Gay Marriage During Recent Years, Term Paper

However, society's consciousness matured and grew in understanding of what a loving community is, and came to realize that to exclude other human beings based on prejudice is not God's love, but rather fear and ignorance (Conan).

According to Kohut, 14% of the general population in American society believes that homosexuality is due to upbringing, 42% believe it is a matter of lifestyle, and 30% believe people are born homosexual (Conan). Among those people who believe that homosexuals are born, there is strong support for gay marriage, however among those who believe it is a matter of choice, there is heavy opposition (Conan). Interestingly, 80% believe that there should be no restrictions on sex between consenting adults (Conan).

Aside from the religious opposition, there is reason for concern among the legal community. Stanley Kurtz of the Hoover Institution explains that if marriage is redefined to include same-sex couples it could be very difficult to stop the process (Conan). In other words, if the law declares that it is discriminatory to deny the benefits of marriage to homosexuals, then at some point there will be a suit from a group of people who want to get married, thus if the issue is about consenting adults or whatever sex, the next question will be concerning the number of consenting adults (Conan). Says Kurtz, "Once it become strictly a matter of equal rights and non-discrimination, it's pretty hard to come up with a reason to exclude a multiple partner marriage" (Conan). Moreover, there are already groups that have started to voice the opinion that the special support and encouragement that society gives to married parents is discriminatory, and that there should be a move toward legal equalization of cohabitation and marriage so that people who are merely cohabitating can receive the same legal benefits as married couples (Conan). Therefore, notes Kurtz, once society accepts the idea that it cannot give special support and encouragement to men and women who are married because that is discriminatory, "we're going to have to redefine marriage and the whole structure of marriage in such a way as to basically define it out of existence" (Conan).

According to Rauch, marriage has two central social purposes: "settling the young, particularly young men, and providing reliable caregivers," and there is no way that informal unions, whether heterosexual or homosexual, can accomplish these ends, for marriage has power because it is a "contract between two people and their community" (Hymowitz).

More than fifteen years ago, the Supreme Court found that a state sodomy statute enforced only against homosexuals violated no constitutionally protected rights, and in 1996, Congress enacted the Defense of Marriage Act, which provided states ammunition to their efforts to deny recognition to same-sex marriages that may be legally sanctioned in sister states (Report).

The question of whether same-sex marriage should be legal is not an easy one to answer and will likely remain an issue of passionate debate for years to come.

Works Cited

Conan, Neal. "Analysis: Gay marriage." Talk of the Nation (NPR) National Public Radio.

March 9, 2004. Retrieved December 17, 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.

Graham, Tony. "Legislature OKs Civil-Union Bill." The Philadelphia Inquirer. December 15, 2006. Retrieved December 17, 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.

Hymowitz, Kay S. "I do?(Gay Marriage: Why It is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America)." Commentary. June 1, 2004. Retrieved December 17, 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.

Rauch, Jonathan. "Dire straights: why outlawing marriage for gays will undermine marriage for all." Washington Monthly. April 1, 2004. Retrieved December 17, 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.

Report on marriage rights for same-sex couples in New York: The Association of the Bar of the City of New York Committeee on lesbian and gay rights, committee on…