One of the most debated topics in politics
and at home right now is the equality of marriage. We are now realizing as a
country that our differences make us who we are and we all deserve the same rights.
If the United States passes a law in favor of equality of marriage we will be
taking great advancements in our history. The United States should pass a law for
marriage equality because our country started based on equality, promotes
adoption, and divorce rates will decline.
As Americans our basic rights are stated
in the Declaration of Independence and protected in the Constitution. The
Declaration of Independence says “that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Before our country
had a government we knew that we were all different but created equal no matter
our differences. Each person was also guaranteed rights that can’t be taken
away from them and included in those rights are “life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.” When the government is denying people the right of marriage they
are denying people their pursuit of happiness and way of life. If the
government passed gay marriage they would be giving people their pursuit of
happiness and giving young children the possibility of a good life.
Many children
each year are put up for adoption for many reasons and if the gay marriage law
passed many other children could be saved from bad homes and frightening
childhoods. All but two states have laws
that allow same-sex or gay couples from adopting. The children would be able to
live in safe, welcoming homes. Out of all the same-sex couples in America
94,627 have children and 21.20% of those children are adopted or step children.
Children are able to experience the same lifestyle as any other children in
America. Children will also most likely experience a home with both parents
where as children of some heterosexual couples will experience split families.
Each year it
seems as if more families wither heterosexual parents are experiencing divorce.
In 2010 for each of the 6.8 marriages 3.6 of them got divorced. That has jumped
from 7.2 marriages and 3.6 divorces in 2007. Many of the states that have approved gay
marriage have the lowest divorce rates in the country. Massachusetts which was
the first state to legalize gay marriage has had the lowest divorce rate since
2008. Alaska on the other hand has one
of the highest divorce rates in the country and they were one of the first
states to prohibit gay marriage. If a law was passed that allowed same-sex
marriage many states would have a lower divorce rate and the people would be
happier.
As the years pass
more people are accepting the idea of same-sex marriage. In 2004 51% of the
people that partook in the Wall Street Journal Poll were strongly opposed to
same-sex marriage, by 2013 that number has dropped to 32%. Each year the
equality of marriage gains more support. If we would pass the equality of
marriage law our country would be upholding our basic values, promoting
adoption, and divorce rates would be lower.
There are some rather interesting facts here! The part about divorce rates is most interesting and very compelling toward your argument.
ReplyDeleteCan you come up with more concrete examples concerning adoption? Any major cases or instances where people have stood up to show that it does not matter the sex of the parents? Or are there statistics about children needing adopted that might lend to your argument that forgetting about gender and more about caring about these children in need is more important?
How would you argue the issue of states rights with regards to this topic? Religious rights? Just things to think about with regards to a counterpoint.
A great topic worthy of writing about!
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