Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Gay and lesbian discrimination
Discrimination about homosexuality
Discrimination about homosexuality
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Gay and lesbian discrimination
Why is gay marriage such a big deal? Why are there so many people against it? Most of the time it is easy to presume where to draw the line when interfering with someone else’s rights. Simply, do not do it. Everyone has the right to get a driver’s license or has the freedom of speech, but why on earth do some people have the right to wed and think that he or she has the right to tell somebody else that he or she does not have that same right? Gay marriage is not traditional, gay relationships are immoral, and marriage is for procreation. Gay marriage is a perfectly acceptable decision that any citizen should be able to make for themselves.
A gay California man, whose partner died in the September 11 terrorist attacks has become "legally vulnerable in ways he could never imagine". Keith Brodowski lost his life partner, Jeff Coleman, to American Airlines flight 11, which was the first plane to hit the World Trade Center. Coleman was a flight attendant. Brodowski is now battling the state and the nation for survivors' benefits, granted to the widows of those who died. It took powerful words of Keith’s testimony to move legislation to grant partial inheritance rights for registered domestic partners in California. Married couples had to go through nothing of this caliper for their benefits.
In a survey conducted by Partners Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Couples, over fifty percent of lesbians and forty percent of gay men had faced problems obtaining employment benefits, lower tax rates, and insurance breaks because civil unions are not recognized as a legal marriage. Other discriminations included employment, hospital visitation, adoption, and many more. These problems could have been eliminated if the couple had been legally m...
... middle of paper ...
...y not believe in the same sexual likings as us, they are still people who live among us. People with different religions do the same and they are allowed to get married and spend a life together. Why shouldn’t gays?
References
Bidstrup, S. (2000). Gay Marriage: The Arguments and the Motives. Veritas Et Ratio - Truth And Reason. Retrieved from website on March 19, 2011. From .
Head, T. Arguments against same-sex marriage - Debunking 10 Arguments Against Same-Sex Marriage. Civil liberties at about.com - Your guide to civil liberties News and Issues. Retrieved from Website on March 19, 2011. From .
Should gay marriage be legal?. Gay Marriage ProCon.org. Retrieved from website on March 18, 2011. From .
Why is it wrong to let humans of the same sex marry someone they truly love? Many people in our society share different opinions on why it is right and why it is wrong. Kim Davis (a clerk in Rowan County Kentucky) decided to say no to handing out marriage licenses to same sex couples because she felt it was against her religion. She refused to give a license to a couple of the same sex and was put in jail. In this case, I am against Davis because you as a person have no right to go against law and this individual freedom. I am very religious, but I have come to see that there should never be a reason to forbid someone from the person they love just based off of their sex. The law in the U.S permits same-sex marriage and no matter how mad people get, it is now allowed. Men and women now have freedom to love their partner with comfort in society. They now have the right to be married. Gay marriage has a historical background dating back to the 1970’s. In the case of Baker v.s Nelson, two men applied for a marriage license and were rejected even though the Minnesota law did not specify gender in the law of marriage. This is another point where law did not specify gender, so why was it rejected? This tells me that people judged and did not like the idea of same-sex marriage, so they just agreed to reject it. Individual freedom to love another person and get married was taken away from these people just because
"You robbed me of something very precious and I will never forgive you for that. Mr. McKinney, I give you life in the memory of one who no longer lives. May you have a long life and may you thank Matthew every day for it." Those were the words said by Dennis Shepard at the sentencing of Aaron McKinney, one of the men who tortured, robbed, and murdered his son Matthew Shepard. He was given a life sentence. States must inflict a harsher punishment for people who commit gay violence crimes because over the years hate crimes based on sexual orientation have become the third highest category reported.
"Republican Views on Gay Marriage." RepublicanViewsorg Republican Views on Gay Marriage Comments. RepublicanViews.org, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014.
This article explains the concerns which people in homosexual relationships have over the change in laws which would make them equal to heterosexual couples. The main concern is that they may be publicly outed as being part of a homosexual couple when they want to keep it secret, otherwise they wouldn't be able to receive the benefits.
