Gay marriage should be legal

Ok first of all I did not state any definition for marriage because the whole point of this debate is that we should be changing how society defines marriage. That is the definition as it stands the now but this debate is about changing the definition therefore your first point of rebuttal becomes irrelevant. For your second point of rebuttal, I was using my religious point as pre-emptive rebuttal for any religious arguments you may have brought up. The points are still relevant however because much of the stigma against gay people arises from religious beliefs. I have proved why these religious beliefs are no reason why the government should not recognise gay marriage to support basing my arguments around the separation of the church and the state. As for your third piece of rebuttal I will explain my point more clearly. Gay marriage not legal. Heterosexual marriage is legal. Government says gay marriage is wrong. Government says heterosexual marriage is right. Society believes gay marriage is wrong. Society believes heterosexual marriage is right. Society believes gay love is wrong. Society believes heterosexual love is right. Only a minority in society now still believe that gay marriage is wrong but the common belief that we had about gay marriage being wrong stemmed from the fact that the government would not allow it to happen. It is legally bad therefore it must be morally wrong. When the majority of people change this view because they disagree with the torture these people were being subjected to then they have the power to demand that the laws be changed which is where we are at the now. When the laws are changed and the government legalises gay marriage showing it is right then the minorities that still believe that gay marriage is wrong have no more reason to. This stigma will soon die out when that happens. It was the same with black people and women being given the same rights as white men. It takes time but the old views die out and it starts with the government accepting the minorities to have the same rights as the white males. Therefore societies views will change and it happens by the government legalising gay marriage. It has already been proven to work. "You also fail to mention how legalizing gay marriage will benefit society as a whole. You only show how it will benefit the LGBT community." This is a very strange view indeed. Not only are the LGBT community part of our society, and a big part at that, I thought the rest was kind of obvious. I'll explain it then. Most people in society are classed under a minority (women, religious minorities, sexual minorities, ethnic minorities, disabled people). When one minority is still being attacked and marginalized it shows that society still cannot fully accept anyone who is not a healthy,straight,white male. This is bad for society as it gives more legitimacy to hate crimes and other acts that marginalize minorities thought to be accepted. When we get rid of this last piece of "legal stigma" society can then fully integrate. There is far less stigma overall. Less stigma in society leads to less unnecessary crimes. When we are no longer fighting each other we function far better on the whole as a society. I hope this explains it better for you. Also less young people feeling the need to commit suicide and take drugs is a massive benefit to the whole of society. I would also like to point out for the benefit of the readers and voters that the definition that you give for marriage is only part of the definition supplied on the website that you linked. Here is the full thing. "(1) : the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (2) : the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage " The only difference here is that heterosexual marriage is " recognized by law " and homosexual marriage is not. That is what this debate is about. You so far have not provided any substantive points that prove that gay marriage should not be recognised by the law. Substantive To add to my case I will bring in one more point about international relations. 1. America is meant to be a world leading country. At the moment all we are proving to be are stubborn children. We believed it was wrong for centuries and even though we have absolutely no other reason to keep marginalizing these people we will do it anyway. This is one of the last big areas of stigma that our government still says is ok. By changing our laws to bring them into a 21st century world we tell the world that it is better to move forward. America is no longer a country that will marginalize minorities. It is no longer a country bases it's actions on out of date social beliefs. We can leave our past behind and form a properly integrated society. Our allies respect this change. Not only that but countries like Britain are more likely to move to change their own laws to legalise gay marriage. America becomes the driving force for political and social change. This improves our relations with our allies. Because gay marriage does benefit our society and it can lead to improvements in other societies gay marriage has to be legalised. Vote Pro. I look forward to hearing a stronger substantive case from Con.