"Recent decades have seen much interest in the idea of diversity. The argument for same sex marriage asserts that it is hypocritical to deny the full rights and opportunities of citizenship which includes the access to an institution as basic as matrimony" (Phy-Olsen, 2006, p
This argument is based on the interrelationship between marriage and parenting. "Marriage functions at the societal level to establish and institutionalize not only one adult's relationship to another adult, but also those adults' relationship to the children born to them" (Somerville, 2007, p
For example, "in a general diversity course completed identical surveys during the first and last weeks of the semester. Participants in diversity courses exhibited increased heterosexual privilege awareness and support for same-sex marriage, as well as less prejudice against lesbians and gay men, during the last week of the semester compared to pretest levels" (Stewart & Case, 2010, p
Opponents of same-sex marriage also claim that children raised by homosexuals are more dissatisfied with their own gender, suffer a greater rate of molestation within the family, and have homosexual experiences more often (Knight). Indirectly, opponents go on to say that gay marriage will encourage teens who are unsure of their sexuality to become victims of suicide, depression, drug abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases (Benne and McDermott, 2004)
Opposition to same-sex marriages is largely based on personal opinions of what marriage ought to be. Most notably, those against same-sex marriage define marriage as the union of two sexes, not the union of two people (Knight)
The argument posits that if marriage is the union of a man and a woman then the SSM goes contrary to that descriptive position. SSM is essentially an oxymoron (Eskridge, 1993, p
Rights are not privileges and should not be treated as such. This argument suggests that the denial of marriage to couples of the same sex denies this group a fundamental right (Keane, 1995, p
Research from conservative arenas suggests that children thrive best in a climate where the parents are of the opposite sex. The position is that for children to develop correct gender identity they are required to have parents of opposite sex to model behavior (Meezan, & Rauch, 2005, p
Most of the participants were of younger age group and had started homosexuality in their high school life. (Abraham Julie, 2010, pg
Gay marriages in the three states were in general socially acceptable but the older generation had difficulties in adapting to this change in the social structure. (Harry K
Therefore this research concluded that the most important factor in forming an opinion about the same sex marriage idea is religion and religious orientation of a person. (Hart A
, in the American Psychoanalytic Association, wrote a paper on Gay Marriages (2010) and figured out that out of these factors religious orientation is the most affecting independent variable out of the three. (Roberts, 2010 page104) This research will aim to answer the research question through the above mentioned three independent variables by studying their impact on the dependent variable
This therefore makes all the homosexuals criminals in the eyes of some people. (Adam, 1995) Even in history, homosexuals realized their rights and urged the government to ban this sort of discrimination
On the other hand, county clerks in four states have gone to give licenses despite the ban that was announced. Hawaii is one of the states that is now actively considering allowing gay marriage (Bello, 2013) The momentum with which these efforts are taking place do resemble the civil rights movement that was initiated back in the 1960s
These rights are given to every person and these rights are also protected by the constitutional amendments. Same sex marriage is also one of the rights that is indivisible, interdependent and interrelated (Evans & Sahnoun, 2001) It should be noted that human rights do not only go on to cover a person's political or economical rights
They were victims of harassment and violence only because of their sexual orientation. (Mohr, 1994) Back in the day, Sodomy laws were made which went onto prohibit oral or anal sexual intercourse between two men
The movement and effort for same sex marriage was basically created when a lesbian couple was not given permission to see each other after one of them got in a car accident. The court had emphasized on the fact that marriage is the union of one woman and one man (Sloan, 1997) Same Sex Marriage and U
Rather, the legal bond of matrimony is merely recognition of the beginnings of an attempt of the couple to make such a moral bond and to enter into a social framework of unity. (George, 2003, p
"In the crowded courtroom, some of the gay activists and lawyers silently but visibly wept as they listened." (Thomas, 2003, p
It was feared that allowing same sex marriages would have a negative impact on divorce rates. However, empirical research indicates that same sex marriages are often just as stable, if not more so than traditional opposite sex marriages (Anderson, Noack, and Seierstaed, p