Equal Treatment

For this assignment I chose to critically assess two short essays about Equal treatment of homosexuals and how gay marriage is “unnatural”. I assessed these two essays by using concepts we learned this semester in critical thinking and ideas we discussed. I am part of the percentage of Americans that could not care less about gay marriage. I am personally not affected by it, and it really has nothing to do with me, so I am one hundred percent in favor of gay marriage. Since I have absolutely no reason to be against it and I believe you cannot help who you love and it is no one else’s business. I completely agree with the first essay about equal treatment. I think homosexuals are not treated equally and that the marriage laws should be changed in every state. On the contrary, I do not agree with the article about gay marriage being “unnatural”. I think some Christians are way too caught up in the way things used to be and they are not willing to accept the way things are now. I do not believe that gay marriage is unnatural and I think something needs to be done to change this view on homosexual couples.
The first article is about homosexual couples being treated unfairly and not getting the same rights as heterosexual couples. Although, I think in this article they are trying to scare you by telling you things about marriage and wills and prenuptial arrangements. These scare tactics can make people think that marriage is a bad thing, that it is just ran by the government or that people only get married to have the benefits. This concept completely loses the whole meaning of marriage and the tradition behind it. The articles premise are, there are a lot of benefits to getting married like privileged treatment under the law. On the contrary couples that are not married by law, no matter how long they have been together, do not have any rights, and do not get them because of their sexual orientation. Therefore the States are discriminating against homosexual people. They think it is not necessary to redefine the act of marriage and to make sure there are equal rights. They also believe that they are not discriminating because gay marriage is against the law. It does seem like they are trying to give marriage a bad reputation though, that marriage is controlled by the law a government run program. I think it is wrong that anyone and everyone no matter who they are or what they have done in life can get married to whom ever they please as long as it is to a person of the opposite sex. But homosexuals cannot get married to the loves of their lives? That doesn’t make sense to me.
I think gay marriage is a very touchy subject, and since I am young, I really do not know much about love or marriage, or even the laws about marriage. But since I am religious, I do believe in the traditional wedding that brings two people together under god. I believe when you get married to someone you are married to him or her for life, because if you are getting married it should mean you have found your soul mate. I know there are some people out there who never decide to get married, which is their own decision, but if those couples are of the opposite sex I do believe that they should not get the same benefits as married couples do of the opposite sex because they are choosing not to get married. I do not believe that it is discriminating by not giving them the same laws as married couples. On the other hand, I am for gay marriage. I do believe it is their choice and frankly it has nothing to do with me and gay marriage affects me in no way. I think you cannot help whom you love and who your soul mate is. Since I support gay marriage I do also believe that homosexual couples should have the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples. I do not think its fair that homosexual couples do not get to have the same benefits of being married and are being discriminated by the government because their State will not allow them to get married under the law.
The next article I read was, Gay Marriage is “unnatural”. This article was written by a Reverend that is a chairman of a California-based organization of some 32,000 churches. He starts this article off with a fact saying, “Opinion polls show that nearly eighty percent of Americans do not accept homosexual marriage.” He does not have a real source for this fact so it is hard to believe it is actually true. Since he does not have any credibility showing that this statement is true, it seems as though he lied with the first line of his article. His main premises for this article are that homosexuality is not generational and since homosexuals cannot reproduce they are putting an end to their generation. Also that homosexuality is a choice and you are not born with it. Therefore he concludes that homosexuality is unnatural. He also claims that churches cannot be forced to marry gay couples and that homosexuality is an oxymoron. He lacks any credibility in his article, he gives statistics and facts about gay marriage polls and what people think, but he gives no proof, which makes it really hard to believe what he is saying in true.
I do go to church and I am a religious person, so the only thing I can somewhat relate to in this article is when he talks about churches being forced to perform homosexual weddings. Individual churches that resist may be subjected to civil suits for sexual discrimination. Resistance may be used as a basis for denying them access to federal, state or local government programs. I think the church reflects the bible teachings. From my understanding, the church and bible do not support gay marriage. Religious dialog was written so long ago and I think that just because times are changing does not necessarily mean the bible should. Putting the bible teachings aside, I do believe that at all couples heterosexual or homosexuals should be allowed to get married, even if they have to do it in the courtroom. If a church does not want to allow gay couples to get married in it, I believe that is okay because of their religious believes. But I do not believe that gay marriage is unnatural. Like I said before, I believe that you cannot help whom you love and that everyone should be with his or her soul mate no matter what. Not everyone has to believe that gay marriage is right but everyone should at least respect other people and treat people the way you want to be treated. For a large percentage of us, gay marriage affects us in no way shape or form. I think the majority of people that are against gay marriage are either adults who were raised to think homosexuality is wrong, or very dedicated religious people. I think they are set in their way and are unwilling to change their views and opinions because they are stubborn and cannot except that times are changing and the world is not the way it use to be.
In conclusion, I do believe that both of these articles have different views on gay marriage but they both use some rhetorical devices to persuade people their way. There are some parts I agree with and some parts I don’t agree with. But over all I believe that gay marriage should be legal everywhere. I think the people who do not think it should be legal need to step-down off their high horse, think about how homosexual couples are being treated, and just learn to respect everyone no matter their choice of sexual partner. Like I have said before, gay marriage really does not affect me in anyway and the other ninety percent of the population (according to Reverend Louis P. Sheldon) that are not homosexual, are not effected either. I do not necessary think it is wrong to use rhetoric and persuasion to sway an audience in a certain way, but these articles definitely needed to be credible to their sources to make it more believable and truthful. Gay marriage will be a touchy subject for a long time, its just one of those things I do not think everyone will ever be able to come to an agreement on. I do think times have changed and gay marriage has definitely become more acceptable in today’s society. I hope to see one day that gay marriage is completely legal everywhere in the world and homosexuals are no longer discriminated against. Another indication that times are changing and our society is becoming more acceptable of gay marriage can be seen in many large corporations. The words diversity and inclusion are critical to the success of many large companies. In our world of social media and immediate access to data and information, discriminating against any class of people can be detrimental to any business. Many large US and multinational corporations clearly recognize gay marriage when it comes to company benefits and health care programs. In fact, many openly recognize, provide support for, and celebrate many of the subjects that were once taboo, including being gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender.