Love Has No Gender

Hill 1
Gabrielle Hill
Mrs. Richardson
English 1301.02
01 June, 2009
Love Has No Gender For many years gays and lesbians have been discriminated and judged based on the fact that they are attracted to people of their own sex. This hatred for gays and lesbians is still very much alive today, many are murdered both young and old, some are denied jobs because of their sexual preference, well all are denied the one thing that many people have already for written in their life goals. What life goal am I talking about, marriage. Yes there are a few states in the US that permit gay marriage, but why shouldn’t gays and lesbians be permitted to married wherever they choose. I myself am arguing for same-sex marriages to be legalized, my primarily reason for arguing for same-sex marriage is that love has no gender.
If you observe closely in your history books you will notice that keeping gay marriage illegal also violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. According to the American Civil Liberties Union in 1996, “The law [against same-sex marriage] discriminates on the basis of sex because it makes one's ability to marry depend on one's gender.” The ACLU goes on to say, “Classifications which discriminate on the basis of gender must be substantially related to some important government purpose…tradition by itself is not an important government purpose. If it were, sex discrimination would be quite permissible; discrimination against
Hill 2 women has a history in tradition at least as long and time honored as that of discrimination against same-sex couples in marriage.” In fact, nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution is preservation of tradition cited as a power or intention of our government, which is all the more reason why our government should actively pursue legalizing same-sex marriage so that gay and lesbian couples are granted their equal rights as citizens and ensured their inalienable right to pursuit of happiness.
Of course there are still the many people that oppose same-sex marriage, there are those that believe that the concept of gays raising children can be unhealthy for the child or might ruin the child’s childhood. In fact though, “research shows that no differences in well-being and normative functioning have been found between children reared by heterosexuals and those raised by lesbian or gay parents.” Furthermore, common evidence shows that children of gay couples are healthy and normal they also grow up to lead heterosexual lifestyles. Another opposition against same-sex marriage that is mentioned is same sex couples cannot naturally produce children through their coming together. This is true, however William Eskridge Jr, author of The Case for Same-Sex Marriage, ask us to consider this, “If there is a necessary link between marriage and procreation, strange consequences would follow. A state could and, to be consistent, should prohibit marriage in which one or both partners are sterile or impotent. If procreation is the essential goal of marriage, why should postmenopausal
Hill 3 women be allowed to marry? Surely, discrimination against sterile, impotent, or aged couples would be unacceptable to citizens of many different perspectives. The rationale would be that marriage serves functions that are as important as, if not more important than, procreation, including interpersonal commitment, religious or moral expression, sexual satisfaction, and the legal entitlements associated with spouse hood. If elderly, sterile, or impotent couples cannot be denied the right to marry because of a traditional link between marriage and procreation, neither can lesbian or gay couples be denied the right for that type of reason."
In conclusion, the only way I see fit for us to achieve equality for these members of society is to continue to fight to create change. In many cases opinions are changed one person at a time. I believe that all people should be allowed the experience to be able to be with the one they love until death do they part.

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[ 2 ]. American Civil Liberties Union, 1996. [Gay Marriage, Greenhaven Press, California 1998, p14-15]
[ 3 ]. T. Richard Sullivan and Albert Baques, 1999. [“Familism and the Adoption Option for Gay and Lesbian Parents” in Queer Families, Common Agendas, Haworth Press, NY p80-82]
[ 4 ]. William Eskridge, Jr, author of The Case for Same-Sex Marriage, 1996. [The Free Press, New York p. 96]