Gay marriage is not a civil right

Civil Rights “rights to personal liberty established by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. constitution and certain Congressional acts, especially as applied to an individual or a minority group.”[1] AMENDMENT XIV “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”[2] Homosexuals are certainly denied equal privileges, and cannot file taxes jointly, among a host of others denied them. N.J. Supreme Court oral arguments Justice Barry T. Albin: “And that's what cuts against the tradition argument that you make, because the state recognizes that gay couples can raise children, adopt children, send them to school, in our communities as police officers, firefighters, teachers, every profession, every trade... and after giving that particular recognition, then you say, but the tradition that still maintains or should maintain and should not be touched even under equal protection argument is that they cannot marry. Don't all of those things undercut your tradition argument?” she also stated: “But to say that the elected branches have spoken to an issue, does not in any way help us... who have now before us the constitutional issue that we must decide. We cannot evade the issue that has been placed before us. The elected branches of Government's in the Southern States before 1954 had been spoken, if the U.S. Supreme Court took that as the article of faith, Brown v. Board of Education would have never been decided.”[3] My opponent asserts that it is not a civil right as the purpose of marriage is to procreate, or raise children. Justice Barry very notably states that we’ve augmented tradition in every profession and trade to recognize that homosexuals performance is equal to that of heterosexuals. Further, there are over 2 million orphans nationwide[4] that are looking to be adopted into loving families, whether it be two fathers, or two mothers. Studies have shown that same-sex parents are nearly indiscernible from mixed-sex marriages aside from gender. “Since the 1970s, it has become increasingly clear that it is family processes (such as the quality of parenting, the psychosocial well-being of parents, the quality of and satisfaction with relationships within the family, and the level of co-operation and harmony between parents) that contribute to determining children’s well-being and ‘outcomes’, rather than family structures, per se, such as the number, gender, sexuality and co-habitation status of parents (e.g., see Chan, Brookes, Raboy and Patterson, 1998; Chan, Raboy & Patterson, 1998; Clarke-Stewart, Vandell, McCartney, Owen, & Booth, 2000; Featherstone, 2003; Flood, 2003; Golombok, 2000; Kelly, 2000, 2003; McIntosh, 2003; McNair, 2004; Millbank, 2003; Patterson, 1995a, 1998, 2001; Patterson, Fulcher & Wainright, 2002; SavinWilliams & Esterberg, 2000; Silverstein & Auerbach, 1999; Tasker, 2005; Vandewater & Lansford, 1998; Wainright, Russell & Patterson, 2004; Walker & McGraw, 2000; Wise, 2003). As Walker and McGraw (2000, p. 563) conclude in relation to the frequently made assertion that all children ‘need’ or will ‘do better’ with the involvement of a father (as well as a mother), “although there might be an ideological basis to this assumption, it lacks empirical support”. Similarly, as Biblarz and Stacey (2006) summarise, “studies have not ‘shown that the ideal is where a child is raised by their own married mother and father’. No evidence supports the view that the ideal gender mix of parents is a man and a woman” (p. 43).”[5] My opponents source number 5, in regards to the optimal partnership theory is erroneous, and I urge you to disregard the argument until clarification is given. The study I have sourced above shall serve as evidence to counter the optimal partnership theory. Marriage Nowhere in the legal definition of marriage is it explicitly stated that the institution exists for the purpose of procreation, in any state.[6] To say that marriage laws are in place to shape culture and conduct is similar to saying that the government supports drunk driving as a result of ending alcohol prohibition. I await my opponent's arguments on the potential detriment gay marriage poses to society, especially given the mention of the number of orphan children nationwide stated above, and overpopulation concerns. [1] http://dictionary.reference.com... [2] http://www.law.cornell.edu... [3] http://en.wikipedia.org... [4] http://www.unicef.org... [5] http://www.psychology.org.au... [6] http://www.clgs.org...