Gay and lesbian marriage is a conflict that has existed for many years. In the past, it was very common for people—whose sexual orientation was different—to be labeled as sick and be treated by doctors in the search to cure that disease. Throughout the years, people have created their own opinions about this issue based on their religious beliefs and their surroundings. This opinions have often been expressed through protests or other type of media, either supporting or opposing this complicated controversy. There are many reasons why people support or oppose same-sex marriage, most of these reasons tend to be religious. Individuals who oppose the union between two people from the same sex-argue it is against the natural order and the bible. …show more content…
Violence and hate crimes against gays or lesbians make up 14% of the hate crimes reported to the FBI nationally. ("Gays and Lesbians.") People who oppose the union between two people from the same sex show their hostility and opposition by harassing and mistreating them. Physical harassment is a big issue because many innocent individuals die from it. This discrimination problem has been around for a very long time. In 1992, presidential candidate Bill Clinton, before he was elected president, promised to lift the ban on gays to join the military. After he was elected president and tried fulfilling his promise, he received a storm of protests from both members in the military and congress who were not in favor of this. Consequently, he created a law that prohibited the military to ask a person their sexual orientation making it possible for gay men to join the military as long as they did not engage in any act of homosexuality. ("Gays and Lesbians.") Even though this law permitted them to join the military, it also restricted them of being their own self, taking away from them a big part of their …show more content…
This legalization caused more problems than it solved. Now, gay or lesbian couples can legally marry, but they face other struggles and issues. One of the biggest challenges now is the discrimination when adopting children. According to “The Atlantic,” after the government issued the law legalizing same-sex marriage, some states— like Michigan— passed a law giving adoption agencies the right to refuse to serve prospective parents if by doing so it would violate the agencies’ ethics and religious morals. Many states have also passed similar laws that give any organization the freedom to decide who they serve and who they do not serve. This laws and prohibitions mostly affect gay and lesbian
In the essay “Why gays shouldn’t serve” by David Horowitz he states that “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell policy is a way of containing the destructive force of sex on a combat capability called Unit Cohesion. (354)” This controversial topic has surfaced more and more recently because Barack Obama wanted to let all people serve in the military, regardless of their sexual orientation. “More than 1,000 retired flag and general officers have joined us in signing an open letter to President Obama and Congress, repeal of this law would prompt many dedicated people to leave the military (James J. Lindsay).” There are multiple points you could focus on when trying to explain your point on why gays or lesbians should not serve in the military. The first point we will be focusing on is: how would military life change if straight men or women knew that there were gays or lesbians sleeping next to them? The second point is: would straight men and women communicate with the gays or lesbians the same way as they would toward other straight men or women? The third and final point is: how would other countries view our military if they knew we had gays or lesbians in the military?
In 1950, President Harry S. Truman implemented discharge policies for homosexual service members in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This would allow military leaders to discharge any service member who was thought to be homosexual. In 1992, during President Bill Clinton’s campaign, he promises to lift that ban. Not being able to do just that, President Clinton issued a directive referred to as ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’. This stated that no service member should be asked about their sexual orientation. Mackubin Thomas Owens wrote the article “Gay Men and Women in the Military Disrupt Unit Cohesion” in 2009 right after President Clinton was again calling for the end of forcing homosexuals to live in secret. In his article he states that homosexuals living openly in the military will take away from military effectiveness and put the other service member’s lives in danger. Throughout most of the article he uses other resources, polls and opinions on the matter verses clearly stating his own. Most of the resources he uses are military connected or
After this took effect, homosexuals were kicked out of service if found to be gay or lesbian. According to a 1992 report by the Government Accounting Office, nearly 17,000 men and women had been discharged under this new directive during the 1980s ( ). As time passed for soldiers their sexual orientation were secret but around 1992 Bill Clinton stated that he wanted to end the ban on homosexuals in the military. In his rally for president, Bill Clinton felt that there should not be sexual discrimination in the militar...
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals people make up more than ten percent of the population; that means if you are sitting in a classroom of thirty, then more than three of those people are LGBT individuals. However, this overwhelmingly large minority group continues to be one of the least protected by the government as well as most heavily targeted by discrimination and hate crimes. Regardless of the powerful shift in public opinion concerning LGBT individuals during the last twenty years, the laws concerning hate crimes have remained invariable.
Prior to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy the United States and its citizens were not very tolerant to openly gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals. Prior to World War II gays were not specifically targeted for exclusion from the military, although sodomy was considered a criminal offense as early as the Revolutionary War. However by the beginning of World War II, the military had shifted focus from excluding acts that were considered homosexual to focusing on members that were considered homosexual. In 1942, the military issued its first regulation that contained a paragraph defining the difference between a homosexual and a normal person. In fact, this regulation also described procedures for rejecting gay draftees. (Martinez, Hebl, & Law, 2012). The military based these procedures on medical rationale and psychiatric screening to...
The world today is surrounded with many controversial issues. One such issue would be the topic of gay marriage. This country has grown around one major tradition, being the definition of marriage. It’s more-less looked at as a religious or legal commitment between a women and man, to express their love and compassion towards one another, being the last and final step there is to take with that significant other. Homosexual relationships are rapidly gaining acceptance in this country. However, the Defensive of Marriage Act, that former president Clinton signed in 1996, is holding many back from being able to marry what could be the significant other of their dreams. Homosexuality effects from 8% to 15% of all males, as well as females being slightly less than the male population. To put this in a more familiar context, there are as many gays and lesbians in America today as there are unemployed citizens. There are a few states which formed a type of commitment called a "civil union", which basically is marriage without using the word "marriage." Gay couples are denied significant rights when they are not allowed to marry, and these result in injustices within society. Most carry the burden of hiding their sexual identity for fear of being disrespected or mistreated by the general population who remain ignorant to the causes and circumstances of homosexuality. This puzzles many due to the excess amount of investigative work that has been done on the phenomenon, as well as puzzling the church as to who would want to look into the concept in such a sinful matter.
