Gay Marriage

Gay marriage is an idea whose time has come: gay couples of either sex wishing to marry should not be hindered in any way.

Homosexuality has existed since the beginning of the history of humankind. Many people have problems tolerating this fact but this does not mean that it would disappear. Gay couples' life is not easy, they have been persecuted and laughed at for years. In hardly any place they can feel safe and free. It is high time homosexual relationships started to be treated as equal with heterosexual ones.

However, not all people agree with the statement that gay couples should be able to marry. The opponents of this thesis, mainly orthodox Catholic believers, claim that homosexual relationships are against God's will, that the Bible clearly states that it is immoral and evil, and, what follows, gay people are not supposed to get married because it is the sacrament reserved to a man and a woman. But the fact is that nowhere in the Bible homosexuality is actually condemned. According to the article by Mel White, co-founder of Soulforce, "The Bible is completely silent on the issue of homosexual orientation. And no wonder. Homosexual orientation wasn't even known until the 19th century. . . The authors of the Bible are authorities in matters of faith. They can be trusted when they talk about God. But they should not be considered the final authorities on sexual orientation any more than they are the final authorities on space travel, gravity, or the Internet" (White, par.6). Priests and God's followers always convince believers that the main message of the Bible and of the religion in general is to love each other and this is what gay couples wanting to get married do. On this premise condemning someone because of his or her sexual orientation would be hypocrisy.

Secondly, opponents state that homosexuality is not natural, that it is some kind of deviation along with pedophilia or sadomasochism. But actually, homosexuality is not against nature. The best argument for this statement is that homosexual behaviour occurs not only among people but also among animals. Peter Boeckman, the academic advisor for the first exhibition that focuses on homosexuality in the animal kingdom, explains that, "One fundamental premise in social debates has been that homosexuality is unnatural. This premise is wrong. Homosexuality is both common and highly essential in the lives of a number of species . . . Homosexual behaviour has been observed in 1,500 animal species" (Boeckman, par.3). Boeckman states that sex among male chimpanzees is commonplace, he enumerates lions, dolphins and killer whales as well. Among birds there are species who are homosexual during all their lifetime (Boeckman, par. 4-7).

The final argument that opponents put forward is that homosexual couples should not be able to marry because they are a threat to procreation and may even be a cause of the extinction of humankind.

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