Блог учителя англійської мови Скорнякової М.Є.
LEGALIZATION OF SINGLE-SEX MARRIAGES: Proponents’ View
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PRO OR CONTRA?
Julia Kolchik, 11b: “Our society is definitely becoming more democratic, more tolerant, more humane and more civilized. Just remember, in the 50s, interracial marriage was illegal. But now, modern society considers this to be an unjust law that denied equal rights to couples who loved each other. The issue of gay marriage is not different. Denying marriage to two individuals who love each other is to deny them a fundamental freedom.”
Have you ever thought about the equality, love and meanings of these words? I will try to explain it using the example of same-sex couples. In modern life all people are supposed to have equal opportunities, possibilities, rights and obligations. Our country is not an exception. To have a profound understanding of this question we must know the correct meaning of the word “gay”. Modern science, and sexology, converges on the fact that homosexuality is not a disease and not a deviation, but a form of a person's sexual orientation, equivalent to heterosexuality and bisexuality. It is impossible to "get infected” and it is not connected with gender. That is why the law on "propaganda of same-sex relations" is simply absurd: it is impossible to become homosexual under the influence of fashion or suggestion. My position is the following – if homosexuality is not a disease and not a deviation, same-sex marriage should be legalized. I’d like to deal with three points in my essay to support my opinion.
The first point I would like to raise is that gays should have same fundamental rights as heterosexuals. Though there is no exact statistics about the number of homosexuals in the world: the data range from 5 to 7 percent, which in any case makes them a minority, it is not the reason to consider them worse or inferior to others. This means that gays should have the same right to legalize their relationship as straight couples. The popular position "we recognize you and do not touch, do what you want behind closed doors" – is in fact a hypocritical half-measure on the observance of human rights. However, marriage does not only have an ethical but also a legal side. The absence of a marriage certificate can cause complexities both for heterosexual and homosexual couples. The way I see it, it is unfair that heterosexual couples have the opportunity to solve their problems by legalizing their relations, while homosexual couples don’t have. Some questions can be settled by a civil law contract or a will, but if it is not compiled, the partner of the deceased will not have any rights to inheritance. The same applies to the separation of property at the time of separation: if there is no corresponding paper, then all the property will go to the partner by who it is registered. The inability to officially register their relationship deprives same-sex couples of a number of social benefits available to heterosexual families, for example in the field of lending or health insurance.
Last but not the least is the fact that most adoption agencies discriminate against gay couples and make it incredibly difficult for them to adopt children. Many agencies will only release children to "married" couples, therefore rejecting stable, loving, homosexual parents. By legalizing gay marriage in ALL states, adoption agencies will be forced to grant the same respect and right to homosexual couples. Gay marriage will increase the chances for thousands of foster children to gain loving parents and families. Opponents of this should know that gays don’t impose their orientation on children. They just want to share love and care. You can find many examples for this in real life. Neil Patrick Harris, an American actor, and David Burtka are open gays and have two children via a surrogate mother. They have so close and cute relationships. Twins called David "daddy" and the Nile - "Dad". So in this simple example we can see that personal qualities: the wisdom, patience, ability to understand and accept the child's position, are much more important than the orientation. People, who were raised by gay couple, say on the websites that their dads and moms taught them well to be a good person, respectful and obedient and no one is bullying if they have gay parents.
Opponents of this view say that "homosexual are sinners." According to the Bible Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by the Creator because of the homosexuality, though believers keep saying say that God loves everybody. I strongly believe this can’t be considered to be a relevant argument in our debate for some reasons. Firstly, such a religious postulate should not be related to federal or legal matters in the Ukraine. We live a secular society that maintains secular views. Moreover, everyone has their own right to religion. The Ten Commandments don’t define our legal system, so why does the religious argument "marriage is the union between a man and a women" keep so many gay couples from becoming legally married? Legalizing gay marriage will have no negative impact on religion or the religious view of others, just as religion should not have any impact on the issue of gay marriage.
All things considered, same-sex marriage should be legalized. Marriage is a certificate from the government not a certificate from God. Love is love. If homosexuals want to get married it should be allowed. Hopefully, our society is definitely becoming more democratic, more tolerant, more humane and more civilized. Just remember, in the 50s, interracial marriage was illegal. But now, modern society considers this to be an unjust law that denied equal rights to couples who loved each other. The issue of gay marriage is not different. Denying marriage to two individuals who love each other is to deny them a fundamental freedom. We all have our own rights; we should be able to do what makes us happy, not what makes other people happy.