What are the reasons for and against gay marriage

What are the reasons for and against gay marriage

Introduction

Gay marriage is one of the most controversial issues in the modern world. For the past thousand years,

marriage has been recognized as the social union between a man and a woman. In most cultures across

the globe, homosexuality was viewed with disdain, and marriages between same-sex couples were

forbidden.However, homosexual relationships are slowly gaining acceptance, as homosexuals have

become vocal in fighting their right to marry in the early 90s. With an increased in tolerance for

homosexuality in the society, the controversy over the legalization of gay marriage has been disputed

among people in many nations. While the majority of the population believes that the legalization of gay

marriage will have negative impact on the society, gay activists claim that it is against basic civil rights to

prohibit them from marrying.

Same-sex marriage is nothing new, with historical evidence showing that marriage has not always been

the institution between heterosexuals. Gay marriages have existed in some form around 600 years ago.

(Tulchin, 2007) Since early 1960's, gay activists have been striving for the right to marry. However, the

issue of gay marriage only arose from the 1990's, as three same-sex couples filed a lawsuit against the

state of Hawaii for the prohibition of gay marriage in US. The case has come to a conclusion that

banning gay marriage is not constitutional, as there is no real practical reason and compelling arguments

for it. (Bower, 2010)

This event had triggered the world's attention over the next decade and consequently led to the

creation and approval of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1998. This law is exercised in the US

and it has further defined the term marriage, solely as the legal union between a man and...