Gay Marriage

I appreciate the information with your research on this project, however, have a few rebuttals on your claims.For your first claim, adopting kids is entirely different than marriage. If you are against general adoption which is a major idea in your first claim, than maybe the banning of adoption should be better than the banning of homosexual marriage. While they both symbiotically coexist, they are different shades of the topic.Gay couples certainly do not make bad parents. While you have several studies finding that they make bad parents, I have found many studies that find homosexual parents BETTER than regular parents. (1)Here are several reasons why they could be better, all citations going to "(2)".1. Homosexual parents are more committed.They, with only 50% of heterosexual parents, choose to be parents. While homosexuals can't reproduce, 50% of heterosexuals didn't want a child. With that in mind, homosexual parents are more motivated to achieve what a "parent" truly means.2. Gender RolesWith two women or two men, there are no gender roles. Therefore, a child will have a mindset that allows them to do what they need, not because of their gender, but because they are skilled at what they do.3. Open-mindedness in GeneralWith the experience of the parents being judged and oppressed for their homosexuality, they will raise there children in a way that gives them open-mindedness towards others. The William Institute has even found that they are just as well off as children with heterosexual parents. They are academically successful, motivated, and are psychologically well adjusted. (3)My only point I wish to make with this is that a few chosen studies that support your claim do not make the claim absolutely correct. There are many different studies, and they each have many different statistics and responses.Your third claim, that we should take into account the many religions that condemn gay marriage, is utterly irrational. You are correct, there are many religions that find homosexual marriage bad, but why should that be a major point? Religion should never have an impact on the everyday lives of people, especially the ones who don't believe in the religion. We are a country free of religion in government, and it is constitutionally wrong to allow religion to have any say in government. We are a country that is free from religion, and religions should never have the power to decide how people should live.I would love to understand your perspective on why religion should be taken into account when dealing with homosexual marriage; or government at all.Your forth claim, stating that marriage is naturally straight, doesn't make much sense. You are saying we shouldn't be allowed to grant homosexuals a human right because it is traditionally straight.Using that logic, I could say that we should allow Islamic followers to get there hands cut off, to be stoned, and to keep slaves because it is just traditional. We should keep slaves, because it used to be a traditional thing, and so it couldn't possibly be okay now. However wrong it could be in one's opinion, it was okay before, and so it should be okay now.You state, "there is no need for the state to marry homosexual people because they cannot bear a child, so there is no need for the state to step in."Marriage is not only for procreation. If that were true, infertile couples or couples not wishing to reproduce shouldn't be married either.However impressive your research was, it wasn't truly accurate, and until I see something more persuasive, I will most certainly not believe homosexual marriage shouldn't be legal.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________These are my claims into further detail.1. Marriage is a Human Right for Alla. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) named same-sex marriage as "one of the key civil rights struggles of our time." (4)b. In 1967 the US Supreme Court unanimously confirmed in Loving v. Virginia that marriage is "one of the basic civil rights of man." (5)c. The White House website lists same-sex marriage amongst a selection of civil rights, along with freedom from employment discrimination, equal pay for women, and fair sentencing for minority criminals. (6)All of these reflect marriage being a human right. Therefore, there is no reason that homosexual marriage shouldn't be legal.2. "Traditional" Marriage Changesa. Polygamy has been widespread throughout history, according to Brown University political scientist Rose McDermott, PhD. (8) Polygamy now is considered socially unacceptable, but if it was tradition, like you say, it should be allowed because it was how marriage was traditionally. Just think about that for a second.b. Interracial marriage was once illegal in a majority of US states, and was still banned in half of US states until the 1950s. (5) Is that okay? Or do you think that traditionally we should restrict that once again?3. Marriage has Benefits that all People Should Be Allowed to Havea. The intangible benefits that marriage offers many families include clarity, security, structure, dignity, spiritual significance, and an expectation of permanence, dedication, and stability.b. There are at least 1,138 tangible benefits, protections, rights, and responsibilities that marriage brings couples and their kids. These are a few examples, taken from "(9)". Death: If a couple is not married and one partner dies, the other partner is not entitled to bereavement leave from work, to file wrongful death claims, to draw the Social Security of the deceased partner, or to automatically inherit a shared home, assets, or personal items in the absence of a will.Health: Unlike spouses, unmarried partners are usually not considered next of kin for the purposes of hospital visitation and emergency medical decisions. In addition, they can't cover their families on their health plans without paying taxes on the coverage, nor are they eligible for Medicare and Medicaid coverage.Housing: Denied marriage, couples of lesser means are not recognized and thus can be denied or disfavored in their applications for public housing. Immigration: U.S. residency and family unification are not available to an unmarried partner from another country. Inheritance: Unmarried surviving partners do not automatically inherit property should their loved one die without a will, nor do they get legal protection for inheritance rights such as elective share or bypassing the hassles and expenses of probate court. These are just a few examples, once again.Because of these reasons I have provided, I urge you to vote for gay marriage and not against it. Citations1. https://thinkprogress.org...2. http://www.yourtango.com...3. http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu...4. https://donate.naacp.org...5. https://www.law.cornell.edu...6. https://www.whitehouse.gov...7. http://gaymarriage.procon.org...8. http://www.wsj.com...9. http://archive-freedomtomarry.org...