Gay Marriage
America is caught in the middle of the largest social division since the Civil Rights Movement. The right to marry is a hugely contested civil liberty that same sex couples justly deserve. Same sex partners are being denied many of the benefits taken for granted by heterosexual couples. Not since the days of segregation, has such ignorance been allowed to influence state and federal law.
According to the federal government's General Accounting Office (GAO), more than 1,138 rights and protections are given to U.S. citizens upon marriage by the federal government; areas affected include Social Security benefits, veterans' benefits, health insurance, Medicaid, hospital visitation, estate taxes, retirement savings, pensions, family leave, and immigration law. The federal government, under the Defense of Marriage Act, defines marriage as a union of one man and one woman. This blocks gay partners from receiving federal benefits and subjects them to the whims of state law. Currently only two of our fifty states have passed legislation legalizing same sex marriage.
Gay marriage has huge implications in the American judicial system. Same sex couples can’t make medical decisions involving their partners in an emergency. Instead, hospitals are forced by state laws to go to the families, who often totally ignore the couples wishes regarding medical treatment. Should their partner die, even carefully written wills and powers of attorney have proven ineffective if a family wishes to challenge it. If a homosexual is arrested, their partners can be compelled to testify against them or provide evidence against them, which legally married couples can’t be forced to do. If a spouse is incarcerated, visitation rights can be denied by a hostile family or homophobic judge. Also, conjugal visits, an established right of heterosexual married couples, are simply not available to gay couples.
Christian opponents of same-sex marriage argue that the legalization of...
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