The subject of whether homosexual marriage should be socially accepted or not has been a huge controversy not just in the United States but across the entire globe. Some people may say that America should stick to traditional values, meaning a marriage between a male and female. Saying this is also a form of discrimination, and a couple of America’s values are love and freedom, right? If Americans praise the value of love and freedom, Americans should allow homosexual people to marry.
115,000 children waiting to be adopted. Unfortunately, yes, you read that correctly. Whether someone wants to believe it or not, having gay couples can help thousands of children in the foster care system. Two individuals who are the same sex cannot procreate, but what they can do is adopt these children who are lost; they can adopt these children who do not have someone to call mom or dad. There are countless kids aimlessly wandering the streets, not knowing their direction in life, those in gay relationships can save them, they can bring a better purpose into their lives, they can direct them down the right path.
I personally know people who believe that gay parents make better parents, and I’ve got a source to support this theory. According to a 2014 study directed by the University of Melbourne, “Children raised by same-sex parents score about six percent higher than the general population on measures of general health and family cohesion.” After hearing these numbers, how can you deny the fact that issues in this country can be fixed. No one in their right mind could deny a couple longing for children to love and care for; no one can deny a child longing for someone to call mom or dad.
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People believe having the ability to have their own children is what qualifies someone for marriage. You know what I think of that? I’m calling B.S. on it. You could run a poll, out to the public, asking if having the ability to procreate is a qualification of marriage or not. I promise less than half of those results would answer no. According to Pew Research Center, “Married couples without children outnumbered married couples with children by 9% … both married and unmarried people rated love, commitment, and companionship higher than having children as ‘very important’ reasons to get married.” People can have their own personal opinions on whether having the ability to procreate qualifies them for marriage or not; they cannot speak for everyone.
The question of whether or not being raised by gay parents impacts a child’s mental health has been a controversy right along side of gay marriage. People are wild enough to state that a kid raised by a homosexual parent will face more social challenges and will need more emotional support compared to children of heterosexual parents. The Australian Study of Child Health in Same-Sex Families says, “Children with LGBT parents had the same amount of self-esteem and spent as much family time with their parents compared to children of heterosexual parents. In fact, investigators found that children of gay and lesbian couples to be healthier and have a stronger family unit.” It’s obvious homosexual couples have more love to share than some heterosexual couples, considering the fact that not all of them support a love like the love gay couples have. It’d only make sense that their love may potentially be stronger compared to those who refute the idea of gay love.
I just hit you with some strong quotes, but surprise! There’s more. Caitlin Ryan, the director of the Family Acceptance Project at the Cesar E. Chavez Institute at San Fransisco State University explains that, “Research shows that children raised by gay or lesbian parents do as well as other children in terms of well-being adjustment, functioning and peer relationships, and researchers have found no differences in terms of depression, anxiety and self-esteem.” You’ve heard the side of the strength of love homosexual couples have and the functionality as well. These facts stacked on top of the facts about the foster care system, how can you refuse to believe that gay marriage is a positive thing in this country, in this world? You can’t refuse because it’s a proven fact!
Another profound subject within this topic is the chance of the child growing up to become gay or go through trauma. But the American Academy of child and Adolescent Psychiatry is here to inform us of the common misconceptions about homosexual parents raising children. They start off with, “Children of gay parents aren’t more likely to be gay or more likely to be sexually abused than children of heterosexual parents,” they continue on with, “children with gay parents and children with heterosexual parents show no differences in gender identity or gender role behaviors.” The sexual orientation of parents does not reflect on a child’s emotions, behavior, or how to adjust growing up. I don’t understand how people can sit there and throw slander at gay couples, making such non-sense of accusations. They don’t realize how uneducated they sound, I’m embarrassed for them. We’ve got to admit that some people are extremely stuck in the past and there’s just no getting them out.
I’ve talked about the personal and societal benefits of gay marriage, but gay marriage benefits so much more. Gay marriage has been legally recognized in the United States since 2015, when the Constitution guaranteed same-sex partners the right to wed. Justice Kennedy stated that, “Marriage is a keystone of our social order.” Let’s get straight to the point. No one likes to hear about politics, but sadly, gay marriage is lately been a popular topic when it comes to politics and civil rights. The Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. General Accounting Office provided some benefits to legally married couples, which includes gay marriage: “The access to shopping in military stores based on a spouse’s military status, the assumption of a spouse’s pension, bereavement leave, immigration rights, sharing insurance coverage, making medical decisions on behalf of a spouse, sick leave to care for spouse, Social Security survivor benefits, tax breaks, veteran’s discounts, and finally the visitation with your spouse in a hospital or prison. A long list of what heterosexual, as well as homosexual, married couples can benefit from. For all those people saying gay and straight people aren’t equal, this verified list makes us pretty equal right? I’d say so, and I hope you’d agree with me at this point.
Would you kill for gay marriage? You can take the question any way you want, whether you’d do anything to get it politically and socially accepted or if you’d actually kill gay people to prevent gay marriage. I’m hoping it’s the first option… but you do you. After hearing the facts about foster children and how gay parents can help give hopeless children hope, I’d hope I had changed your mind. Hearing the equality between homosexual and heterosexual couples proves that no sexuality is superior than the other; if anything, one shares more love than the other, but that doesn’t mean that the other sexuality is disappointing today’s society. If you praise the value of love and freedom, please… praise the subject of ALL love, including gay marriage.
Works Cited
- “Should Gay Marriage Be Legal?” ProCon.org, ProCon, 26 Nov. 2018, https://gaymarriage.procon.org/. Accessed 5 May 2019.
- Compton, Rebecca. “Kids Can Thrive with Gay Parents.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, LLC, 21 Nov. 2016, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/adopting -reason/201611/kids-can-thrive-gay-parents. Accessed 5 May 2019.
- Borreli, Lizette. “Do Same Sex Parents Impact the Mental Health of Their Children? Some US States Say ‘Yes’ and Prohibit LGBT Adoption.” Medical Daily, IBT Media Inc., 25 Jun. 2013, https://www.medicaldaily.com/do-same-sex-parents-impact-mental-health-their-children-some-us-states-say-yes-and-prohibit-lgbt. Accessed 5 May 2019.
- Miller, Christa. “Gay Parents Effects on Children.” LiveStrong, Leaf Group Ltd., https://www.livestrong.com/article/245233-long-term-effects-of-sleeping-with-children/. Accessed 5 May 2019.
- Johnson, Ramon. “The Benefits of Gay Marriage.” LiveAbout, LiveAbout, 12 Feb. 2018, https://www.liveabout.com/the-benefits-of-gay-marriage-1411846. Accessed 5 May 2019.
