Gay Rights

Gay Rights

Gay rights cover a plethora of topics from same sex marriage, adoption, and gays and lesbians partaking in the military. Many believe that gay and lesbian marriage is untraditional and others disagree. Many think gay and lesbian adoption puts children at risk while others think that it is a chance of happiness and hope for a kid that doesn’t have a home or a family. Many think that gays and lesbian in the military is wrong and affects the bonds and effectiveness of our military while others believe someone's sexual preference shouldn’t matter and they should be aloud to a part of the military regardless.
“Marriage is traditionally viewed as the legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife” (At Issue: Same Sex Marriage). “ Until recently, homosexual couples could not legally marry in any state in the United States” (At Issue: Same Sex Marriage). In 2003, the supreme court in Massachusetts ruled that the state cannot deny homosexual couples marriage licenses and Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same sex marriage. Homosexual marriages started to occur everywhere after the law in Massachusetts in places such as New York and San Francisco. Following this outbreak of gay marriages, former President George W. Bush wanted Congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment banning same sex marriages but was unsuccessful. “Supporters of same sex marriage say gays and lesbians have a right to marry and receive the same marriage and legal benefits, such as medical coverage and pension rights, as heterosexual couples. Opponents of same sex marriage say marriage is between a man and a woman and view anything else as morally wrong. They argue that allowing homosexual couples to marry is unconstitutional and would destroy the sanctity of marriage”, however, nowhere in the Constitution does it state that same sex marriage is wrong or that marriage should be with a man and woman (At Issue: Same Sex Marriage). If that was the case, then same sex marriage would not be legal in certain states as it is today. I believe that making a new constitutional amendment, specifically for banning same sex marriage is absurd. If that amendment were to have been passed, it would have affected no one else, except for gays and lesbians other than the fact that it made people happy because they wanted to see others unhappy. Truthfully I feel, in no way shape or form that banning same sex marriage has any effect on anyone other than gays and lesbians. Sure, people think that it isn’t traditional for a woman and a woman and a man and a man to get married , however, it also isn’t traditional for a man and woman to get married on a beach in Hawaii and Aruba, but people still do it. The traditional way to get married is to get married in a church. People who get married on the beach or somewhere other than a church don’t have people trying to say they can't get or be married now. If everyone wants to be so traditional, and base same sex marriage off the bible then they should look more into marriage within the bible and make sure they are living exactly by what they bible states marriage to be. In Genesis 2:24, the bible states in simpler terms, that marriages should be arranged and not based on romantic love. I’d like to ask all the people who are so strongly opinionated on following the bible when it comes to marriage, if someone picked out their husband or wife for them that they are currently; married to now. Did they meet their husband or wife and fall in love and then get married? If they want to base marriage off of the bible, then there should also be a Constitutional amendment stating that marriages between “man and woman”, should be arranged and not by romantic love”. It seems as if everyone doesn’t want other people to be happy. If you are a person who values traditional marriage, then by all means, have a traditional marriage and family. But if you aren't someone who values traditional marriage, why should you be told otherwise that some other way is the right way to do it. Who says traditional marriage is the right way? The bible? Well not everyone believes in the Bible. There are plenty of people with other religions and beliefs as well as people with no religion at all. Why should they have to follow someone elses beliefs and opinions and value their religion? The question isn’t why can't someone have their own beliefs and values and love who they want to love. The question is, why do so many people care what others do with their lives. Why do so many people care who someone else loves?
