My thoughts on gay marriage
One of my friends on Myspace posted a bulletin about gay marriage and since it's a subject that I feel strongly about, I decided to post my views, so here's my opinion. What right do we have to deny a whole demographic of people all of the benefits that come with marriage? A gay man or lesbian woman's partner can not be included in their insurance from work (health, dental, etc) and if their partner is dying and is in the hospital they are not allowed in the room because they are not family. Can you imagine, dying alone in a hospital room because your partner of however many years is not allowed to see you? How is that right?
And then people, like #100, bring up the issue of children. Now, I'm a senior psychology major and I am in no way an expert on this subject, but I have written a paper on it and have researched it. And you know what? Children who are raised by same sex parents are just the same as children raised by heterosexual parents. They do not get teased more, they suffer no adverse psychological effects, and they are no more likely to be homosexual themselves than children raised by heterosexual parents are. If people worry so much about how children will be affected, then why don't you look at divorce? Divorce has a much more negative effect on children then being raised by homosexual parents does.
Another theme that I've noticed in this debate, not necessarily on here but in general, is family. So may people see a family as a mother, a father, and children. But that's not what a family is anymore. Not when there are so many single parent families and families with step-parents. Families can be just a mother and child, just a father and child; grandparents raising their grandchildren, two men or two women raising their child. As long as there is a loving and nurturing environment, it's a family.
Now onto religion. I am a Christian. I'm not a particularly devout Christian, I don't go to church very often, but I do believe in God and in Jesus Christ. Okay, so yeah the Bible says homosexuality is a sin, it also says that lying is a sin, premarital sex is a sin, divorce is a sin (I think)...but these are all okay. So is it okay to pick and choose what we believe from the Bible? I'm kind of getting off topic here, but there are so many people who claim to be Christian but they say that they hate gay people and that gays should be killed and all kinds of horrible things, and that goes against the Bible and God too. Doesn't the Bible teach us to hate the sin, but love the sinner? God does not hate, He is not a vengeful God, He loves all of His children. And to reiterate what others have said, not everyone is Christian, how can we force the beliefs of some onto everyone? Oh and one more thing, for all of those who justify hating and/or not liking gay people because being gay is a sin, do you all remember the story of the woman who had commited adultery and was going to be stoned by the people of her village? What happened? Oh, that's right, Jesus came and stopped them by saying 'Let ye who have not sinned cast the first stone'. Everyone has sinned, so what right does anyone have to hate gays because they have sinned? That's just being hypocritical.
And to the people who say that gays and lesbians shouldn't get married because they can't have kids, then what about the heterosexual couples who can't have or choose not to have children? The sole purpose of marriage is not to reproduce. Not every heterosexual couple has kids. People can adopt you know. There are so many children in orphanages and foster care that need parents, so yeah, adoption's always an option.
I'm all for gay marriage and I don't see anything wrong with being gay. I don't think that being gay is choice because I can't see anyone choosing to go through all of the suffering and discrimination that gays and lesbians go through. I don't see be gay as a defect or an illness either. I think it's just a genetic thing, something that's predetermined at birth, like whether or not your male or female, or have brown or blue eyes, that's all. But that's just my view.
And then people, like #100, bring up the issue of children. Now, I'm a senior psychology major and I am in no way an expert on this subject, but I have written a paper on it and have researched it. And you know what? Children who are raised by same sex parents are just the same as children raised by heterosexual parents. They do not get teased more, they suffer no adverse psychological effects, and they are no more likely to be homosexual themselves than children raised by heterosexual parents are. If people worry so much about how children will be affected, then why don't you look at divorce? Divorce has a much more negative effect on children then being raised by homosexual parents does.
Another theme that I've noticed in this debate, not necessarily on here but in general, is family. So may people see a family as a mother, a father, and children. But that's not what a family is anymore. Not when there are so many single parent families and families with step-parents. Families can be just a mother and child, just a father and child; grandparents raising their grandchildren, two men or two women raising their child. As long as there is a loving and nurturing environment, it's a family.
Now onto religion. I am a Christian. I'm not a particularly devout Christian, I don't go to church very often, but I do believe in God and in Jesus Christ. Okay, so yeah the Bible says homosexuality is a sin, it also says that lying is a sin, premarital sex is a sin, divorce is a sin (I think)...but these are all okay. So is it okay to pick and choose what we believe from the Bible? I'm kind of getting off topic here, but there are so many people who claim to be Christian but they say that they hate gay people and that gays should be killed and all kinds of horrible things, and that goes against the Bible and God too. Doesn't the Bible teach us to hate the sin, but love the sinner? God does not hate, He is not a vengeful God, He loves all of His children. And to reiterate what others have said, not everyone is Christian, how can we force the beliefs of some onto everyone? Oh and one more thing, for all of those who justify hating and/or not liking gay people because being gay is a sin, do you all remember the story of the woman who had commited adultery and was going to be stoned by the people of her village? What happened? Oh, that's right, Jesus came and stopped them by saying 'Let ye who have not sinned cast the first stone'. Everyone has sinned, so what right does anyone have to hate gays because they have sinned? That's just being hypocritical.
And to the people who say that gays and lesbians shouldn't get married because they can't have kids, then what about the heterosexual couples who can't have or choose not to have children? The sole purpose of marriage is not to reproduce. Not every heterosexual couple has kids. People can adopt you know. There are so many children in orphanages and foster care that need parents, so yeah, adoption's always an option.
I'm all for gay marriage and I don't see anything wrong with being gay. I don't think that being gay is choice because I can't see anyone choosing to go through all of the suffering and discrimination that gays and lesbians go through. I don't see be gay as a defect or an illness either. I think it's just a genetic thing, something that's predetermined at birth, like whether or not your male or female, or have brown or blue eyes, that's all. But that's just my view.