Anaiyah Brewer

Prof. Kays
Honors English 102
December 1, 2016

Should Gay Marriage Be Legal?

Friendships, relationships, and marriages have been the backbone of civilization since the
beginning of time. Friendships between a male and a female, two males, or even two females are
acceptable. Yet, the notion of marriage between two women or two men is simply unacceptable.
The homosexual community deserves to enjoy the same rights and privileges that their
counterparts, the heterosexual community, indulge in. Gay marriage should be legalized because
it promotes equality and prosperity, is supported by the separation of church and state, and is an
example of love that cannot be chosen or quickly laid to rest. All in all, gay marriage should be
legal.
There have been sexual relationships between people of the same gender since the
beginning of time; some were out in the open, while others flew under the radar. Unions
between people of the same-sex have existed for thousands of years in more than 30 African
cultures, such as Kikuyu and Nuer. Chinese women in Fujian would also bind themselves to
other women in elaborate celebrations. In ancient Athens male homosexual behavior was
expected; and even today, homosexual male rituals take place often in many New Guinean
cultures.

The United States has always had a more puritan approach to marriage. The first gay
couple to apply for a marriage license in the U.S. was Jack Baker and Michael McConnell on
May 18, 1970 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their union was frowned upon and they were turned
down. Later on, more precautions were taken to prevent gay marriage. In 1973, the state of
Maryland chose to ban same-sex marriage by stating in its Family Law Code, Only a marriage
between a man and a woman is valid in this State. In September 1996, President Clinton signed
the Defense of Marriage Act into law, which also defined marriage as only a legal union
between one man and one woman as husband and wife. It wasnt until 2004 that gay couples
would be allowed to marry in the United States. In San Francisco, California, Del Martin and
Phyllis Lyon were the first gay couple to get married when the mayor, Gavin Newsom, allowed
City Hall to grant same-sex marriage licenses. Before this historic event, San Francisco was also
home to famous gay rights movements in the 1970s that featured the late Harvey Milk, a
politician and Gilbert Baker, the originator of the gay pride flag. However, Helene Faasen and
Anne-Maria Thus celebrated their union three years before on April 1, 2001 in the Netherlands,
making them the first couple to have a legal same-sex marriage ceremony in the world. The
Netherlands is one of 21 countries to legalize gay marriage nationwide. It wasnt until 2015 that
the United States legalized gay marriage under President Barack Obama. Yet, there are still 175
countries that either banned or refused to acknowledge same-sex marriage. Many nations
persecute gay people through imprisonment or death. However, beyond the laws and politicians
that hinder this journey, there are many religions, which do not support gay may marriage or any
type of union between those of the same sex. One example is Catholicism and the Vaticans
presence in Rome. Many say this reality is the reason why Italy is the only major western

European country that has failed to legalize gay marriage, in fact, Pope Francis has issued a
reminder of the Catholic Churchs opposition to gay marriage.
Although politics and religion continue to serve as obstacles to the legalization of gay
marriage, there have been many changing attitudes towards gay marriages and unions. As of
2015, 55% of the people polled favored gay marriage compared to 35% back in 2001 and 39%
oppose gay marriage today while 57% opposed gay marriage in 2001. Although the opposition
percentage is still high, attitudes towards gay marriage still increased by 20% over the past 14
years. It is also important to note that the younger generations tend to express higher-levels of
support for same-sex marriage. In 2003, 51% of Millennials, those born in 1981 or later,
supported gay marriage and by 2015 their numbers jumped to 70%. Although the older
generation is known to have less support towards same sex-marriage, their attitude towards it has
slowly changed. In 2001, 32% of Baby Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964,
supported gay marriage and by 2015 their numbers increased to 45%. Attitudes towards gay
marriage can be defined through many different margins. For instance, in 2015, those who are
unaffiliated with religion support gay marriage more than White Evangelical Protestants,
Democrats supported it more than Republicans, and women supported it more than men. Politics,
religion, and even the differing opinions among people contribute towards the rights of
homosexuals, particularly regarding same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, everyone should be given
the opportunity to marry whoever they want; therefore, gay marriage should be legalized.
One reason gay marriage should be legal is because it promotes equality and prosperity.
Back in the 1950s interracial marriage was illegal, yet in todays society we look back on that
time period and understand the ban on interracial marriage to be an unjust law that denied equal
rights to couples who loved each other. However, times have not changed that much; in this day

