Gay marriage should be legalized.

My opponent believes that "It is arguable that marriage is a social construct and demanding that it be extended to include homosexual unions is completely arbitrary and groundless." I COMPLETELY disagree! Marriage can be looked at in many ways, and yes, it can be considered a "social construct," but it can also be looked at in many different ways. To only look at it as a social construct in the decision making process of legalizing gay marriage is completely unreasonable. First of all, Even if it is arguable that marriage is a "social construct," that doesn't mean that it isn't anything else. Lets say to one group of people its a sacred religious tradition, to another group it could simply be documentation. Lets say you have been happily married to your partner for 20 years. He/she Falls sick and is unable to speak for him/her self. The 20 year partner can then help with medical decisions instead of a family member he/she no-longer speaks with. Should a gay couple not have the right to this? Currently speaking marriage is a legal thing, and if it wasn't you would have no right to legally stop it, and because it is, you need to (LEGALLY) equally distribute the right to it. Secondly, my opponent argues that the happiness it will create for everyone, no matter what the gender is, to be permitted to marry will take the happiness from those who believe they should have more freedoms than others. With this logic I'm sure it took happiness from slave owners to have to treat darker skinned people as though they were actual people. So, I'm sure, seeing as how gays aren't real people, it's fine. I hope my sarcasm was thick enough. Also, the most common reason for a person to be against gay marriage is because of their religious beliefs. If we were to follow everything the bible tells us we would have a very horrific world. For example; the bible states we shall kill anyone who strikes his or her mother, destroy all inhabitants of any town that worships another god, murder fortune tellers, stone homosexuals and kill the children of sinners. I am not saying that one should not believe in the bible, but that if they can find new meaning to these things, why not in the meaning of homosexuality. You wish for me to prove that marriage is a human right and that same-sex partnerships should be included. The world is not perfect. We are about as far from that as we can be. That does not mean we shouldn't try. I feel that if it is a right for ANYONE, it should be a right for EVERYONE. And although this is often not the case, we should still attempt to accomplish this. I think in order for me to explain why it is a human right, you are going to have to explain to me why you think it isn't. I feel that with the argument of human rights we are arguing semantics! 1) So, what my opponent is saying about the social value of heterosexual marriage is that heterosexuals, because they have the ability to reproduce, have EARNED the right to the titles Mr. and Mrs. This argument, although logic based, seems absurd to me. 2) With this argument you are stating the only purpose of marriage is the social standing. As I have stated above, marriage can be personally looked at in many different ways. I argue that it is a right to do such things. The state should look at marriage as a persons individual want to bond with another human being, may it be spiritually or legally. Trying to force everyone into agreement onto what marriage is, is a nearly impossible task. That would leave the majority of people unsatisfied with the compromise. 3) It is not as though all human existence would die out if every person wasn't reproducing as much as humanly possible! In fact, some countries have created laws restricting the number children allowed to a family. My opponent has failed to debate any of my arguments towards the fact that we are all people and we all deserve the right to an opinion on what marriage is. I would like to apologize for my absence in this discussion. I have had no possible way of sharing these thoughts without an internet connection and hope my opponent will be able to further debate this despite the lack of time.