Gay Marriage Essay

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The very words our country was founded on are constantly being contradicted by American citizens as well as our own leaders. Were African Americans given the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness? No, we needed a war that stained our nation’s history just to grant them citizenship. Were women given the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? No, we needed an entire amendment in order to be treated as equally as men. Are homosexuals given the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? No, and nothing has been done about it. Nothing. Let’s start with the argument that homosexuality is a sin according to the Bible. What ever happened to separation of church and state? Can one of our principal ideas be thrown out the window just because people don’t want to face the fact that the world is changing? The leaders of our country should know by now how to separate their private opinion from laws that can affect millions of people. The Bible should never come into play when making a decision on whether to pass a bill or not. If it is, then we need to wake Thomas Jefferson up so he can come clean this place up. Yes, the Bible exemplifies marriage as a union between a man and a woman, but the Bible was written thousands of years ago, this is the future, and things are different. And since when did the Bible come to overrule the Constitution when it comes to Law? Everyone in Washington is constantly having the debate over the “definition of marriage”. Do we really need a definition? The only word that should come to mind when talking about marriage is love. If two people love each other why can’t they get married? It boggles my mind that the government has the power to tell two people who love each other that they can’t get married. Different sex or same sex-it shouldn’t matter. Just because something is different from what most people are used to, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Now even if gay marriage miraculously became legal, what would be the deal with having children. People are constantly saying that a child should be raised by a mother and a father because two of the same parent “isn’t right”. According to what? It doesn’t matter the sex of a child’s parents, the only thing that should ever matter is if they are loving parents. There are mothers and fathers out there that physically, emotionally, and sexually abuse their own children-now we’re talking about something that “isn’t right”. These abusive parents are allowed to have children while possible loving parents aren’t because they are homosexual? Sexuality is not the problem with parenting, cruel personalities are. People reject the idea of same sex parents because it is so different from what we are used to. But again, does being different make it wrong? There are over thirty countries that already recognize and have legalized same sex marriage or registered partnerships. Why are we so far behind? Unfortunately, our Constitution creates a very long, slow process when it comes to making new laws. But that is not the only problem. Legislators are facing the problem of making same-sex marriage a federal issue, or a state issue. This is not a states-issue though; this is something that affects people living in every single state across the country. Although it may be more difficult to get same-sex marriage passed as a federal law, I believe it is truly the only way to bring justice to everyone. If this is passed over to the states, only a small percentage of people will gain equality. Sure, a handful of Democratic states will legalize it, but what about the millions of other gays and lesbians living in states where they are simply outnumbered? If they want to get married they have to stop their lives and move to a different part of the country? That is by no means what anyone would call “equality”. Two people should have the right to get married wherever and whenever they want to, not just where they are “permitted”. In my opinion the government should have no say over this at all. If two people agree that they want to get married, why does the government have the power to tell them that they can’t? That seems a bit tyrannical if you ask me. The argument over same sex marriage is in essence- a war. This war comes from the same hate that has caused every single war on Earth. Someone is different, and others see that as a problem. Artist Macklemore wrote a song called “Same Love” and in it he says:
“It’s the same hate that’s caused wars from religion,
Gender to skin color, the complexion of your pigment,
The same fight that led people to walk outs and sit ins,
It’s human rights for everybody, there is no difference!”
And later in the song he says:
“A certificate on paper isn’t gonna solve it all,
But it’s a damn good place to start.
No law is gonna change us,
We have to change us,
Whatever God you believe in,
We come from the same one,
Strip away the fear,
Underneath it’s all the same love,
About time that we raised up”. There is no “cure” for homosexuality. People seem to forget that we all come from the same God, and he just designs everyone differently. There is nothing wrong with that, he still “Loves all his children”. Homosexuals should not be treated any differently. They should not be unfairly judged. They should be equal to every single one of us. It is time to realize that things are changing. The entire world has progressed on the concept of change. Change is how we begin to improve society. 50% of Americans are in favor of legalizing gay marriage and those numbers will only rise as later generations come into power. It is time to give everyone their rights and finally fulfill Thomas Jefferson‘s phrase: “all men are created equal”.