Same-sex marriage has become a hot topic in the last year. No matter what one's opinion of this issue is, it is important to look past personal bias and toward what is truly just. It is just to extend the rights and responsibilities of marriage to the millions of gay and lesbian couples who desire it.
Marriage is an important right of passage in our society.
It represents a maturity as one leaves his or her family of origin and forges a new family. Gay and lesbian couples live together and commit their lives to each other with each partner permanently connected to his or her own family of origin. They lack the legal right to be each other's sole support, to make medical decisions for each other, to be legally connected parents for their children and to be each others' beneficiaries without facing legal challenges from their families of origin. But, this is an issue that goes far beyond legal rights and responsibilities. Same-sex marriage is an issue of giving the gay and lesbian community a structure through which they can define their relationships.