Marriage equality has been one of the most debated topics in the country over the last decade. This issue has split people among social and political lines. With the Supreme Court ruling that same sex marriage is now legal in all 50 states, the debate has lost a lot of steam. However, there are still people who believe that marriage should be exclusive to opposite sex couples only. I believe that marriage should be defined as a union between two adults who love each other, regardless of their genders. There are many reasons why I believe this, those include: same sex marriage won’t affect the sanctity of marriage, people don’t have the right to force their views on someone else, and it would be beneficial to non-homosexual people.
One of the most commonly used arguments against same sex marriage is that it would somehow diminish the sanctity of marriage for heterosexual couple. This argument is flawed because it implies that the current way of doing things is ok. There is no real proof that allowing same sex couples to get married would any way effect other couples. However, there is proof that the current marriage system is flawed, and allowing same sex couples to get married could be a good step towards fixing it. More than 50% of married couples in America get divorced. Studies show that the US has one of the highest divorce rates compared to other countries. Allowing same sex couples the opportunity to get married will increase marriage rates because less couples will get divorced due to incompatibility or infertility. If you want to see how sanctified the institution of marriage really is, look to our celebrities who routinely disrespect this “sacred” institution: Britney Spears and high school friend Jason Allen Alexander, 2 days; Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra, 9 days; Gregg Allman and Cher, 9 days; Rudolph Valentino and Jean Acker, 6 hours; Robert Evans and Catherine Oxenberg, 12 days; Jeremy Thomas and Drew Barrymore, 29 days; Ethel Merman and Ernest Borgnine, 38 days; Janet Jackson and James DeBarge, 4 months. These people have done more to destroy what many people believe marriage is supposed to be than any same sex couple could ever hope to do. I could argue that same sex couple will appreciate their marriage more because of how hard they had to work to obtain it.
Our country is built off of the idea that nobody has the right to force others to live a certain way. This has been one of the core values of our country since its inception, but that curtesy has never been extended to the homosexual community. People who use the past as an excuse for why things can’t be changed in the present have historically be on the wrong end of history. In the 50's, interracial marriage was illegal. But now, modern society understands this to be an unjust law that denied equal rights to couples who loved each other. The issue of gay marriage is no different. Denying marriage to two individuals who love each other is to deny the...
