Same
sex marriage should be a matter of church,
not state
By
Michelle Siazon
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
With
the recent Supreme Court decision that anti-sodomy
laws are unconstitutional, people across
the nation have been questioning whether
the next big step for gay rights would be
the legalization of same-sex marriage. President
George W. Bush has expressed that he supports
the notion that marriage is between a man
and a woman, and that the constitutional
ban on gay marriage proposed in the House
may not be needed just yet. But, some conservatives
think that the Supreme Court decision may
lead to the legalization of same-sex marriage.
Is
it really that big of a deal if homosexuals
be married legally? Yes, in the state of
California and a few others, same-sex couples
may register as domestic partners which
entitles them to a limited amount of rights
as a couple, but they are nowhere near equal
to those received as a married heterosexual
couple.
A state domestic partnership is not recognized
in all 50 states, whereas a marriage license
in one state is valid throughout the whole
country. A registered couple would have
to register again if they moved to another
state that also allowed domestic partnerships
and would have to pay another fee and fill
out more paper work.
It is obvious that some people are gay and
some are straight, whether they are born
that way or not and whether one believes
it's a choice to be either way. But, we're
all people that deserve equal rights, at
least when it comes to marriage. There was
once a time in this country when women were
the property of men, people of different
races couldn't marry each other and does
anybody remember the Jim Crow laws?
It's a shame that there are still many injustices
American people face, yet our president
is currently preoccupied with the liberation
of other people around the globe while citizens
of the United States aren't all equally
granted the same rights and freedom as claimed
in the Constitution.
What ever happened to the idea of separation
of church and state? Many right-wing conservatives
must have forgotten about that idea by allowing
their religious morals to influence their
politics rather than making the laws of
the land based on values of humanity.
If right-wing conservatives think that homosexuals
want to be married in churches and are going
to inevitably ruin the sanction of marriage
and tarnish the face of the American nuclear
family, then they are terribly wrong.
There are already more variations of American
families these days, from interracial families
to single parent homes to adoptive parents
to gay parents, whether anybody likes it
or not. It should be up to each specific
religion to allow same-sex couples to marry
within certain churches and the sanctity
of a marriage should be held by those involved
in that bond.
Employee benefits for families, tax benefits,
medical treatment decisions, hospital visitation,
inheritance, government benefits and immigration
are just a portion of the long list of benefits
received by married couples.
Two people who choose to be in a committed
and loving relationship that want to be
recognized as a married couple should not
be denied these benefits based simply on
the fact that they are of the same sex.
Michelle Siazon is a journalism major
at Cal State Long Beach.
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