Gay adoption is when lesbians or gays adopt a child or children. Some states have legalized same sex adoption while others prohibit it. Adoption laws in the United States vary. Florida is completely against same sex adoption and has “explicitly [banned] adoption by all homosexuals” (At Issue: Gay Adoption). In the State of Virginia, if the couple is homosexual, only one parent is allowed to have custody of the adopted child or children. Both of the parents cannot legally have custody of the child or children. Statistics show that 55 percent of Virginians want to legalize adoption for same sex couples. About 4,407 children are currently up for adoption in the state of Virginia, however, only 1, 300 of them are expected to be adopted within the next year. That leaves about 3,107 children to remain in foster care in 2014. I read an article titled, Does Adoption by Gay or Lesbian Couples put American Children at Risk. At the end of the article, were quotes from girls, boys, women, and men who were adopted from same sex parents and shared their experiences and opinions on how they felt about same sex marriage. A 39-year-old woman who has same sex parents states: "In my memories, I'm always looking for my mother and finding her with a woman doing things I don't understand....Sometimes they blame me for opening a door that wasn't even locked....[At about the age of 10], I noticed a door that I hadn't yet opened. Inside I saw a big bed. My mother sat up suddenly and stared at me. She was with B....and then B. shouted, 'You f---ing sneaking brat!' My mother never said a word. [Then came N.] I came to hate N. because of the way she and my mother fought every night. They screamed and bickered and whined and pouted over everything. N. closed my mother's hand in the car door....She and N. hadn't made love in seven years”(Cameron, Paul, and Ellen C. Perrin). All I have to say about this womans opinion on her same sex parents is those awful memories she has of finding her mother and her friend B in the bed together, and her mother’s friend shouting at her “you f---ing sneaking brat”, and not liking her moms friend N because they always fought, screamed, and bickered is not because her mother was a lesbian. It was because her mother was clearly not parenting this woman correctly when yelling curse words at her when her daughter found her with another woman in bed because she couldn't keep her relationship apart from her daughter. When you're a mom, you take on certain responsibilities and can’t always do what you want when you want to. Maybe the mother should have waited to have intimate time with her partner once the child had left the home for reason such as school or going to a friends house. The door being locked could have also easily prevented the child from seeing them in bed together. It also isn’t healthy, regardless if the parents are a mom and dad, dad and dad, or mom and mom, to fight in front of their children. All of the things this lady had to say to support her opinion of not liking same sex parenting has nothing to do with the topic of same sex parenting but everything to do with bad parenting. There is a huge difference and any heterosexual couple could have easily done the same thing with their children. Another incident was with a nineteen year old boy who stated why he didn't like same sex parenting. His reasoning was this, "When I was about 7, my mother told me that this woman, D., was going to stay with us for a while--and she never left! I didn't think anything much about it until I was about 10....It just became obvious because she and my mother were sleeping together. A few months after D. left, my mother started to see another woman, but that didn't last. Then she got involved with a different woman...;she'd be violent toward my mother....After that she started to go on marches and to women's groups....There were some women in these groups who objected to men altogether, and I couldn't cope with that”(Cameron, Paul, and Ellen C. Perrin).Here again is another incident where this boy is just being exposed to something he shouldn’t. He didn’t say he disliked the fact that his mother was with another female. He clearly, through the repetition in his quote of his mother being with multiple women, was disturbed by the fact that she was with so many women and he was being exposed to it. There are plenty of incidents where children who have a mom are exposed to them being with many different guys and vise versa who feel uncomfortable with the situation. It isn’t just because his mother was lesbian. He might be bothered by the fact that she is, but his reasoning in this article on why he is an American child put at risk because he lives in a home with lesbian parents, doesn’t support anything other that the fact that his mom should possibly keep her love life away from her child and not introduce him to many other women until she believes that she has found one she truly loves and wants to marry. Gays in the military is a very controversial topic that ‘“remains the focus of intense debate” today (At Issue: Gays in the Military). As of right now, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell” policy has been repealed by President Barack Obama which allows Gays and Lesbians to be open about their sexual orientation in the military. Proponents argue that barring gays from serving openly in the military is a discriminatory practice and that troops should be judged on ability, not sexual orientation. Opponents contend that the presence of openly homosexual soldiers in the military undermines the bonds of trust among soldiers and and can reduce the overall effectiveness of the military” (At Issue: Gays in the military). It seems to be more of an issue for the men in the military rather than the women. I personally can’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that someone wouldn't trust another for their life because of their sexual preference, however, I am not in the military and nor am I a man so I don’t understand that certain “bond and relationship” they form in the military amongst the men. I just feel like they go through the same amount of training as anyone else and practice as much as anyone else and I don’t feel like they would enroll in the military if it wasn’t for the right reasons. To enroll in the military one obviously has to have a passion for fighting for our country and has to be good at what they’re doing or else they wouldn’t be fighting in a War. So I don’t understand why anyone would have a problem or distrust someone who is just as good if not better than the straight men in the military, only because they are gay. It is all a personal preference when it comes to soldiers not wanting gays and lesbians in the military. It’s sad that if no one told them someone's sexual preference, they would trust that person but when finding out their sexual preference, if gay or lesbian, their trust for that person is broken and they no longer want them in the military. Gay rights covers a large amount of important topics that are very pertinent to the feelings of others. Many people feel strongly banning all rights and privileges to all same sex couples and keeping laws and rights that aren’t given to them yet to never be given to them. I stated my opinion on the issue and where I stand.