Should gays be allowed to marry?
Step 2 of 5
- Yes? But have you considered...
- No? But have you considered...
… that many people believe that prohibiting gays from marrying is a form of discrimination?
Many supporters of gay marriage argue that just as some people are black and some people are white, some people are straight and others are gay. To bar homosexuals from marriage, therefore, is a form of discrimination on the order of prohibiting interracial marriage and prohibiting people with a genetic abnormality from marrying because they might pass it on to offspring.
By prohibiting gays to wed, the government is not merely discriminating against them on a cultural level. Rather, they argue, the United States has no less than 1,100 federal laws in which marital status is a factor. By denying gays the ability to legally marry, they argue, the government denies them many of the rights and benefits associated with marriage, in effect, violating their 14th Amendment rights, which ensures equal protection under the law.
In the California Supreme Court’s May 2008 decision legalizing gay marriage in the state, Chief Justice Ronald George seemed to agree with this view when he wrote: “[A]n individual’s sexual orientation—like a person’s race or gender—does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights. We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples.”
Moreover, in our society, marriage is widely recognized as a fundamental right—indeed, for many people it’s a key ingredient to a “full” life. Many gay marriage proponents argue that to deny anyone the opportunity to enjoy and benefit from marriage is wrong—legally and morally.
Step 2 of 5
