Gay Policies in the US - Essay Example

Gay marriages have been legalized in a total of nine states in the US, and these are Washington, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, and Iowa (“Should gay marriage be legal?”). However, despite these gay movements, gay marriages are still banned in many states, and society still frowns at and hesitates to accept this ‘deviant’ group. To deny gay couples the chance to marry and enjoy the full benefits of marriage as accorded to heterosexual couples is unjustified and unjustifiable; in this regard, Gay marriages should be legalized in all the states in the US to allow gay couples to get married without legal or societal restrictions whatsoever.

The US constitution provides for equality and liberty in matters about marriage and family life- these rights have elaborately been captured and protected in the constitution. To deny gay couples a right to exercise these same rights provided for in their laws is discrimination, and it should not be encouraged. Gay couples deserve to enjoy the right of freedom of choice about their sexual orientations without discrimination. In addition to this, marriage is also one of the basic human rights, and thus, same-sex or heterosexual marriage should be accorded to all, and sundry. Just as interracial marriages, same-sex marriages deserve protection, and should not be discriminated against denying same-sex couples a right to marry is denying them their basic human right as provided for in the constitution.

Allowing same-sex marriages are bound to curb a lot more other social issues such as prostitution, infidelity, divorce and the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS studies have shown that such vices have been on the decline in many states that have legalized same-sex marriages. For instance, the state of Massachusetts registered a 21% drop in divorce rates after legalizing gay marriages (“Should gay marriage be legal?”). In this regard, it is clear that instead of hurting heterosexual marriages as it is widely feared, gay marriages will boost the marriage institution as a whole. Heterosexual marriages benefit as solid family bonds are bound to emerge due to the love, support, and understanding accorded to gay family members, discrimination only leads to family misunderstandings and breakups.

It is also clear that many gay couples are faced with many social challenges that can be solved by the legalization of their unions; for instance, gay couples stand at risk of many problems since their marriages are not recognized and protected under the laws. For instance, these couples cannot enjoy full basic rights such as healthcare, inheritance of property, security of their unions, and so forth legalizing these marriages will allow them these rights, among them the rights to adopt children and raise them just like heterosexual couples. Gay couples deserve to enjoy full marriage benefits such as financial security in the event of termination of their unions and denying them this is unfair discrimination under the law. Therefore, both heterosexual and same-sex marriages should be treated equally, and none should be considered as being inferior to the other. Read More