Should Gay Marriage Be Legal?

Blog 12
Amanda Whitehead

Should gay marriage be treated any differently than heterosexual marriage? People have many different views when it comes to gay marriage. People that support gay marriage feel that marriage is a partnership between two loving,consenting adults. People that are against gay marriage feel it devalues the meaning of marriage and is something that should only happen between one man and one woman.
Andrew Sullivan author of "The 'M-Word': Why it Matters to Me" is a supporter for gay marriage. He feels that people are unclear of what gay marriage really means. He states that gay marriage is about love and family,not about religion. He feels that some gay people put up a barrier, and by not treating gay marriage the same as any other marriage only makes that barrier more clear. He states "Putting gay relationships in some other category-civil unions,domestic partnerships, whatever-may alleviate real human needs,but,by their very euphemism,by their very separateness, they actually build a wall between gay people and their own families"(154).
People also have very strong views opposing the idea of gay marriage. Sam Schulman the author of "Gay Marriage-and Marriage" has very strong views when it comes to same sex marriage. He feels that "marriage is by definition and essence, between a man and a woman. Anything else is something else" (160). He feels that to change the definition of marriage will have consequences within our society.
Even though their are many different views on gay marriage everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Just because people don't agree with something does not mean that it is wrong. No two people are the same and to judge someone for the way they look or for the way they feel is unfair. The world would be a much better place if people stopped judging each other based on race, religion or in the case,sexual preference.

Work Cited

Shulman, Sam. "Gay Marriage-and Marriage." Goshgarian, Gary. What Matters in America. New York: Pearson Educational Inc., 2007. 160-167.

Sullivan, Andrew. The ‘M-Word’: Why it Matters to Me." Goshgarian, Gary. What Matters in America. New York: Pearson Educational Inc., 2007. 152-154.