and age, gay marriage is frowned upon just as interracial marriage was frowned upon in the
1950s. The only difference is that there are still many people out there who need to realize that
denying marriage to two individuals who love each other is to deny them a fundamental
freedom. That being said, the freedom to marry is strongly supported by the 14th Amendment of
the Constitution. It reads, No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person
of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights also supports gay marriage by stating, Men and women of full age [have] the right to
marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and
at its dissolution. However, banning gay marriage means thousands of people are having their
constitutionally-derived rights impeded upon and they are forced to live with a stigma of being
second class citizens. Without the legalization of same sex marriages, all gay couples fail to be
recognized when filing federal taxes and receiving health insurance and retirement benefits
when married to a federal employee and getting spousal benefits when married to a member of
the armed forces.
Murray Lipp, a social justice activist, believes that the legalization of gay marriage sends
a message to millions of people across the country that gay and lesbian couples are just as
important and of equal value to straight couples. By allowing the freedom to marry, equality is
promoted and in turn, prosperity is apparent. In Boston, the ability for gay and lesbian couples to
marry freely has positively influenced the citys economy. Better yet, According to a study by
the Williams Institute at UCLA, the freedom to marry has encouraged same-sex couples to move
to the city, in particular young, highly educated individuals - members of what has been called

the "creative class" - who are vital to economic development in a post-industrial economy. So,
if the option to participate in gay marriage were to be taken away, then equality among all people
would be nonexistent and the consequence of that could prove to be detrimental to the growth
and prosperity of the country as a whole.
Another reason gay marriage should also be legalized is because it is supported by the
separation of church and state. The underlying theme of the First Amendments Establishment
Clause was to protect religious freedom; this is what Thomas Jefferson meant when he
concluded that the clause erected a wall of separation between church and state. There are
many reasons people do not support gay marriage, yet, it can be concluded that the religious
views of people have a strong stake in the disapproval of this type of union. Simply put, some
people have the religious interpretation that homosexuals are sinners. For instance, back in
2013, religious conservatives accused Ohios Republican Senator Rob Portman, of turning his
back on Christianity when he announced that he supported gay marriage. In addition, the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops stated, We believe the natural institution of marriage has been
blessed and elevated by Christ Jesus to the dignity of a sacrament. However, the Establishment
Clause of the First Amendment debunks those kinds of religiously based rationales regarding
same-sex marriage. After the case of Lemon v. Kurtzman in 1971 the Supreme Court has often
relied on the Lemon test to determine if a state action or even a law violates the Establishment
Clause. This test requires laws and actions to have a primary secular purpose, a primary secular
effect, [and] not unduly entangle church and state. There is no secular purpose of same-sex
marriage and therefore no secular effect, but gay marriage does tend to get a response that
entangles church and state. From President Clinton to Pope Francis, marriage has been defined as
a bond between a man and a woman not between two men or two women. That being said, the

ban of same-sex marriage presents the entanglement of government decisions and religious
beliefs. As Alex King says, We live a secular society that maintains secular views. The Ten
Commandments do not define our legal system. Legalizing gay marriage will have no negative
impact on religion and/ or the religious view of others, just as religion should not have any
impact on the issue of gay marriage. Simply put, religion cannot be the basis of law because by
doing so, the separation of church and state is violated.
The legalization of gay marriage also supports the love-is-love argument. Any
commitment between two people should be legitimate regardless of the gender of the people
involved. Contrary to popular belief, many members of the homosexual community truly love
and cherish their counterparts just as much as straight couples love each other. In regard to
homosexuals, Justice Anthony Kennedy has stated, It would misunderstand these men and
women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it
so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned
to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilizations oldest institutions. They ask for equal
dignity in the eyes of the law. The fact of the matter is that people cannot choose who they love
because love is not a rational thing and sometimes people surprise themselves with who they fall
in love with. Better yet, science supports this notion as well. In 1957, Karen Hooker studied the
relationship between homosexuality and psychological development and illness. She studied
both homosexuals and heterosexuals of the same age, intelligence, and education level and
through the use of three psychological tests, Hooker found that there were no major differences
between the two groups and she was able to conclude that sexuality is not based on
environmental factors. Later on in the 1990s professors, Richard Pillard and J. Michael Bailey,
conducted tests that found that homosexuality is largely biologically determined, not

