Keep Gay Marriage Legal

Less than a week from today, Californians will vote on Proposition 8, which seeks to recriminalize gay marriage after months of it being legal. Although this is a highly charged topic on both sides, it's important to have a calm, reasoned discussion on gay marriage.

Gay marriage needs to remain legal in California. To begin with, let's look at the arguments against gay marriage and Prop 8 and discover why they're all wrong.

Marriage is meant to foster families, specifically children. Since homosexuals can't produce offspring, they can't get married. It's true that marriage provides a stable framework upon which to start a family, but having children has never been a requirement or requisite for marriage. If marriage were conditioned on bearing children, then we wouldn't allow infertile couples to marry, nor those who did not wish for children. Children are often a component of marriage, but they are not, and never have been, a requirement for it.

Homosexuality is unhealthy and unnatural: it's a sickness and disorder, not something to be celebrated. This argument is based more upon bigotry and ignorance than anything else. Humans often fear or frown upon those who are different, but it doesn't make this point valid.

As far as being unnatural goes, we are often told that only humans exhibit this type of behavior-this is not true. Many animal species have been observed engaging in homosexual behavior. However, regardless of whether animals behave homosexually or not, since when do we evaluate human behavior based upon our animal counterparts? Chimpanzees masturbate and throw feces in public; needless to say, that would not be accepted with humans.

It is also often assumed that homosexuality is unhealthy as well. This is equally inaccurate. The vast majority of studies demonstrate that homosexuality is not any more or less healthy than heterosexuality.

Homosexuals are nothing more than malcontents choosing to rebel against our values: why should they be rewarded? Homosexuality is not a choice. What motive would someone have for wanting to be discriminated against and hated by some? Although it is less so than it used to be, gays are still often looked down upon by others. Does it really make sense that a person would want to be treated like a second-class citizen for pretending to be something s/he's not? This point becomes even more valid in highly intolerant societies, where gays are regularly downtrodden, threatened, and even killed. Take Iran, for example, where homosexuality is illegal and a punishable offense? Why would anyone choose to act gay in a place like that if s/he really wasn't?

Another problem with the argument that homosexuality is a choice which is not often considered involves the difficulty and discomfort of trying to act contrary to one's sexual orientation. If you're a heterosexual, and you honestly think your sexual orientation is a choice, imagine trying to act gay and acting attracted to the same sex for a moment. It's probably a disgusting thought to you, just as the thought of being attracted to the opposite sex would be horrifying to a homosexual. Who we are attracted to is an integral part of who we are, and trying to override our natural feelings is not a simple act of rebellion.

Marriage is a long standing tradition that has always been between a man and a woman. This is perhaps the most common argument against gay marriage, but there are two problems here.

Contrary to popular belief, marriage as we think of it today is not such a deep-rooted institution. Historically speaking, marriage is a relatively new concept. It also used to be more broadly defined, with some people (usually, but not always, men) having multiple spouses. The salient point here is marriage has not remained constant over the years: it has changed before, and will change again.

However, the larger problem here is the contention that tradition should dictate our laws at all. If it were true that tradition were infallible, then political change would be impossible. Should we still enslave Africans? Why are women allowed to vote? Why bother with our Constitution? Originally, the United States were British colonies; why did we go against that tradition? As should be clear by now, tradition is not a virtue in and of itself, and blind adherence to it is certainly not a reason to avoid legal change.

Gay marriage violates my religious freedom. Actually, not allowing it would interfere with religious beliefs, not the opposite. There are plenty of churches and denominations who wish to keep gay marriage legal who have only recently been granted their legal rights to exercise what they believe in. Keeping gay marriage legal simply guarantees that civil gay marriages will be granted, and that any church that wishes to can grant them as well. As long as the First Amendment still exists, no law can ever force churches to celebrate a ceremony they don't believe in.

If gay marriage is made illegal again, we will be depriving churches of making their own decisions on this issue. However, if gay marriage continues to be legal, it doesn't force churches to do anything; on the contrary, it facilitates churches' freedom of choice, a quintessential American value.

