Essay Example on Same-Sex Marriage: A Historical Perspective

Introduction

For many people, if not most, marriage is the ultimate goal in life. It is the moment where you find your life partner whom, according to many people, you hope to share life's happiness until death do you apart. Most people get ambitious to get married over and over again even when the love turns sour. In most cases, marriage has been happening between people of the opposite sex. However, several instances of same-sex marriage have also been witnessed dating from a few decades ago. This paper shows why I support gay marriage based on my ideology and beliefs. Additionally, I will give reasons why other institutions also align themselves with this line of thought. Finally, the paper will also look at why some people opt to oppose gay marriage and the reasons why statistics indicate a rise in the number of people lobbying support for same-sex marriage.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Reasons why Gay Marriage should be Allowed

To start with, the institution of marriage can be understood if we look into why people get married. In as much people get married for various reasons, the most common ones include mutual companionship, childbearing and rearing, affection, and sexual relations ("Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage"). Worth noting is that a person can get most of these if not all in both men and women. That is to say, a woman can get married to another woman if they both have the same interests in marriage.

Secondly, for a very long time, people lived in the age where a man had to get married to a woman to be considered marriage. However, this is not the case as divorce is ubiquitous. Ideologies are changing and people no longer find happiness in the conventional way that used to be. For this same reason, many have resorted to trying gay marriage and a lot of people have reported happiness from that sense.

An Organization that Supports Same-Sex Marriage

The debate on whether gay marriage should be allowed or not still continues to cause divisions in some parts of the world. Some organizations are in full support of this whereas others are totally against it, reasons notwithstanding. Worth mentioning is that the debate on same-sex marriage is not about religion. This is so because some denominations approve of the same while others still have differing ideologies. Mostly, the religious aspect is silent over the matter and fighting on issues that affect the churches.

The Supreme Court of the United States approved same-sex relations and even allowed people of the same sex to marry. The idea of marriage, as put across by the court, is that an individual shapes his or her own destiny when it comes to marriage (Home - Supreme Court of the United States). In so doing, the decision to marry whoever lies solely on the individual. Furthermore, as long as both parties attained happiness in the marriage, there would be no reason to deny them the right to marry. This is also the same belief that I hold in that people should have the free will to determine who they marry.

Next is the fact that marriage binds together the union of any two people committed for better or for worse, just like any other union. Together, such people are able to attain other freedoms such as spirituality, expression, and intimacy (Home - Supreme Court of the United States). Moreover, the court suggests that marriage is an association that promotes a way of life; happiness in living and bilateral loyalty, which is not necessarily found in a person of the opposite sex. This institution supports gay marriage and additionally complements the fact that gay people have the same rights a straight people, deserving the same equal treatments.

Reasons why some People are against Gay Marriage

For a very long time, marriage has been such that a person only marries another of the opposite sex and together, live happily ever after. In the process, the two hope to share affection between each other and bear and raise children together. Conventionally, this is what people who oppose gay marriage have in mind (Gerstmann 94). Many communities, especially ones that oppose gay marriage hold that the basic principle of getting married is to bear children. If that were the case, the resultant effect on couples who cannot bear children is that they would be considered outcasts.

Next, issues of a person marrying another of the same sex are often tied to immorality. Customary laws and beliefs held that if any one person engaged in sexual activities with another of the same sex, the two would behave practiced behaviors considered taboos, whose punishment is being cast out of the society. (Gerstmann 82). In as much as it is important to belong to a community and have a family, self-happiness is a factor to consider when choosing a life partner, culture notwithstanding.

Demographical Differences on Gay Marriage

Research done on the number of people supporting gay marriage has been on the rise over the last decade. Majority of the Americans today are open to welcome the idea of same-sex marriage ("Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage"). However, a number of those who are affiliated by religion oppose gay marriage probably because of the beliefs taught in churches. On the contrary, younger people are more welcoming to gay marriage and will continue to be so because they are open to changing times as opposed to the older generation. To sum up, gay marriage is a controversial topic that needs to be embraced by all by changing the mindset.

Works Cited

"Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage." Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project, www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/changing-attitudes-on-gay-marriage/.

Gerstmann, Evan. Same-Sex Marriage and the Constitution. Cambridge UP, 2017.

Home - Supreme Court of the United States, www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf.