America Should Legalize Gay marriage

And for dealing with my stupidity lol. .. This is also my first debate on gay marriage, and also my first debate on Debate. org or any public event (excluding classroom debates in my current high school), so if I sound unprofessional and/or really ignorant/naive, my apologies. LAST ROUND! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! ! My reply to: An apologyHaha apology accepted. I didn't actually mind at all, people (me for example) make mistakes all the time, so it's cool. :) The happiness argumentRepresentative CON refuted my claim that preventing GLBT from marrying isn't taking away from their natural rights because the government still allows them to "live together" and "have a life-long relationship. " The only difference, as my opponent points out, is that we are not "recognizing their relationship in the same way we recognize traditional marriage. " However, the entire point of marriage is to allow two people to live together in a non-scandalous manner. To not recognize their relationship as a legal union of two lives is taking away their option of a more permanent union. Anyway, if you don't forbid them from living together as married couples do, what is the point of forbidding them from marriage? My opponent contravenes my argument that GLBT are being discriminated against by saying "no one has the right to gay marriage" which isn't depriving certain individuals from gay marriage but all of them. However, this is similar to two examples of the past, where we discriminated against an entire people group: slavery and women's rights. America used to sustain slavery, not saying some colored people didn't deserve freedom, but all of them. This is discrimination and against the constitution, as I repeat, states "All men are created equal. " Another example, which has been corrected, is women's suffrage. Back in the 1800's, women were not allowed to vote and were discriminated against due to something that was not their choice, their GENDER. Same for colored people, they had no say in their race. Now, we look back and think of how silly we used to be, and see that by giving women our rights, we are doing the right thing and being equal to all people. However, now the controversy to be debated is gay rights. In the past, America discriminated against women and colored folk by saying WHITE MEN could vote and do what they wanted but females and colored could not. Now, they are discriminating against GLBT by saying straight people may marry, but different orientations may not. Moods, alcohol, anxietyMy apologies for not clearing up my statistics. What I found was a positive correlation between the banning of gay marriage in states and the increase of these disorders found in GLBT people due to the stress caused by inability to legally unite with their loved one. My opponent points out that I didn't fully defend the second half of this argument, so here it is, my apologies. :( Good things should be legalized, such as gay marriage, which brings about a decrease in divorce rates. Why should this good influence be legalized? Because our society today is too negative and higher divorce rates usually also ruin the lives of children, according to a survey asking them how they would feel, done by Robert E. Emery, PhD. [1]Religious vs. legal reasonsWell, my opponent agrees with me (Yay! Finally my beginner's luck kicks in! !! ), so I guess I won't go into any more detail. Going into my opponents arguments and disputing his reasons. .. .Why does the government regulate marriage? A special link to childrenAlthough my opponent bring up a good point in that marriages are related heavily to the children a married couple supports, he does not state why two men or two women can't publicly/officially declare their sexual relations, or aren't allowed to. If a GLBT couple were married, there is no reason why they can't adopt or have a donor egg/sperm sample. This way, they can raise their children too, and "build society" in a similar way that straight couples "build society" and raise their children. Gay marriages do not qualify for this type of relationshipI'm going to try to word this without sounding snotty or offensive. .. . My opponent doesn't clearly impart his reasons as to how and why gay marriage doesn't "create society in the way traditional marriage does. " If he means it creates a different type of society, then yes, I agree. However, it may be for the better because this difference isn't necessarily bad; the only reason most Americans don't like difference is because they are scared of change, for fear of the unknown. On the other hand, if this is not what he means, sorry for my misinterpretation. :(Couldn't gay marriage have some other effects on society though? Ummmm. .. . again with the "building society. " My sincere apologies, but I am completely and utterly confused as to what my opponent means :( Could you define "build society" please? I'm assuming it means something along the lines of "makes our country better as a whole. " If this is so, my argument is that since we have never tried to legalize gay marriage, how could one know whether or not it affects our society? My opponent has made an observation without basis due to lack of historical evidence. (Is that how you're supposed to word it? ) I suggest that we should completely legalize gay marriage in all states, and if they somehow ruin our society (which is already f*cked up, thanks to Miley Cyrus and others, and I don't think it can get any worse. .. just my opinion), we can re-outlaw it and leave this issue be. So gay marriage and traditional marriage aren't on the same footingAccording to dictionary. com, fun·da·men·tal--serving as, or being an essential part of, a foundation or basis; basic; underlying: fundamental principles; the fundamental structure. I think one thing shouldn't be defined as "more" fundamental than another thing, due to the fact that if they are both fundamental, they are both essential. If both are necessary to the public, then we should legalize both. I'm not saying that gay marriage is the same as traditional marriage, I'm just saying that just because it is different does not mean it's unnecessary. My opponent argues that SSM shouldn't be given the same legal status as TM because they don't affect society to the same degree; however, an example to contradict this is, as I used before, is women's suffrage. Women don't affect this society the same as men do, but we do have the same legal rights. Gay marriage should have the same legal status, though it doesn't have the same effect on society. Summary To summarize what I contradicted in my opponent's argument, it can be stated:P1: Although Relationship A and B don't affect society the same way, everything affects society and contributes to what America is today. P2: Even though traditional marriage may affect society more than gay marriage does currently, there is insufficient evidence (due to lack of historical substantiation) to show that it doesn't affect society, if it were in full blown action (legal in all states). C: GLBT marriage should be legally established as the same as gay marriage. I believe I have sufficiently defended all my previous arguments and refuted all of my opponent's premises. That being said, and his premises adequately refuted, my conclusion is as follows. Since, as my opponent has stated, " 'legalizing gay marriage' typically means putting gay marriage right along side traditional marriage," I believe it clearly should be legalized. Just to match my opponent's format of this debate, I'd like to add this:I'd also like to curse DDO users Contradiction and xXCryptoXx, who introduced this argument to my opponent, who clearly knows what he's doing, unlike me, a beginner. HAHA JK THANKS YOU GUYS for giving me the opportunity to grow out of my little bubble where I thought there was no faith in humanity anymore and people couldn't give a decent debate about anything. MY DEEPEST APPRECIATION! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !LAST ROUND. .. . Over to my opponent! !! Thanks for this opportunity to debate you! !! !! :D Sources:[1] Laumann-Billings, L. &. Emery, R. E. (2000). Distress among young adults from divorced families. Journal of Family Psychology, 14, 671-687. [2] . http://dictionary.reference.com...