Should Gay Marriage Be Legalized?

Should gay marriage be allowed in the United States? (Decision time (maybe), 2012) recently published a piece of news that on November 6th, there was an unexpected parade in Los Angeles, fighting for the right of gays to marry. The marchers’ banners all said such words like “marriage equality” and “we all deserve the freedom to marry”, which victoriously drew attention of the media and the public. In fact, such kind of demonstration is not infrequent in America now. Even since last century, there were homosexuals fighting for their right of marriage by parade. Whether homosexual marriage should be allowed has become a hot and controversial issue indeed. In my perspective, the same-sex marriage should be legalized in the United States. In the essay, I will discuss the reasons in terms of the civil right, benefits for the society and the respect for love.
Firstly, every citizen has the right to marry. The federal civil right laws of the United States have long legalized the marriage as a fundamental civil right. Moreover, it is stated in the first Amendment of the Constitution that a person’s religious beliefs or a lack of thereof must be protested. Judging from these two statements, legislatures should not discriminate against marriage of minority party which, homosexuals fall into this category. In addition, though the marriage of the same gender is not identified explicitly by the Unites States Government Accountability Office (GAO), there are now ten states in America that positively permit the legality of homosexual marriage. Despite that more and more people become conscious of this basic civil right, some protesters still hold Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 (DOMA) which defined marriage to be between a man and a woman for the continuation of society as their weapon. But actually, this law is now of great consideration by Mr. Obama and he has showed his orientation to repeal this out-of-date law. As a result, such a disappearing law cannot be regarded as a convincing argument indeed.
Secondly, legalizing the same-sex marriage is beneficial for the society in terms of economy and stability. In a recent piece of CNN news (Ellis, B., 2012), gay marriage has boosted NCY’s economy by $259 million in 2012, which was actually the biggest boost. Besides the tax income from thousands of splendid weddings, it also brings tremendous tourists from all over the world which largely improves the tourism. As for social stability, according to a research done by Zhang Yeliang (2012), an expert in the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Science, the arguments about the legality of homosexual marriage has become a significant factor of social unrest. In 2003, the judgment about Lawrence v. Texas from the Supreme Court admitted his homosexual marriage, which dramatically provoked intense conflicts between advocates and conservatives. Since then, the battles of this issue have become even fiercely. The Federal Government’s ambiguous attitude, some states’ explicit approval and other states’ neutral position, all these factors exacerbate confrontations in America and strongly threaten the country’s peace and union. Considering its economic profits and important status in maintain social stability, legalizing the gay marriage is really urgent and essential.
Last but not least, allowing homosexual marriage is the respect for love. An example from Ali Nowakowski (2012) can perfectly illustrate this point: You are woken up by ring at 1:00 a.m. It is the hospital, informing you that your loved one was in great danger now due to a car accident. You rush to the hospital, begging the nurse to visit your lover. However, the nurse asks whether you are spouse or a relative. “No, but we have been together for 35 years, we are partners!” Then you are refused simply because there is no document can verify your relationship. Just like the writer said, “lifelong couples such as this one are deprived of countless rights”. Regardless of all those laws and benefits in terms of gay marriage, just about the respect for love, why could not America, which is famous for its democracy and liberty, legalize the gay marriage and let those couples enjoy their right as a human to pursue their love? People should not forget the heavy history of the discrimination about African Americans. Today’s battle for the legality of gay marriage is the real reappearance of the old days. Both of these minority parties need the equal rights as the majority, and both of them should be regarded same as the majority. Nevertheless, some people argue that gay marriage does not create a family but a naturally sterile union. It is true indeed that such a union cannot product a child, but it is not the point. If this is the stand point to ban gay marriage, it means in America, only people who are fertile and have the wish to procreate can marry according to this bias. In fact, there is only one thing that really matters in a marriage: love. Family can only be a family with true love.
To sum up, the same-sex marriage should be legalized. America should practice gays’ right to marry according to existing laws. Moreover, it is the fact that gay marriage has boosted the economy. The past history has told us what serious results there were in the battle for the equality, and it will be a wise behavior to legalize the gay marriage. However, the most important thing involved in this campaign is that people should always respect love, especially the love under such a hard circumstance.

Reference
Decision time (maybe) (2012, December 1). The Economist, 405, 44.
Ellis, B. (2012). Gay marriage boosts NCY’s economy by $259 in the first year.
Retrieved January 22, 2013, from http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/24/pf/gay-marriage-economic-impact/index.htm. Zhang, Y. L. (2012). Same-Sex Marriage Issue and American Politics. Retrieved
January 22, 2013, from http://ias.cass.cn/show/show_mgyj.asp?id=1381&table=mgyj. Nowakowski, A. (2012). Why Gay Marriage Should Be Legalized? Retrieved January
22, 2013, from
http://www.divinecaroline.com/33/125589-gay-marriage-legalized/2.