Gay Marriage

Introduction

The issue of same-sex, or gay marriage has become one of the most polarizing matters of public policy in US politics. Gay rights supporters perceive it as one of the gay movement's main objectives and argue that gay US citizens have a right as citizens to state love and dedication through marriage, as well as a privilege to its many legal advantages. Gay marriage adversaries, who are inclined to be political conservatives and religious groups, perceive marriage as restricted to one woman and man and believe that authorizing same-sex couples to get married would destabilize the marriage institution. Though most states have given no importance in approving gay marriage, and about 41 openly ban it, a handful of states now permit gay marriages— as well as Washington DC, Vermont, Iowa, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and lately, New York. Other states are still entangled in legal and political disputes over the gay marriage issue. The most noteworthy example of this is California, where the state supreme court in 2008 ruled a ban on gay marriage unconstitutional but voters then restored the ban in a ballot measure called Proposition 8. Litigation challenging Proposition 8, many legal experts believe, could end up before the US Supreme Court.

Discussion

The issue of whether lesbian and gay couples ought be given the right to get married is fiercely debated in the America, some judges have ruled that bans against gay marriage breach legal securities against imbalanced conduct due to the gender of any individual. Consequently gay marriages are being made in Massachusetts state. Legislators there and in quite a few other states are attempting to adjust their state constitutions to stop gay marriages. This creates complications arising from the "full faith and credit" section of the Constitution of the USA , which some legal scholars consider necessitates that marriages identified in one state must be treated as valid in all states. Therefore, some politicians are proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the USA, defining marriage as an relationship between one man and one woman. (Eskridge, 60)

Proponents of gay marriage consider that it is a question of fairness, while opponents believe that marriage is a special institution that should be reserved for its traditional members. Regardless of the legal outcome, the reality is that millions of American children (estimates range from one to nine million, according to the Associated Press) are being raised by lesbian or gay parents. These children are often at the center of these controversies. Opponents of gay marriage suggest that children of gay parents are harmed, while proponents say that the harm stems strictly from the discrimination their parents face without legal recognition of their relationships as marriages. Few states permit gay couples to jointly adopt children but will permit one partner of a gay couple to do so (in the same way that a single parent can often adopt a child). A gay person may have custody of a child from a previous heterosexual relationship, or in the ...