America Needs Same-Sex Marriage and Families

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In the state of Massachusetts, same sex marriage has been legal since 2004 and thousands of people have had the right to marry their partners. Although it was a long and difficult process, gay and lesbian couples no longer have to face marriage discrimination in Massachusetts due to their sexual orientation. However, many couples are still barred from this process through other individual state amendments. While it has been difficult to research the exact side effects of same sex marriage, a predominant result has arisen: “there seems to be no appreciable difference between children brought up in stable homosexual homes and those brought up in stable heterosexual ones” (Sullivan 239). The research that has been conducted looks at a wide array of legal, economic, social and mental aspects and concludes that as a whole, no negative harm to the child appears. The belief that same-sex marriage harms children is false and should not be the main cause for the opposition to legalize gay marriage.

Critics of same sex marriage believe that allowing gay couples to marry would harm the children in the family. A Focus on the Family ad “implied that gay marriage would lead to gay parenting in the future, not that it would protect existing lesbian and gay families raising children” (Rimmerman, Cox 161). Critics utilize this argument to defend their position even though the research proves these myths invalid. Anti-gay marriage supporters argue that “development of sexual identity will be impaired… [children] will be more vulnerable to mental breakdown, will exhibit more adjustment difficulties, will be less psychologically healthy,…and may experience difficulties in social relationships”(Sullivan 241). While these claims may appear in a few ca...

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