Zorn, Eric. "The Top Six Arguments against Gay Marriage (and Why They All Fail).” ChicagoTribune.com. Chicago Tribune, 20 May 2012. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
While the gay rights movement has been around for some time, the things that they fight for is forever changing. Currently it is fighting for the right to marry, and receive all the rights straight people get when they marry. Married privilege is like white privilege; married people have more rights then non-married people, no matter what sex a person is married to. These benefits include insurance coverage’s under a spouse policy, social security benefit inheritance, receiving pension and personal assets without taxation, visitation rights at the hospital without question and making health care decisions (LaSala, 2007). In addition to all that, there is a social benefit to being married; it represents a healthy, developed and normal relationship (LaSala, 2007). Before reading this article, I never thought about why married people are given all of these rights. I never thought about where they came from, who made them up, or why they were even made. Why are we fighting for legalizing same-sex marriage a...
As a United States citizen who was born in the new millennium, I was brought up with the idea that, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This statement was one of the main sources of fuel for the Civil Rights Movements in the mid 1950’s/60’s in the United States. Minority groups have often been mistreated in the United States culminating in movements much like that of the women’s suffrage movement, civil rights movements and now a movement toward equality for the LGBTQIA. In the last few decades a new minority group, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex and allies, and their struggle to attain their right to the pursuit of happiness. This small makes up roughly 4 percent of the US population. Though many say that gay marriage will weaken the moral foundation of our country, it should be legalized, not only because banning it is unconstitutional, but also because strips people of their human rights
Gay and lesbian couples deserve for their commitment to each other to be viewed with equality on a legal and social level. There are numerous rights withheld from same-sex couples when they are denied the liberty to marry. For example, same-sex couples are usually not considered next-of-kin. In medical situations this means that they are unable to visit their partner in the hospital, or have a say in life-or-death medical decisions (Wolfson). Recently, two reporters from the New York Times calculated that same-sex couples can lose as much as $500,000 over their lifetime, because they are unable to receive employers' spousal health insurance, as well as other disadvantages (Badgett, 2013). On top of the legal issues faced by homosexual couples, they also face discrimination daily. Social acceptance of gay marriage cannot be mandated, but with legalization, gay marriage will eventually become a social ...
Note: This paper has a very long Annotated Bibliography. 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.
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.”
Everybody’s morals and views on life are different. Most people’s morals and views are based on their religion. One of the main reasons the people opposing homosexual marriage give is “It offends God”. First off, this is America. Just shoving it in someone’s face that homosexual marriage is ‘wrong’ because it offends God, is wrong. You have to take in consideration that those people’s beliefs may be different of your own. In the Bible it says in Matthew 7:1-2 (the words of Jesus), “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others you will be judged, and with the measure you used, it will be measured to you.” It’s cruel to judge people by the way they love and who they love. It says in Genesis 1:31, “God saw all that he made and it was very good.” This right here proves to those who believe that God hates homosexuals that it is in correct. In the bible it does say that for a man to lie with another man as he would a woman is an abomination. Christians say it is a sin, but to judge these actions and to be cruel to these people is a sin. Opposing people have said that whenever one violates the natural moral order established by God, that they are sinning and same-sex marriage is doing exactly that. Well the people who have said that are judging the people who support same-sex marriage are also sinning. Religious churches oppose same-sex marriage. Not the sacred books or whatever. No where in the bible does it say a man cannot marry a man and a woman cannot marry a woman. It does say that the sexual relationship is a sin but what a couple does behind doors in none of anyone’s business. I can guarantee that most couples do not marry for the sex that is the emotional, loving relationship they share betwee...
Legal marriage is the right of all Americans regardless of their sexual orientation. Gay marriage is certainly a hot button issue. It invokes an emotional dialogue filled with passion, rage, hate and fear. However, at the base of it all, are two people who are in a committed relationship living normal and productive lives and contributing to society in a positive manner. This issue is being debated in every state of the union, and will eventually go to the Supreme Court.
“A Right to Marry? Same-sex Marriage and Constitutional Law | Dissent Magazine.” Dissent Magazine. Martha Nussbaum, 8 June 2009. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
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 conclusion I argue that banning same-sex marriage is discriminatory. It is discriminatory because it denies homosexuals the many benefits received by heterosexual couples. The right to marriage in the United States has little to do with the religious and spiritual meaning of marriage. It has a lot to do with social justice, extending a civil right to a minority group. This is why I argue for same-sex marriage. The freedom to marry regardless of gender preference should be allowed.