Homosexuality and homosexual parents are bad for children. As previously discussed, homosexuality is not a choice. Furthermore, as has been argued throughout this article, homosexuality is not a negative thing. However, the main point here is that the adopted children of homosexual parents are neither more nor less likely to be homosexual. Additionally, there has also been no conclusive evidence that the adopted children of homosexual parents are less well-adjusted than children with heterosexual parents.

If gay marriage remains legal, we will have more gays in public. Gay marriage has been legal in Massachusetts since 2004, and civil unions in Vermont since 2000, with no noticeable results. Indeed, gay marriage makes little difference to the general public, yet it does a world of good by giving committed homosexuals the same rights granted to their heterosexual counterparts. Have you noticed any changes to your everyday life in California since May, when the state supreme court finally recognized the right to gay marriage? Probably not. Gay marriage hurts nobody, and helps many.

Gay marriage will destroy the moral fabric of society. Leaving aside the fact that nobody has ever even defined what they mean by the destruction of society and its moral fabric, this charge is answered above. To reiterate: Gay marriage has very little impact on the world at large.

It's worth noting that this same argument (and some others that have been discussed) was made against interracial marriages. California was the first state in America to legalize marriage between two people of different racial backgrounds, and what happened? Nothing. Our state survived and prospered, just as it will with gay marriage.

If gay marriage remains legal, what's to stop people from demanding the right to marry an animal? Where will we draw the line? This slippery slope argument preys upon people's fears and does not hold up when examined critically. Marriage (straight or gay) is about strengthening and recognizing committed, loving, mutual relationships. Humans are unique as a species because we have highly developed reasoning and communication skills due to well-developed brains. It is simply not possible for a person and an animal to share the same kind of mutual love and understanding with each other that two humans can. Even if a person wanted to marry an animal (a highly doubtful scenario), an animal could never express any kind of intent or consent to the proceeding. This is not so with gay marriage.

The Bible says homosexuality is an abomination. First of all, the First Amendment guarantees the separation of church and state, so making laws enshrining a religious belief without any separate legal reason is unconstitutional. However, since people often vote according to their religious beliefs anyway, look at some of the other things the bible says. If you work on the sabbath, you must be put to death (Exodus 31:14, Exodus 35:2). If two people commit adultery together, they must both be put to death (Leviticus 20:10). Also, if you're ever being sued, don't do anything to defend yourself (Matthew 5:40). Clearly, not everything in the Bible should be taken at face value (or made into law).

If Proposition 8 doesn't pass, my children will be taught about homosexuality and gay marriage, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. This idea has been advanced as a scare tactic by supporters of Proposition 8. It is not true at all. In the state of California, parents have the right to refuse to allow their children to participate in sexual or health education which goes against the morals or religious beliefs of the parents. This will not change in any way regardless of Proposition 8. A vote for Proposition 8 doesn't do anything to protect your children, and it hurts others.

California, like America, is a free society, and freedom of choice has always been a bedrock principle of free, democratic societies. Although you may disagree with homosexuality, it's not right to disenfranchise a group of people for being different from you. Gay marriage will not harm you or your family. It harms none, and is beneficial to many.

It's simply inappropriate for us to define love. Society and government have no place telling us who we are and aren't allowed to love.

If you don't agree with homosexuality, and if you oppose gay marriage, you are perfectly entitled to your beliefs. However, Proposition 8 won't make everyone heterosexual, and it won't make this issue disappear. You are free to have your disagreements with homosexuals, but it is wrong and unjust to limit the behavior of others when it doesn't affect you at all. Stop and ask yourself if your life, or that of your family, has been negatively affected in any way since June, when homosexual couples began wedding each other in California.

Please don't make discrimination a part of our state. Homosexuals are leaving you and your family alone; they aren't telling you how to live your life. Do you honestly think you have the right to tell them how to live theirs?