Argument Paper on Gay Marriage - Essay Example

Gay marriage should not be allowed because it is unnatural, does not provide a child with both a mother and father, and does not fall under the jurisdiction of the government. Also, a counter argument will be given to the view that not allowing gay marriage is discriminatory. Marriage has always been thought of as between one man and one woman. The reason for this is simple—the main objective of marriage is to continue the human race. Gay people cannot make a child together because it is not physically possible.

Of course, gay couples can adopt children or use a surrogate, but this is not the same as producing a child themselves. There is a reason why only one man and one woman can make a baby, and that is because they have the necessary means to do so. A man and a woman getting married further cements their relationship and helps confirm to their children that they will remain committed to one another for a very long time. Gay couples cannot have children together, so there is no reason to allow them to marry.

They should be thought of along the same lines as a heterosexual couple who choose to have a fling. They do not want to have a child together, and that is why they do not get married. Gay people should be able to act in the same way, but demanding marriage is going too far. How a child is brought up plays a significant role in how they act when they become adults. Parents have the greatest single influence over a child because they have the most to do with them. While it cannot be denied that having two parents is better than one, it can also be argued that having a parent of each gender helps a child to grow more.

Recent research has shown that “fathers make some unique contributions” in their children’s lives (Eggebeen). Each gender has certain qualities that they can offer a child, and a child should benefit from all of these qualities rather than just one set of them. Two fathers or two mothers cannot fulfill a child’s emotional needs because there will always be something missing. This is not to say that gay parents don’t try hard, it’s just that two parents of the same gender can only offer so much.

Having parents of different genders means that one parent will make up for where the other one lacks and vice-versa. There has always been fierce debate among many religions over their different points of view, but one thing that nearly every major world religion can agree on is that gay marriage should be prohibited. The reason why virtually every religion believes this is because marriage is something that was invented long before any government came around. Thus, it should not be up to the government to decide who can and cannot get married; marriage is a religious institution.

Senator Jim DeMint says that “the government [is] legitimizing and promoting behavior that culturally we have always considered wrong” (Mantyla). Besides being a religious institution, marriage is also a cultural institution. It is true that culture is something that can evolve over time, but the concept of marriage has been set in stone for many thousands of years, and there is no reason to change that now. For the government to claim ownership of marriage, it would have to prove that it invented the institution of marriage.

However, it did not. The only thing that the government does is legally recognize marriages so as to offer tax breaks and provide