Gay Marriages

Same-sex couples should be given the same marriage/union rights as heterosexual couples, on both the state and Federal levels. With ten percent of the population in the United States being homosexuals, they should have the same rights at the other ninety percent of the population.

According to a 2000 national poll, three-quarters of the United States population say that it is inevitable that same-sex couples will be allowed to marry (Lambda/VP Candidates, October 2000). An NBC poll taken in 1999 showed that two-thirds of the population believed that same-sex couples would eventually win the freedom to marry (Lambda/National Overview, May 2000). Between the 1999 poll and the 2000 poll there was an 8.3 percent increase in those who thought same-sex couples would some day be allowed to marry.

There are currently no states that have legalized marriages between same-sex couples. Hawaii and Vermont allow domestic partnerships and San Francisco is one of the few cities that recognize domestic partnerships when there state does not. Domestic partnerships are misinterpreted and misrepresented as a marriage. Domestic partner-ships are mainly for an economic and workplace issue. If employed in a city that recognizes domestic partnerships, it is possible to get health care coverage for your live in lover if it is needed or wanted, however only about one percent of those who are eligible (GFN/Investigation Domestic Partner Benefits, April 2000) take advantage of it. Once an employee signs up for domestic partner benefits they pay higher city, state and federal taxes on their benefits, unlike heterosexual couples that get the same benefits tax-free. The Internal Revenue Service requires employers to report domestic partner benefits as part of an employee s taxable income, causing same-sex couples to pay taxes on $4000 to $5000 more than heterosexual couples do. It does not seem right that because a couple is of the same-sex that they are unable to get health care that heterosexual couples are able to, and when they are they are taxed on them unjustly. It seems that our great country, known to foreigners at the land of freedom has, at various, times prevented other minorities from the institution of marriage. Up until 1967 it was illegal in various states for interracial couples to marry, yet that was found un-constitutional. Marriage, for many people, is more than just a legal union for economic and employee benefits. Marriage is also a celebration of love and commit between two people, no matter what there genders are.

Even though our constitution says the church and state are separate, religion plays a major role in the acceptance, or lack there of, for same-sex marriages. It is thought that if more religions accepted and endorsed same-sex marriages, then the government would be more likely too. In April 2000 the nations Reform Jewish rabbis became the first group of mainstream American clergy to endorse same-sex marriages. Rabbi Paul Meritaff, who is vice president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, said, This kind of resolution being passed by a major religious group will ...