Same-Sex Marriage: Nature Versus Nurture - Essay Example

In the final analysis, the data is at best speculative; nonetheless, public policymakers, including George W. Bush, ought to assess such divergent findings holistically in order to find out which conclusion is more probable. Public figures must acknowledge in this context that people are, to some extent, born with a certain sexual orientation; that these sexual orientations may differ in degree or change throughout the life span does not diminish the significance of the underlying predispositions.

It is more probable than not that predispositions exist, that sexual orientation is not a question of pure choice, and that public policy should treat people as they are rather than how some people wish or imagine them to be. If this were not enough, the public policy debate is also complicated by the fact that public opinion also varies among and between people with different sexual orientations. As noted most prominently in separate studies conducted by Kinsey and the National Health and Social Life Survey, categorizing an individual's sexual orientation precisely is nearly impossible (Crooks & Baur, 2005).

Sexual exclusivity, for both males and females, is comparatively rare; furthermore, even a bisexual orientation is characterized more by degrees than by a firm commitment to the orientation. The evidence simply does not establish any firm basis for treating homosexuals or bisexuals as a distinct type of people; absent such a legitimate or verifiable distinction, there is no overwhelming logical basis for classifying people as exclusively homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Arguments, therefore, which deny the need for same-sex marriages by pointing out that only a small percentage of the population will be affected are oversimplifying the truer demographic realities.

When one accounts for the four different types of bisexuality, in addition to narrower notions of exclusive homosexuality, the number of people affected or excluded from the marital institution increases substantially.