Is Gay Marriage Ruining The "Sanctity" Of The Institution?

Is Gay Marriage Ruining the "Sanctity" of the Institution?

Marriage is traditionally viewed as the legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife. However, what happens when those two people are two men or two women? This topic of gay marriage has been a major issue in the United States over the past few years. It has raised several political debates as well as other minor arguments throughout the United States and around the world. Until recently, homosexual couples in the United States were allowed to marry. Recently, a series of events change the standing of homosexual marriages in the United States. The Supreme Court's ruling in Lawrence v. Texas repealed a Texas law that made sodomy a crime in order to affirm the privacy rights of homosexuals. In November 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that the state cannot deny marriage licenses to homosexual couples. Following the Massachusetts decision, more gay marriages occurred publicly across the nation from San Francisco to New York. President George W. Bush responded to these activities by urging Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages. On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to grant legalized same-sex marriages.

Opponents of same-sex marriage argue that marriage is a union between a man and a woman and they view anything else as morally wrong. They claim that homosexual marriage is unconstitutional and would destroy the sanctity of marriage. I believe that gays and lesbians should have the right to marry legally; it would allow them to have several legal benefits, such as medical coverage and pension rights. These same marital rights are given to heterosexual couples, so why would homosexual couples be deprived? I believe that the government should not interfere in personal matters such as marriage. In the United States alone there are over eighty-four major religions that are practiced. Why is it that many of the laws that this country enforce is based on Christian morality? Many court cases have occurred in the United States because of the "traditional" Christian values that are enforced through law. These religiously derived legal values contradict the concept of separation