The institution of marriage pre-dates recorded history. For hundreds and hundreds of years males and females have come together into the institution of marriage. But same sex couples have also been recorded in history as well. The earliest recording of homosexuality is Khnumhotep and Niankhknum, an Egyptian male couple, who lived around 2400 BC.
In the last couple hundred years the institutions of religion and government have changed our views on the criteria of marriage. The criteria being a male and female. Religion saying it is a sin and government outlawing it.
People against same sex marriage say that the same sexes together are dysfunctional. The belief is that same sex couples could not possibly raise children to become productive members of society. In all reality though we see just as much, if not more, dysfunction is opposite sex marriages.
Since 2000, 11 other countries have legalized gay marriage. The problem is that the United States Congress cannot seem to agree on any one issue to every make anything happen. The states of Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington have all legalized gay marriage. The problem with it is that the states are going against to the national government. So in those states same sex couples might be married, but according to the national government it is null and void.
On May 9, 2012 President Obama put his support behind same sex marriage. Whether it was to get higher public ratings for the upcoming election, or that he actually supports it, we will never know. Either way having the backing of a president is a huge step for the same sex couple community.
It will be interesting to see the progress that the community makes in the coming years.
On November 30th one of my class mates; Andrea Crosser wrote a blog regarding same sex marriage
ReplyDeleteThis is a very delicate topic to agree on a conclusion, since we are a nation “known” to have a mixture and acceptance of different cultures and race diversity.
As Andrea mentioned some religious people believe that homosexuality is a sin, unfortunately most of the human beings base their lives around some type of religion or believe and with that they think they are allowed to judge people. The First Amendment of the Constitution clearly states that a person's religious views or lack thereof must be protected.
I believe as American citizens we have the image of fighting for “independency” since back in the days we always fight for our rights. We have a history of fighting against slavery, women’s rights, privacy and even voting.
America was founded on the concept that the majority should rule and this identifies us from other nations, “democracy.” It is the main reason we have a Bill of Rights as well as anti-slavery and equal protection amendments. Denying marriage to a homosexual couple is no different than denying marriage to Hispanic or black couples. This would be like taking a step back and starting the fight against discrimination once again.
A marriage is a relationship between two people. How does it hurt society or people not involved in the marriage?
Since gay couples cannot have kids naturally, this will likely increase the desire to adopt. Since there are so many kids around the country in need of adoption. This could possible decrease the criminal rate in the USA since some kids who are destined to grow with no love would have a change of life. I am not against gay marriage but I do agree with “ Live and let Live.”
ReplyDeleteOn Novmeber 30,2012 my class mate Andrea Crosser blogged about Same Sex Marriage, and had some good points. She mentioned how the first homosexual existed as early as 2400 BC. That was new knowledge to me. Same Sex Marriage is something America needs to come to acceptance with. Same sex marriage is not going to go away, and people are no longer scared to say they are gay. Andrea also mentioned how people are saying that people of the same sex cannot raise a child the way they need to be raised. Why can’t they? What makes them not able too? We have no real answers or proof. What makes the oppsite sex parents do a good job? Some kids still end up badly with parents witht he same sex.
I think Andrea, is right. We are thought to think same sex marriage is wrong from our religion, and government. Wish I don’t understand. I was always raised in church not to judge and that god loves all his children equal. The government not allowing same sex marriage is violating that person’s right under the 14th Amendment. They deserve the right to be happy just as we do, regardless of sex.
In Andrea Crosser's latest blog she discusses the issues with legalizing same sex marriage in America. More specifically she point out that many states are beginning to legalize gay marriage at the state level; however the national government is not giving them to same credibility. Crosser then goes on to discuss the issue with religion and same sec marriage.
ReplyDeleteAmerica was founded by white aristocratic Christian males, why would those same people want to legalize same sex marriage today? Yes, there are senators, governors, and other political figures that have gay sex behind closed doors and they may have even paid for a transgendered escort from time to time, but that's behind closed doors-(apparently that is completely acceptable).
Another argument from the national government is that same sex marriage households are completely dysfunctional, which is completely false. For example this student from Iowa speaks about his accomplishments, while being raised by two women. Also, I have had several friends in the military that were raised by two men-- and yes they loved women.
Crosser continues by stating that " On May 9, 2012 President Obama put his support behind same sex marriage ". This may have been an attempt to gain more votes from more minorities. Actions speak louder than words, so it will be interesting to see how President Obama's support for gay marriage will change the national law in the years to come.