“Is the institution of marriage that fragile as to be threatened by the existence of love and commitment elsewhere?” (Pindell 1).This sentence so well spoken came from the first openly gay man to be elected bishop of an Episcopal church (Pindell 1). There is a bill that if passed will amend the constitution to not only ban Same-sex marriages but, will deny a gay couples right to a civil union and any individual rights or protections associated with marriage (florida4marriage).The U.S should not amend the constitution to permanently ban same-sex Civil Unions because this will be taking away the gay community’s rights as citizens.
Denying individual rights or protections associated with marriage to gay couples will cause harm to the gay community by not allowing the “legal incidents” of marriage (Goldstein 1).The Government Accountability Office identified a total of 1,138 federal legal provisions classified to the U.S code in which marital status is a factor in determining if someone can receive rights, benefits, and protections (not including state programs) (Pawelski). Some of these provisions include, legal recognition of joint parenting rights when a child is born or adopted, access to employer-based health insurance and other benefits for non-biological/not-jointly adopted children, and ability to make medical decisions for an incapacitated or ailing partner (Pawelsi). These are just a few of the rights that Americas gay community will be denied. Taking away people’s rights because of the way they choose to live is un-American. “All men are created equal.”
Besides their choice of partners same-same sex couples are no different than heterosexual couples. The American Academy of Pediatrics report on the Effects of Marriage, Civil Union, and Domestic Partnership Laws on the Health and Well-being of Children described the many differences or lack thereof between heterosexual and same-sex partners and their children. In their report they stated that the Lesbian Mothers that were interviewed scored into the normal range of psychological functioning (Pawelski). They also reported that the scores from Lesbian Mothers on self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and parenting stress were indistinguishable from those reported by heterosexual Mothers (Pawelski ). Also reported was that the observed evidence has shown that gay Fathers have shown nurturance and investment in their parental roles with no difference from the heterosexual Fathers when providing appropriate recreation or encouraging autonomy (Pawelski). This is only one of the many reports that have proved that same-sex couples are no different than the heterosexual couples other than their choice to be gay.
People supporting this bill claim that giving gay couples the right to a Civil Union would be harmful not only to the children of these couples but to our society (Stanton 2). Like I had stated before, there has been plenty of research done to prove that Same-sex parents are just as functional as heterosexual parents. As far as Civil Unions being harmful to society, I have yet to find a shred of research that proves how this is possible. All the research I have found suggests the opposite. According to the section on legal and financial effects of public policies in the American Academy of Pediatrics research, if Civil Unions are allowed our Social Security payments and spending on insurance coverage for partners of federal workers would rise over time. On the other hand, other expenditures such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income would decrease causing a net result of saving nearly 1 billion dollars per year (Pawelski). The Williams institute has also had similar findings on the federal budget and on many state budgets (Pawelski). So claiming that same-sex Civil Unions are harmful is just ridiculous and hurtful to our fellow Americans.
The idea of taking away the rights of an entire community because people don’t agree with how they live their lives is not what America is based on. If this amendment is passed we will be writing discrimination into our constitution and taking away their freedom of choice. Not by protecting the foundation of marriage, but by taking away Civil Unions and any other public act, judicial proceeding, or legal union between two members of the same sex. Society is so focused on our gay community’s way of life that they have forgotten that our fellow Americans still deserve their civil rights. Americans take pride living in a country that we call free and we should keep it that way.
Sources:
Abraham, James W. Pindell and Yvonne. "The Boston Globe." 18 February 2004. Boston.com. 7 February 2008 http://www.boston.com/news.
"Florida4Marriage: Meaning of the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment." Florida4marriage. 7 February 2008 http://florida4marriage.org/.
Goldstein, Richard. "AlterNet:The Gay Marriage Bomb." 14 August 2001. AlterNet. 7 February 2008 http://www.alternet.org/story/11312.
Stanton, Glenn. September 2004. Family Source. 7 February 2008 http://www.family.org/cforum/fosi/marriage.
Pawelski, James, MS, Perrin, Ellen, MD, Foy, Jane, MD, Allen, Carole, MD, Crawford, James, MD, Monte, Mark, JD, Kaufman, Miriam, MD, Klein, Jonathan, MD, Smith, Karen, Springer, Sarah, MD, Tanner, J. Lane, MD, Vickers, Dennis, MD. “The Effects of Marriage, Civil Union, and Domestic Partnership Laws on the Health and Well-being of Children.” Pediatrics 1 July 2006. PEDIATRICS, Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics 8 February 2008
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