Position Paper-Gay Marriage

Marriage. When most people think of an ideal “marriage”, a man and a woman sharing vows and devoting their lives to each other is what is pictured. Well, this is only 100 percent true in most cases. Today’s society has accumulated different types of marriages: a marriage between a man and a woman, between a man and a man, or between a woman and a woman. Though each of these unions may not all be legal in each of the 50 states, couples still proceed with the ceremonies. I feel as though there should be no limits set on the title of marriage. There should be no rules forbidding homosexuals to be in love and want to take things a step further by marring their partner. While two people of the same sex proclaim their love to each other, people who oppose homosexual marriage feel the need to ostracize those who chose to love and pursue someone of the same gender on a level more than just a partnership.
In Webster’s Dictionary the definition for marriage reads: “the state of being united to another person as a usual contractual relationship according to law or custom; a wedding ceremony and attendant festivities; a close union.” With having read the definition, one can see that it says nothing about having to be a heterosexual couple to be married. However the Defense of Marriage Act, which was enacted in 1996, states otherwise. The DMA notes, “any state can refuse recognition to any same-sex marriage performed in any other state (…..).” It also defined "marriage" as exclusively the union of one man and one woman for all purposes under federal law. Clinton signed it almost sneakily because he had won considerable lesbian/gay support in 1992 and hoped to do so again in 1996, but he feared the political cost of not opposing same-sex marriages.
The government—they hold such a vital role in this controversial issue. The Constitution says that “full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts and records and judicial proceedings of every other