In recent years, same-sex relationships have become more encompassing in US society. State legislation is changing such as accepting gay marriages, enforcing anti-discrimination laws, and legal gay adoptions; the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is becoming public. Gay-headed families, like heterosexuals, are diverse and varying in different forms. Whether a created family is from previous heterosexual relationships, artificial insemination, or adoption, it deserves the same legal rights heterosexual families enjoy. Full adoption rights needs to be legalized in all states to provide a stable family life for children because sexual orientation does not determine parenting skills, children placed with homosexual parents have better well-being than those in foster care, and there are thousands of children waiting for good homes.
Marriage, for years has been argued that the rights to it or strictly only between a man and a women. Both sexes are assumed to marry someone of the opposite sex. What if, however, an individual wanted to marry someone of the same sex? Why is this debate so heavily heated amongst individuals? Is it that religion is a large structure base that those in society are guided by? Or is it that individuals do not understand that marriage is a union between two individuals who are in love? Whatever the case may be, there is always someone who has to argue that homosexual marriage is “wrong.”
There are many reason why gay adoption is banned and why people object to it. Some people like Bill Maier, a child psychologist working with the conservative Focus on the Family, would say, “Children in foster care ‘are already scarred’ by abuse and neglect, we would want to do everything we could to place them in the optimal home environment” (Watson). Foster children would prefer a loving and nurturing home with a gay couple, rather than move around from foster parent to foster parent. Foster children are often victims of "foster care shuffle." For example, a child can live in twenty different homes before he or she turns eighteen. Anna Freud, a child psychologist, wrote “a child can handle almost anything better than instability”
Homosexuality is becoming more and more accepted and integrated into today’s society, however, when it comes to homosexuals establishing families, a problem is posed. In most states, homosexuals can adopt children like any other married or single adult. There are many arguments to this controversial topic; some people believe that it should be legal nationally, while others would prefer that is was banned everywhere, or at least in their individual states. There are logical reasons to allow gays to adopt children, but for some, these reasons are not enough. The main issue really is, what is in the best interest of the child? This type of problem isn’t really one with causes, effects, and solutions, but one with pros and cons. Like any other adoption situation, a parent prove themselves to be responsible and capable enough to raise a child on their own, or with a spouse.
There is an abundance of children in the U.S. lacking a home and a family, that of which a gay couple could provide. Some states have legalized joint gay adoption, while others are still on the fence about it, and would rather not pass the law. A reason why those states should pass the law is, because of the foster care system. Many children, whether it’s a boy or girl, can jump to and from at least twenty homes before they turn 18. Some would be against the gay adoption, because they feel like the child would choose their sexual orientation based off what they see their adoptive parents doing. Those people fail to realize that having gay parents wouldn’t affect the child’s sexual preference. Just like having hetrosexcual parents cannot change a child from being gay. Lastly, another reason why gay adoption should be legalized nationwide is because, many people use their judgement from religious background to vote “NO” on joint gay adoption. When the 1st amendment clearly states that there needs to be a separation between church and
Regrettably, in the respect of victimization, there are many groups of minorities that become victims to society’s cruel intentions. For example, the elderly, or people with disabilities, foster care children and people who identify as LGBTQ, with the many. For those who don’t know LGBTQ stands for the following; lesbians, gay, bisexual, transsexual and people who are questioning their sexuality. As much as society has grown over the years there are still quite a few people who are bothered by the sexual orientation of these individuals. The truth is that being straight, gay, lesbian, etc does not change the rights of a person and does not change them from being a human being just like anyone else. Everyone should be treated equal no matter their sexual orientation, race or religion.
Gay and lesbian unions have been for a long time a subject that no one liked to discuss. For the last few decades, gays and lesbians have come out and expressed their sexuality preferences. Many believe that same sex marriage should not be legalized because it's against the moral. It's against the definition of marriage, which is considered as the union of a man and a woman as a husband and wife. Same sex marriage should be legalized because the way society views the union of lesbian and gays can a change. Another reason why same sex marriage should be legalized is that children that are issued from a gay or lesbian couple will be loved and raised in a family that is legally recognized under the law. Lesbians and gays also deserve to have the same rights as heterosexuals.
There are many opponents of gay people as it is, and they all have their reasons to dislike the idea of permitting them get married. One of the main reasons is that the primary purpose of marriage is procreation. Because gay couples are unable to have children, they should not be allowed to marry (Schiffen 495). Another main argument is that the word marriage means the union of one man and one woman. This is a long-standing theme of most major Western religions. Under a proposed bill known as the Defense of Marriage act, marriage is defined as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” Furthermore, it defines a spouse as “ a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife” (What 1). Under these guidelines, it is quite obvious that gay couples would not be eligible for marriage. People against homosexual marriage also say that it is a person’s choice to be gay. Since the individual chooses to be a homosexual, they should not be given special privileges. Another argument that you hear is that these couples should not get married simply because of the torment and ridicule they would be faced with in their everyday lives. There are news reports from across America telling about how a gay person was beaten or killed just because they were looked at as different. Some of these people would end up the target of verbal abuse and maybe even physical abuse, just because some heterosexual people see them as different.
In recent years, same-sex marriage has become a more controversial topic on whether it’s right or wrong. People should not feel coerced to agree with something they believe is wrong; clearly, same-sex marriage is immoral and unnatural. Many complications come with same-sex marriages including financial pressures, social pressures, moral pressures, and health risks.