The Debate Regarding Gay Rights - Report Example

Gay Rights Gay Rights Introduction The term gay rights are used to refer to the rights that have been provided and un-provided to individuals who have a gay sexual orientation. Individuals who experience a gay sexual orientation are those who are not attracted by the opposite gender and are only attracted by their own gender (Hudson, 2005). The term gay is used to refer to males who prefer having an intimate relationship with other males. The term is even used for lesbians who are females who prefer to have an intimate relationship with other females. Gay rights have become an issue that has been hotly debated in various regions throughout the world including United States of America. It is commonly believed that gay individuals do not have equal rights as compared to straight individuals. There are those who believe that the gay population should have equal rights that have been provided to the straight population. On the other hand are those who believe that gay population has all the rights that a straight individual has been awarded with. The problem is that gay and straight individuals have similar rights in all the aspects of life except the right of marrying another gay individual. The debate regarding gay rights is most commonly based on the right of marriage for gay individuals. Those who support gay rights have increased in number and are protesting for their equal rights especially in the context of marriage. According to Pew, majority of the population or 52% of the population of America is in favor of similar and equal rights for the gay population and only 40% are against equal gay rights (PEW, 2014). This research was conducted by PEW in order to identify the percentage of American population that supports or oppose the legalization of gay marriage. The Gay community of America should have equal rights because the American nation and the government believe that all citizens are equal. Gay rights should be a part of equal rights because all individuals living in the American society are same regardless of their sexual orientation. Gay people deserve to have the same amount of righteousness as well as equality. The 14th Amendment of the American constitution has clearly stated that all Americans are equal and have equal protection. Body Current Rights Of Gay Individuals In America The current rights of gay individuals throughout the United States are the same. The federal government as well as the state based government of the United States has awarded equal rights to gay population. For example gay individuals in the United States have equal access to employment as per the Nondiscrimination Act that was enacted by the Congress during the period of 2007 (ENDA, 2015). The only problem is that there is no consensus between states as well as the federal government regarding equal marriage rights for gay population. Some states are pro-gay marriage and they have allowed their gay citizens to marry. Other states have not yet provided that right to their gay population. Out of the total 47 states, 37 states have accepted that gay marriage is legal and 10 states have not yet legalized gay marriage (Ncsl.org, 2015). On the other end there are several gay marriage court cases that still need a verdict. A verdict that may be positive for gay marriage in these cases may end the issue of gay marriage throughout United States and will make gay marriage legal in all states. The Supreme Court of the United States had tried to make sure that American gay population have similar rights especially in the context of marriage. They have done so by ruling against certain portions of the Defense of Marriage Act. One of the portions of the Act that has been ruled against is the definition of marriage (Ncsl.org, 2015). The Act defined marriage as a unification of male and female. This definition of marriage has been ruled against by the Supreme Court. Gay Rights And The American Government’s Image The United States of America is a democratic nation and the nation has followed the principles of equal right for all citizens since the time of its inception. The nation has tried to develop an image of it that is based on equality in their own citizen’s eyes as well as in the eyes of foreign stakeholders. The nation and the American government are ruining its image by continuing to recognize gay marriage as an illegal act. In order to preserve its image, the government of the United States has to realize and recognize that they need to accept gay marriage as a legal form of marriage. If the government of America continues to recognize gay marriage as illegal, it will lose its popularity as a nation that offers equal opportunity as well as protection to its citizens. On the other hand if America legalizes gay marriage and offers the same rights to gay couples that have been offered to straight couples, they will be able to secure a positive image in the minds of all stakeholders. According to the Human Rights Campaign more than 360 organizations in the United States provide equal opportunity to gay individuals in terms of employment and these organizations are rated 100 as compared to organizations in other nations (Human Rights Campaign, 2014). These statistics are an example of how the image of America will change if it legalizes gay marriage and provides equal rights to gay. These statistics even depict that if America offers equal rights to gay individuals, it may be rated as country that has adopted as well as promoted equality throughout the world. Gay Rights And The Constitution The United States government’s act of not legalizing gay marriage is against and in violation of the Constitution of the United States. The founding fathers of the nation were of the idea that all individuals should be treated equally and they explicitly stated so while developing the constitution of America. There are various sections of the constitution that have repeatedly promoted the equal treatment of all citizens of the United States. The 14th Amendment is one portion of the Constitution that has explicitly stated that all the citizens of America have equal rights. One of the clauses of the 14th Amendment is the Equal Protection clause and this clause clearly states that any individual who belongs to any class should not be denied the protections of the rewards that have been provided by the law (Nagle, 2010). The clause even states that all individuals who are citizens of United States should have access to equal protection in the context of pursuing happiness as well as their lives and freedom. Furthermore, the 14th Amendment even clearly states in the Section 1 that all the citizens of the United States should have access to equal privileges. The Section even states that both the state and the federal government has no right to develop any laws that may restrict citizens of America from experiencing the privileges as well as the protections that have been awarded to the citizens by the constitution (Nagle, 2010). If the government of America or any state government of America continues to regard gay marriage as illegal, the government is against the constitution of the United States. This is because by not recognizing the union of gay partners as married couples, the government is not providing them with the several benefits that are provided to the straight citizens of America. The various benefits that the American government is depriving gay individuals by not legalizing gay marriage include social security benefits that have been provided to straight individuals who are involved in opposite sex marriages. Overall there are more than 1000 benefits that the gay population of America cannot access (Human Rights Campaign, 