environmentally influenced. There have even been studies that prove that some features are
more prominent in gay men and women and that these biological features can be discovered
before birth. For instance, Gay women and gay men are more likely to be left-handed or
ambidextrous than straight women and straight men, according to a number of different studies.
Some researchers have suggested that this difference in handedness can be observed in fetuses.
So how can gay marriage be banned if an individual is biologically homosexual and simply
incapable of loving someone of the opposite sex? It would be unfair and unjust to take away
someones right to marry who they love because being truly in love with another person is
already rare enough, so why try to diminish other peoples love for their significant others just
because of their sexual orientation.
On the other hand, same-sex marriage between two people of the same gender would
leave the children of that family without a mother and a father. In fact, The cooperative input
and influence of a male parent and a female parent is essential for proper child development.
Mark Regnerus, a sociology professor at University of Texas-Austin, conducted a study using
3,000 young American adults, some raised by a mother and a father, some by lesbian mothers,
and some by gay fathers. He found that children appear most apt to succeed well as adults when
they spend their entire childhood with their married mother and father. However, just the
opposite has been discovered. Children raised by homosexual parents are just as capable as
children raised by heterosexual parents. The National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study began
in 1986 and followed 154 lesbian mothers and has since then grown to include 78 of their
adolescent children. The lesbian mothers reported that their children had high levels of social and
academic competence with fewer problems compared to other adolescents that were their childs
age. Yet, the mothers were not the only ones to attest to this notion, in a testimony an adolescent

remarked, The self-reported quality of life of the adolescents in this sample was similar to that
reported by a comparable sample of adolescents with heterosexual parents. There was also a
study conducted by a Stanford University sociologist, Michael Rosenfeld, who compared the
school progress of children raised in same-sex, heterosexual, and single parent families.
Rosenfeld reported, children raised by same-sex couples have no fundamental deficits in
making normal progress through school. So, although it may be untraditional, kids raised by
homosexual parents function just as well kids raised in any other type of household.
It has also been argued that gay marriage is unnatural. One major example of this notion
is the belief that animals only mate with animals of the opposite sex. Therefore, if an animal
knows to mate only with the opposite sex, then humans should follow suite. Recently in the
press, the boxer and politician, Manny Pacquiao, remarked, Its common sense. Will you see any
animals where male is to male and female is to female? The animals are better. They know how
to distinguish male from female. If we approve [of] male-on-male, female-on-female, then man
is worse than animals. However, homosexual behavior has actually been documented in over
450 animal species worldwide. Additionally, Male giraffes have also been observed engaging in
homosexual behavior by rubbing their necks against each others bodies while ignoring the
female. Biologists of the University of California-Riverside, Nathan W. Bailey and Marlene
Zuk, have found that same-sex behavior among animals demonstrate benefits to what seems to
be an evolutionary paradox. For instance, when two female Laysan albatross participate in
sexual behavior their fitness is increased. So, same-sex behavior among animals is not only
common but it is also beneficial. Therefore, if animals participate in homosexual acts then
humans should be given the chance to as well through the legalization of gay marriage.

The legalization of gay marriage would promote equality and prosperity, support the
separation of church and state, and lastly, back the simplicity of the love is love argument.
Although politics, religion, and even the popular opinions of individuals blocking the
legalization of gay marriage, it is still possible. Everyone has the right to marry who they want,
so both heterosexuals and homosexuals alike should have the freedom to marry and love who
they please without scrutiny. The personal desires of any human being should not be controlled
by religion, politics, or opinion, therefore gay marriage should be legalized.

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