Please see the previous thread for a little more detail. This is the essay. Why do we continue to try and prevent love? Isn’t love normal – something that should be embraced, instead of blocked? Here in the United States, and in many parts of the world, that isn’t the case. We continue down our bigoted path of implying homosexual citizens are second class – they are denied the right to marry and receive the rights that come with it, they are denied the right to adopt in some places. It is time to change that. In a land of “Freedom”, we do not give our citizens the equality that they deserve. Gay marriage has absolutely no effect on anyone other than the two who are getting married, and denying it is plain discrimination and prejudicial at best. In the United States, only nine states have legalized same sex marriages: (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Maine, Maryland, and Washington State), with an additional nine having civil unions or pending legislation on the books. Across the aisle, twenty four states have had Constitutional amendments that ban either same sex marriage alone, or same sex marriage and civil unions (Wikipedia, United States). Despite promoting equality for all here in America, it appears that does not apply in this case. On a global level, several western countries have legalized gay marriage; they include Canada, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. On top of that, legislation is in the works to legalize the union in the United Kingdom, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, New Zealand, and in some parts of Australia (Wikipedia, Same Sex Marriage). So, despite the United States being the “Democratic World Leader”, with the slogan “Land of the Free”, we continue to fall behind in this crucial aspect to actually living up to that motto. Now, some will argue that America was built on Christian values – that our Founding Fathers intended this to be a Christian nation, and for that reason alone, we should not allow gay marriage. Here’s the problem with that: Religious freedom. While Christianity and some of its subsets (Including Baptists) are devoutly anti-homosexual, there are numerous religious dominations that do support the unions, and even give them in their churches. They include Wiccans, Reform and Conservative Jews, the Metropolitan Community Church and Episcopalians to name a few (Wikipedia, Same Sex Marriage). If you, as a devout Catholic, don’t want to perform this type of marriage, that’s fine. However, don’t try and make your religious beliefs the law of the land in what is supposed to be a secular, religiously tolerant nation. During a debate over a civil union bill that was pending in Colorado (Which passed yesterday, mind you), Representative Lori Saine stated, “What this bill is about, really is the Bible. Is it right or wrong” (Ferner). No, it isn’t about the bible or your religious beliefs – the problem is that it should not be mixed with politics! The bill was about allowing two consenting adults who are in love to marry, something that a large subset of citizens in this country has been denied simply because they like the same gender! If you, as a Representative or Senator, Democrat or Republican, cannot maturely debate a bill without bringing in a religious reference that has no place there, then you have no place being in that office. Take your opinions to a public rally if you want to mix religion and politics – there is a reason we have the Separation of Church and State. Now, for those who don’t know, the Federal Government has certain benefits appropriated to people that are married. But, despite the nine states that allow same sex marriage, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law passed in 1996 under the Clinton administration, forces the United States to not recognize the marriages as legitimate. Benefits that are being held back from same sex couples include: Social Security and Medicare benefits, Inheritance rights in the event that a will is not found or created prior to death, the ability to share parental rights and adoption, and several benefits that relate to being a spouse and or widow of a veteran (Civil Marriage Benefits). While DOMA is currently pending under a Supreme Court case that is to be argued later this month, the fact is that the minute the Federal Government began giving rights to married couples, while passing a law to not recognize a certain subset of marriages, in this case gay marriage, it became discrimination. Numerous widows of soldiers in the United States army have suffered under DOMA, losing both their spouse to the war and any benefits that they may have received from their spouse’s death because DOMA does not allow for recognition of those marriages. The latest, and most well-known case, is of Charlie Morgan and her widow Karen, both residents of New Hampshire – one of the nine states that has legalized gay marriage. Charlie, a Chief Warrant Officer of the New Hampshire National Guard, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. After two years of treatment, she was declared cancer free and spent a year deployed in Kuwait. In 2011, Charlie returned home to discover that the cancer had returned, and was now incurable due to the amount of spread. The soldier, after ending chemotherapy in April of 2012, died this past February at the age of 48 – her sole wish was to live past DOMA’s repeal so that Karen would receive the benefits to help their daughter in life. That wish never came true (McCormack). Charlie and Karen’s story is one of many for widows who have fallen under DOMA’s cruelty and discrimination, simply because some people cannot accept that people of the same gender are in love. Some will argue that, by allowing same sex marriage, it will “Destroy the sanctity of marriage!” To this, I ask them a question. How does the 50% divorce rate for first marriages protect the sanctity? What about the 60% of divorces for a second marriage? The 73% for third marriage (Bashnick)? Now, take in to account that those statistics are only for heterosexual couples. Various studies have shown that divorce rates in states that have legalized gay marriage are lower than those states that have not. In fact, in 2009, states that legalized gay marriage had a divorce rate of 41.2% - still relatively high. However, states that had bans on gay marriage had divorce rates ranked up at 50.3%. Remove the lowest denominator, Nevada, and the rate jumped to 53.2% (Kurtzblen). So, exactly where does gay marriage kill the sanctity of marriage again? Certainly doesn't seem to in the divorce rates – heterosexual marriages are doing that all on their own. Continued below.