Should Gay Marriage Be Legal In America

Gay marriage, not just gay civil unions, should be legal in the United States, because if citizens of legal age are willing to file taxes jointly, and both consent to have their marriage recognized outwardly, its relevance to the federal government is the same as a heterosexual marriage. A marriage is just two social security numbers. These numbers file taxes jointly, are afforded with full juridical capacity under the law, and are recognized numbers in marriage; having this granted requires no sex or gender, just a social security number. Even in a traditional heterosexual marriage, the only real tie to the government is the taxes portion of it. The government doesn't need to make your love official for your love to be true; the love exists without the government, straight or gay. I would think some Christians agree with me that the government does not make their love official. If gay marriage is legal, it should make no difference to the government as long as two people are jointly paying the taxes and consensually sharing their marriage in an outward form. Since the United States government is secular, and America was not built on Christianity, there is no reason for the government to discriminate against gays for marriage purposes. Yes, the United States constitution has a very clear 1st amendment, that forbids congress from making laws that respect ANY establishment of religion. With that said, many opponents of this idea claim that the wording in the constitution is such that the 1st amendment does not separate church and state. But it does so. .. . https://www.law.cornell.edu... a little history. .. So our founding fathers came from England, which had a tyrannical government with a centralized religion, Christianity. Our founding fathers also believed that it was this centralized religious power that was inciting such tyranny. "Powers from god" bestowed to the leaders were being used for unreasonable governing of people and religious persecution. So when our founding fathers were given the opportunity to make a better, inherently fairer, less biased government, they made certain it had no religious considerations, so as not to repeat their traumatic persecutive past and maintain religious freedom. That's why the founding fathers wrote the 1st amendment. . http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org... Con claims "Christianity is what America was built on. " So here's a quote from James Madison, the writer of the American constitution "The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these [American] shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries. " For this reason, the writer of the constitution made sure that the United States has a secular constitution, not built on Christianity. If anything America was built on escaping Christianity. I realize the founding fathers were culturally Christian, but Ben Franklin would be an atheist by today's standards, Thomas Jefferson was Anglican, but notoriously anticlerical, and Madison was a deist at most, still obviously secular. Pro also states "The bible talks in several different places that [gay marriage] is wrong" I have two questions for Con: 1. Why should I consider the bible to be authoritative on matters of morality? 2. If our country forbids laws considering religious establishments, why should we consider Christianity when making laws about gay marriage? Things to consider when answering. 1. The bible says that being gay is an abomination. The bible also says that a woman who is not a virgin on her wedding night, shall be brought to her father's door and stoned to death. I assume that women who have had premarital sex can't get married either given the bible. . https://www.biblegateway.com... 2. America was built on freedom from religious persecution. See Madison's quote above. Yes, as Pro with a positive claim, I have the Burden of Proof, but if Con claims they know that something is morally wrong, Con still has to explain how they know it to be morally wrong without appeals to authority, tradition, or antiquity. I appreciate a fun reply from Con.