Equality: It does not serve your personal agenda
With all of the social stigma on same-sex marriage going on, it’s hard to listen to some of the ludicrous views the nation seems to have about the subject. Same-sex marriages should be legally recognized. Not, because I don’t have any religious beliefs or because that is how I choose to live my life. It should be legally recognized for three simple reasons. The first being, denying same-sex couples the right to marry communicates that lesbian and gay couples are inferior.. Secondly personal religious beliefs have nothing to do with what the laws are according to the constitution. Finally, it will provide improvement on economic conditions. Legalizing same-sex marriage will create jobs, increase state and federal revenue, and bring establishments more business.
First, denying same-sex couples the right to marry labels these people as sub-standard and sends the message that they are not fit to take part in other things that every person should have a right to participate in. The Massachusetts Supreme Court wrote in an opinion to the state Senate on Feb. 3, 2004 that offering civil unions was not an acceptable alternative to gay marriage because “…it is a considered choice of language that reflects a demonstrable assigning of same-sex, largely homosexual, couples to second-class status.” Whether the people like it or not the Gay community is here to stay. If the country is worried about “family values” A study published on Apr. 13, 2009 stated that laws allowing same-sex marriage or civil unions have no proven effects on heterosexual marriage, divorce, abortion rates,or the percent of children born to single parents. What same-sex marriage will have an effect on is adoptions rates. Currently in the United States there are approximately 130,000 children waiting to be adopted. Legalizing same sex marriage will make adoption a much faster process for gay couples as it is a well known fact that married couples are favored over single adults.
Secondly, someones personal or religious beliefs have nothing to do with the constitutional rights of Americans or their lifestyle. The constitution states in the first amendment that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” Also as stated by the 1967 Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia confirmed that marriage is “one of the basic civil rights of man,” and same-sex marriages should receive the same protections given to interracial marriages by that ruling. Not only has it been stated on record by the Supreme Court but same sex marriage is protected by the commitments to liberty and equality in the constitution. The US Supreme Court declared in 1974’s Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur that the “freedom of personal choice in matters of marriage and family life is one of the liberties protected by the Due Process Clause.” Both the Due process and equal Protection clause were brought into play again by US District Judge Vaughn Walker who stated Prop. 8 Banning gay marriage was “unconstitutional under both…Clauses”
Last, and most importantly, same-sex marriage will be great for the economy. Legalizing marriage for any two people opens up a new and significant market for the wedding industry. Expensive wedding or not, more weddings means more jobs and stronger small businesses that are the bread and butter to the wedding industry. It is important, not to forget about the state income from the marriage license that will need to be obtained. According to policymic.com “last July, anywhere from 7,200 to 8,200 gay couples have wedded in [New York City] — that’s roughly 10% of all marriages in the five boroughs. The marriages have brokered in 200,000 out-of-towners, $259 million in economic activity and $16 million in taxes.” Also, same-sex couples are more likely to have two working adults in the household than traditional families. This will potentially put them into a higher income tax bracket. Additionally, if both adults are making a larger income, the marriage penalty tax (which is applied to married couples that file their taxes jointly) can create more revenue than taxing individual adults. According to Adweek.com there are roughly 646,464 unmarried gay couples in the United States and the average cost of a wedding is about $25,631 dollars. The astounding amount of dividends here are undeniable. Finally as bleak as it sounds, there will be divorces between same-sex couples, just like heterosexual couples. The cost of a divorce in the United States according to About.com averages at about $15,000. Marriage in itself is a money-making business and opening up to a whole new buyers market would have exponential advantages.
In conclusion, if the country could just step back and take a look at the whole picture they would see an entirely new issue. They would probably then ask themselves why this has been an issue, for so long when there are so many benefits. With the aforementioned statistics, if one in three same-sex married couples were to adopt one child, no children would be left stuck in foster care. Let us remember that marriage is “one of the basic civil rights of man,” as ruled by the Supreme Court, and denial of that basic human right is unconstitutional. Same-sex marriage will be creating jobs, state and federal revenue, and generating income for small businesses. It’s time to stop letting people politicize this issue to serve their own personal and religious agendas and think about the rest of the nation.
Works Cited
United states. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. OPINIONS OF THE JUSTICES TO THE SENATE. 2013. Web. <http://news.findlaw.com/wsj/docs/conlaw/maglmarriage20304.html>.
“Marriage and Divorce.” (2013): Web. 2 May. 2013. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/divorce.htm>.
Nathaniel, Jerome. “Gay Marriage is Good for the Economy: It Increases Government Revenue and Creates Jobs.” (2012): n. page. Print. <http://www.policymic.com/articles/12022/gay-marriage-is-good-for-the-economy-it-increases-government-revenue-and-creates-jobs>.
“Same-Sex Couples in America.” How many married couples are there?. (2012): n. page. Print. <http://www.adweek.com/sa-article/same-sex-couples-america-140505>.
Meyer, Cathy. “How Much Will My Divorce Cost?.” n. page. Web. 3 May. 2013. <http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/financialissues/f/costofdivorce.htm>.
Langbein, L. and Yost, M. A. (2009), Same-Sex Marriage and Negative Externalities. Social Science Quarterly, 90: 292–308. Doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00618.x
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