Argumentative essay: Gay marriage

The American dream, one of freedom and equality, is held highly in the hearts of every citizen in the United States. With the "American" dream in mind, most will say they support equal rights for homosexuals. But if you ask these members of society if they are for gay marriage then the support of gay equality comes to a stop and majority of Americans vote for the Constitutional Amendment, which bans gay marriage. Americans do believe in providing equal rights to the gay community, which include no toleration of discrimination in jobs, rights protecting gays from indecent actions, rights allowing same access to housing, rights allowing advancement in government, and so on and so forth. However, the concept of gay marriage is still not considered an "equal right” to American people. A huge misconception is the idea that gays have a choice to whom they can feel attracted to. Just as heterosexuals cannot" choose" who they are drawn to, neither can homosexuals. Opposition movements promote that homosexuality is preventable. They believe living as a homosexual is not as easy as it is portrayed in media. How can a member of the straight community say that homosexuality can be changed, or even if homosexuals can be happy or not. What about the research that has been proven that homosexuality is genetic? No one would ever choose a life that is faced with prejudice and discrimination. Even if its ethnicity, religious beliefs or homosexuality.
The same assumption of choice leads to the accusation that homosexuality is all about sex, which is called sexual perversion. Again, the truth is that homosexuality is multi-faceted. Homosexuality is more about the love and affection than it is sex. Sex, in a committed relationship is about expressing love. This is true whether it may be in a heterosexual or homosexual relationship. Being gay defines who that person is and makes up his or her identity. Very few straights can comprehend this. Instead, heterosexuals use their beliefs support for what "normal" should mean.
The most repeated cases’ opposing gay marriages is the idea that it is immoral, but the "immoral" label is only based on religious perceptions. The First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Religion is not, supposed to be the basis for our country's laws according to the first amendment. Nevertheless, most of the individuals against gay marriage try to stress their religious beliefs onto others and make those beliefs into laws. Not everyone is religiously inclined to the same morals and beliefs. The gay community is simply fighting to be free from religion in determining the laws of the country. The opposition believes marriage should be between man and a woman; otherwise, the marriage would be untraditional. The anti-gay community also believes same-sex marriages would threaten the basis of marriage. I strongly disagree with this argument because no evidence can support this allegation. How does giving a person the right to marry threaten marriage? Why is the right to get married only given to the heterosexual society? Courts recently say there is no reason why gays should not be allowed to marry realizing the American principles of human rights. The reasoning behind such laws and beliefs seems more like direct prejudice rather than an overwhelming reason worthy of denying people their civil rights.
All in all, much of what the straight community believes to be true about gays is based only on stereotypes. There are those who assume gays are promiscuous and are unable to form long lasting relationships. I believe these stereotypes are extremely inaccurate. Even though unstable and sex-based relationships exist in both the gay and the straight communities, they are usually among the younger generation and only represent a small percentage.
Gay marriage is defined as a legal union between members of the same sex. Ten percent of Americans, the size of the gay community, are denied the right to marry. The individuals representing this group want what every heterosexual has, the right to legally marry their life partner. As a country we need to move away from false reasoning, whether it may be based on ignorance or prejudice. Every person needs to be allowed the civil right to wed his or her life partner. Our society must live up to the quota of the American dream. The Pledge of Allegiance states "liberty and justice for all" and so should every citizen in our country.