about, when all they were doing was trying to have a good time. How did they not have the same rights as any other American with heterosexual preferences? How did they not have the same rights as somebody that preferred someone of the opposite gender? That, in my opinion, is not what America is supposed to be about. People come here to feel liberated and have a sense of security, but how can people feel that whenever your sexuality determines where you stand on a social standard?
Something else that a lot of people don’t see is how many religious leaders and churches support gay marriage and believe that it stays consistent with holy scriptures. Lee Jefferson, Assistant Professor of Religion at Centre College, wrote that the Bible doesn’t make any mention of same-sex marriage/relationships, nor do they refer to sexuality. Reform Judaism, which makes up about 80% of the American Jewish population, endorses same-sex marriage, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis has supported gay marriage since 1996. Various religions believe that God promoted and endorsed love in its entirety, not as a singular aspect throughout the spirituality in the Bible. Openly gay former Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson stated, “Scripture says where love is, there is God also. And they [religious people] see that love in our families, and I think people can’t help but be supportive.” I personally don’t identify with a particular religion, but I do believe that no matter what “God” it is that we each believe in, each of these religions believe in peace and serenity within. Segregation is a long-gone belief (I would like to have thought) and if technology and medicine can evolve the way that they have over these recent years, why can’t society? Why do we have to be such a judgmental culture?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a strong believer in gay rights and equality, even though I do personally identify as heterosexual. I’m a very emotionally charged person, and I hate to see people being wronged, no matter what it may be for, but for our society to judge others based on who they are attracted to is ridiculous. If technology can come as far as it has, our country should be able to as well. It’s no secret that our president is against gay rights, based on his many comments regarding gays over the years, but we should be able to sympathize with one another and help each other come farther. There is so much bad in this world, and worrying about sexual orientation is such a minute thing in such a large pond of things that could be worse. We shouldn’t be fighting with one another about this anymore because love is love. All love matters, and I think that the world should start living by that.
Gay Marriage and Equality. (2021, Mar 18). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/gay-marriage-and-equality-essay
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