2015). This is a clear biased act being carried out by the government of United States of America. The Social Security Benefits that are offered to opposite sex couples by the government of America includes a yearly income totaling to $46,556. The total income offered to couples who are involved in a same sex marriage is almost $3,000 less as compared to the income offered to individuals belonging to an opposite sex marriage (Human Rights Campaign, 2015). The government is not only violating the protection clause of the 14th Amendment, it is even violating the Due Process Clause of the Constitution by not providing equal rights to gay individuals in the context of marriage. The due process clause that the government is violating states that all citizens of the United States should have access to equal privileges and they should not be deprived of these privileges without exercising the phenomena of due process. If the government continues to keep the status of gay marriages as illegal marriages, they would be violating the substantive due process clause. The substantive due process clause states that certain activities that take place between individuals are a private matter such as deciding who to marry and who not to marry (Reinheimer, 2006). The clause further states that the government cannot make rules and regulations that conflict with the private activities of individuals of United States. If the government continues to recognize gay marriages as illegal, they will be giving the law enforcement agencies with the right to arrest gay individuals if they chose to marry each other. In other words the government will be infringing upon the rights of the individual to make decision regarding their marriage. If such rights are awarded to the police officials then this would mean that the government is violating the substantive due process clause. Gay Rights And Christianity The illegalization of gay marriage or the infringement of the rights of gay individuals by the government of the United States is against the teachings of Christianity as well as Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was a great promoter of equality. He never considered male and females to be unequal and he believed that both males and females should be treated equally. This is quite evident through the verses in the Bible which is believed to be the word of Jesus Christ. The bible clearly states that all individuals regardless of their gender, social status, regional background and color are equal in the eyes of Jesus Christ (Kahn, 2011). This suggests that the American government is against the teachings of Christianity as they are not considering all individuals of the American society as equal members of the society. The American government has awarded more benefits to individuals who are straight and are indulged in opposite sex marriage as compared to the benefits that have been offered to gay individuals and those who are indulged in gay marriage. Due to these differences in marriage the American government is acting against the teachings of Christianity. Other than going against the principle of equality that has been forwarded by Jesus Christ, the American government is even indulging in the act of self-righteousness and this act has been considered as a sinful act by the Christian religion. The American government should treat gay individuals in a righteous manner as it treats the straight individuals of the society. The American government is involved in the act of self-righteousness because it wrongly believes that the values and the morals that they are promoting are the only correct values and morals and their values and morals have a higher value as compared to the values and morals of gay individuals. By considering that straight individuals and straight marriages are the correct way of unification of two individuals who are in love with each other, the American government is frowning on the idea that individuals from the same sex cannot get married. In order to treat the gay individuals in a righteous manner, the American government needs to adopt the teachings of Bible and consider self-righteousness as a sinful act (Mello, 2004). They should provide equal rights to individuals who are in a gay relationship and should equally value their norms and values as they value the values of individuals in a straight relationship. Conclusion The American government should provide equal right to all its citizens including individuals who experience a gay sexual orientation. One of the reasons due to which the American government should award equal rights to gay individuals is that it will help in creating a better image of the nation in the eyes of others. America has always tried to portray itself as a nation that promotes equality and treats their citizens in an equal manner. But the issue of gay rights has damaged this image of America and this image can be regained by giving equal rights to gay individuals especially in the context of gay marriage. Since the government has not provided equal rights to gay individuals, it is indulging in the act of violating the constitution of America. The constitution of America holds that all citizens of America should be treated equally and the government has no right to violate the private matters of the citizens of America. The American government is violating both these clauses of the Constitution by not providing equal rights to the gay population of America. The American government is even practicing against the teachings of Christianity by not awarding equal rights to the gay population. Christianity promotes the notion of equality and Jesus Christ used to consider all individuals as equal regardless of the sexual orientation. Since America is not treating gay individuals equally, the American government is in conflict with the teachings of Jesus Christ. References Hudson, D. L. (2005). Gay rights. Philadelphia: Chelsea House. Human Rights Campaign,. (2014). Corporate Equality Index: Rating U.S. Workplaces on LGBT Equality. Retrieved 21 April 2015, from http://hrc-assets.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com//files/documents/CEI-2015-rev.pdf#__utma=149406063.381425580.1429576148.1429576148.1429576148.1&__utmb=149406063.2.10.1429576148&__utmc=149406063&__utmx=-&__utmz=149406063.1429576148.1.1.utmcsr=google|utmccn=%28organic%29|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=%28not%20provided%29&__utmv=-&__utmk=171225632 Human Rights Campaign,. (2015). An Overview of Federal Rights Granted to Married Couples. Retrieved 21 April 2015, from http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/an-overview-of-federal-rights-and-protections-granted-to-married-couples Kahn, Y. H. (2011). The three blessings: Boundaries, censorship, and identity in Jewish liturgy. New York: Oxford University Press. Mello, M. (2004). Legalizing gay marriage. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Nagle, J. (2010). Same-sex marriage: The debate. New York, NY: Rosen Pub. Ncsl.org,. (2015). Same-Sex Marriage Laws. Retrieved 20 April 2015, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/same-sex-marriage-laws.aspx Pew Research Centers Religion & Public Life Project,. (2014). Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage. Retrieved 20 April 2015, from http://www.pewforum.org/2014/09/24/graphics-slideshow-changing-attitudes-on-gay-marriage/ Reinheimer, J. (January 01, 2006). Same-Sex Marriage Through the Equal Protection Clause: A Gender Conscious Analysis. Berkeley Womens Law Journal, 21, 213-240. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights,. (2015). Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Retrieved 20 April 2015, from http://www.civilrights.org/lgbt/enda/ Read More