Gay people should be allowed to marry each other

I thank Con in advance for taking on this debate, I hope that we both enjoy it.ClarificationWhile one gay man and one gay woman 'could' marry, I am happy to clarify and agree with Con that this debate is to focus on same-sex marriage. I had not taken into account the marriage of a gay male and gay female, mostly because logic says it is highly unlikely they will be attracted to each other enough to marry. For the sake of clarification, Pro is argueing for same-sex marriage, and Con is arguing against same-sex marriage.Factually Incorrect & False equivalenceI'm sure I didn't imply too much that a gay man and gay woman can't marry, but as stated we have now clarified and accepted on both parts that we are debating same-sex marriage.Con asks me to show how same-sex marriage is equivilant to womens rights to vote. This is similar since it was one group of people discriminated against from doing a certain social act, while the other group was allowed, with no good reason. I feel a more closely related example would be the history of interacial marriage for example. We would never think of stopping someone from marrying just because they are black nowadays, just like there is no reason to stop same-sex marriage.While Con can point out that gay people can marry someone of another gender, this still denies them the right to marry the person they love for no good reason, and still discriminates against them unjustly.Laws and HarmWe strive to live in a relitively free and peaceful society, with the maximum amount of freedom and happiness. We accept that this can only be possible if we give up a small percentage of our liberty and freedom and obey laws so that we may be safer. We are allowed to do tasks until they are shown and proven to do harm, not the other way about. If it was the other way about we would be allowed to do nothing apart from what was specifically stated in law. That isn't the way it works. We are given the freedom to do anything except which we have come to learn creates harm, and those things get legislated on and become illegal.The law as it is, needs to follow a burden of proof scenario. Things need to have a reason to be illegal, or they should not be illegal. I feel that any laws legislating against same-sex marriage fail to ever meet that burden of proof.It is for these reasons we have laws on marriage surrounding for example, age. It would be wrong to marry someone who isn't of an age where they could fully understand and agree to the contract of marriage with an appropriate level of understanding.Con asserts that if same-sex couples should be able to marry, by the same logic, inscestual marriages should be able to marry also. However when we apply this reasoning of harm, we have to take into account that biologically, incest is very harmful to any children, and vastly increases the chances of there being abnormalities with the child and even higher mortality rates. Cons asumption that I need to bite the bullet and admit they are the same fails for these reasons. For there is a much higher risk of direct harm, and this level of harm makes for why incest should not be legal.Same-sex marriage however, does not have any such levels of harm. And if it does not have the same, or any for that matter, level of harm, then there is no reason other than discrimination for legislating against it.Reasons To AllowI would also like to point out that, to ban same-sex marriage actually creates harm. This helps incite anti-gay hatred, because it makes people think that its ok to treat them differently. It also gives an unjust legal system as it stops any gay couple from having the same legal backing that a married couple is entitled to.In the UK for example, there are 3000 laws with the word marriage or married in it, and none of these laws are covered for any types of civil partnership. Allowing marriage to be between same-gender couples helps legally protect them if anything happens. By taking this legal protection away purely from discrimination, causes harm, and therefore should not be allowed to happen.ConclusionIn conclusion, bans on same-sex marriage are simply discrimination of one group of people, for no lawful reason other than the lawmakers discriminatively offensive opinions at the time of lawmaking.There is no harm shown to have come from same-sex marriage that would warrent banning it, if that is... any at all.Incest cannot be directly compared to same-sex marriage as incest laws are there to stop harm, where as same-sex marriage laws are not.I look forward to Cons round 2.