Running head: SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Same-Sex Marriage
Logan Sawyer
Rowan Cabarrus Community College

Author Note
In this paper I will be addressing the issues todays society has with the idea of same-sex
marriage for human rights and religious and moral values. I will be touching on reasons it should
be allowed while stating the opposing argument and validating my opinion with reasonings and
information found through research.

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Same-Sex Marriage

Marriage of the same sex has been a controversy for years due to religious beliefs,
peoples stance on their morals, and human and the rights we deserve. This day and age you
would think that acceptance would be natural for our minds since our society has grown as much
as it has over the recent years. Its odd that we as a society today would even think about starting
to legalize a drug when something as simple as marriage between two people of the same sex
isnt a widely accepted idea yet. Although those two things have nothing to do with each other,
its just odd that legalizing a drug is coming before marriage, something people have been doing
since the beginning of love and its stopped because the two people share the same gender.
Religion doesn't like knowing same-sex marriages exist. Peoples morals make them say its
wrong and an abomination. Human rights apparently don't apply to same-sex couples then? It
really all boils down to acceptance and how you view people for what they are, just people.
An article from Newsweek Global states that If Christian crusaders are truly concerned
about the sanctity of marriage, they should work to ban divorce, not gay
weddings.(Eichenwald) This is something people against gay marriage need to remember. Just
because you dont like something does not give you the right to take away that something
form a great amount of people that deserve it. As it is stated in the bible that divorce and
remarriage is considered adultery in the eyes of the Lord yet no one is protesting against divorce;
no one is complaining about it being an option in todays society. Even with the great amount of
people who go through it, its never looked upon as an abomination nor is it slandered upon as
gay marriage because its become normal in this time. It seems people bring religion into debates
when it suits their needs for a reason to do or say something that makes life a little more

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convenient for them. This is where the religious and moral values come into play. The two are
one in another as religion is the main foundation for a lot of peoples moral values through life.
Morals and religion kind of go hand in hand as most religious people live by the morals
taught to them by the their religion. The thing is that their are plenty of contradiction no one talks
about, as for example, in the old testament of the bible, it states, And the swine, because it
divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh,
nor touch their dead carcase. and what this pretty much says is not to eat pork. It states that if a
man shall lie with another man it is an abomination, yet we clearly ignore that the bible says one
of these things because its suits our needs as a society. Its manipulation of word. Well its not
all really lost, it turns out that 55 percent of the United States agrees that gay marriage should be
legalized (Roberts). This world needs to realize that human rights still exist as thats where it all
comes back to; no one likes being told they cant do something, especially it doesnt effect
anyone but the persons involved.
The Universal Declaration of Human Right says that All human beings are born free
and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act
towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. and Everyone is entitled to all the rights and
freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other
status.. These rights are obviously not enforced or had by any human for that matter with unfair
wages and inequality among the sexes and races. But marriage is something between two people,
thats it, it doesn't effect anyone but two people, religion cant stop love and neither can hate, it
can just stop marriage and it really shouldnt. When marriage is a bonding of two loved ones for
life, why take the opportunity to strip someone of that human right for their whole life so they

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can never experience the marriage most people get to more than once. It is our right as human
beings to be happy, to take all opportunities to be happy and people are kept from this simple
outcome of happiness thanks to restrictions.
Same-sex marriage may be supported by the majority now, but that still doesn't change
anything. As long as its illegal somewhere, being 18 out of the 50 states, they're are people being
denied their human rights because others don't like it. Divorce is wrong and so is eating pork
both from a religious stand point, but people do it anyway because its convenient and they want
to. If there was a ban on ham all hell would break loose. So really why use religious teachings to
back up support for being anti same-sex marriage when you don't follow everything in it
yourself. Ignorance is bliss, people want to have a popular view and don't like being told they're
wrong, but they are. Those 18 sates will sooner or later realize that what they're doing is
pointless and causing nothing but harm, because really, whats the harm in allowing same-sex
marriage? Honestly, theres nothing that would be considered as harm coming from the allowance
of same-sex couples. The only peoples who's life it changes are the same-sex couples that would
be getting married and thats all for the good. It doesn't hurt the religious onlookers, it still exists
in this world no matter how many bible quotes you throw at it. The bible is a great tool for
teaching acceptance and the people teaching using this tool need to start learning it for
themselves.

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References

Eichenwald, K. (2014, October 24). Keep Your Facts Straight. Newsweek Global, pgs.18-20.
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.rccc.edu/src/detail?vid=2&sid=ae3cad74-2a8f-4ba585be-7dec0bb1a34b%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4207&bdata=JnNpdGU9c3JjLWxpdmU
%3d#db=mih&AN=98868140
Roberts,A. Stark, C. (2014, October 6). By The Numbers: Same-sex Marriage. CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/11/politics/btn-same-sex-marriage/
United Nations. (1948) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UN, Article 1-2.
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/