Gay marriage is a topic that has been widely discussed in the recent years. It has been considered taboo for centuries but is rapidly gaining acceptance among the people. There are currently 37 states that have legalized the marriage of gay couples, which is an astonishing feat in just a few years, but the fight is going up the ladder and being debated at a federal level. Should the government legalize gay marriage for the entire country? Many would say yes, but other may disagree. Let’s look at all of the pros and cons of legalizing gay marriage in America.
5 Pros of Same Sex Married
1. Benefits of Marriage
Married couples are offered quite a few benefits from the government, which is a large reason many people decide to take the plunge into matrimony. Some of these include tax breaks, insurance benefits, and power of attorney for their partner. If gay marriage was legalized, these same benefits would be given to them.
2. Children’s Rights
Many LGBT couples make the decision to adopt children, or have them by other means, at some point in their relationship. These children, if parented by an unmarried couple, are not protected in the same way as children of married couples. Custody, child support, and visitation rights are all very foggy when it comes to gay couples, unless of course they are given the privilege of being married.
3. Celebration of Love
Marriage is a celebration of two people being in love and committing to each other. Gay couples that do not have this right feel as though their relationship is not as important and doesn’t deserve to be celebrated. Making gay marriage legal will change this and allow them to publicly celebrate their love for each other.
4. Religiously Fueled
The debate over gay marriage is a largely religious one. The Christian faith dictates that a man on man, or woman on woman, relationship is wrong in the eyes of God, and that allowing them to marriage is making a further “joke” of the system of marriage. America, however, was created on the premise of religious freedoms, so this argument should have no sway in the decision of laws permitting gay marriage.
5. Makes Them Feel Lesser
Denying same sex partners the right to get married stigmatizes lesbian and gay families as lesser and conveys the meaning which it is okay to discriminate or classify against them.
4 Cons of Same Sex Marriage
1. Increased Taxes
In order to compensate for this new demographic of people taking advantage of the tax benefits that marriage offers, income taxes would very likely increase. This bothers many people because they feel that they should not have to pay for what they believe is wrong.
2. Social Security Increase
Using the same concept as above, social security taxes that are withheld from pay checks would also increase. This is because of the additional money that would be needed in order to provide benefits to widowers of same sex marriages.
3. Priority Adoptions
If gay marriage becomes legal at a federal level, then these couples would have priority in adoption situations because of their obvious inability to procreate. This may cause quite a bit of animosity between gay couples and heterosexual couples who are also trying to adopt a child.
4. Infringes on Rights Of Churches
A federal law legalizing gay marriage would also, subsequently, force churches across the nation to perform these ceremonies. This goes against the churches beliefs, but they would be obligated to because of discrimination laws protecting the gay couples.
What Do You Think?
The subject of gay marriage is a sensitive, and very heated, one. People have differing viewpoints that most likely will not change under any circumstance. That being said, marriage is a beautiful celebration of love that everyone should have the pleasure of celebrating.
