Free Gays Rights: Gays Same As Straight Married Couples Essay Example

Introduction

One of the most popular topics for discussion in the developed societies across the United States has been the legitimacy of gay rights. Marriage undisputedly gains individuals the rights and protections within the social norms and the walls of the constitutional provisions. Every civilized community has its own expectations about the concept of marriage and traditionally considers it as an institution for unity between adult males and females to make couples for bringing up the next generation. However, the development of socio-economic conditions in the society has influenced the socio-cultural views about marriage, and a growing minority of the population has recognized marriage as a legal association of two individuals irrespective of their gender. As religious teachings and conservative orthodoxies have a direct influence on the concept of marriage, societies have developed segregated views about individuals based on their matrimonial choices and divided classes like straight couple, LGBT etc. This paper will critically discuss the concept of gay rights with a motive to emphasize the legitimacy and social acceptance of gays equal with straight couples.

Segregated Sexuality

Marriage and sexuality are two interconnected concepts of human life about which making standardization is not possible for the laws and the society. It is absolutely personal for individuals to decide the sexuality pattern they want to continue in the society from among the available options. Considering the importance of personal liberty, the constitution of the United States has provided for the sexuality rights of the citizens. The rights protect them from the unethical infringement of government agencies and organizations and encourage them to participate in the social life without political and civil barriers. The human rights organizations guided by the UN continuously monitor the issues of violations of the individuals’ right to chose their sexuality and express it in a way not harmful to the society around them. In order to guarantee the unquestioned rights of individuals, the UN has organized a dynamic program of organizations and advocates called the Sexual Rights Initiative. According to an official statement, “the initiate appears to be one of few groups that consistently seeks to give examples of sexual rights issues across sectors, addressing adultery, rape of females and males, discrimination against people in sex work, violations of the rights of the gay and lesbian identified people, inter-sex as well as transgendered persons” (International Council on Human Rights Policy, 2009, p.8). The initiative focuses on the promotion of identity among the sexuality groups for safeguarding their civilian rights in claiming social equality. The legitimization of the sexual orientation results in the segregation of sexuality as a social identity, however, the positive effect of this reflects in the prevention of many sexuality-related issues among people and the rehabilitation of HIV/AIDS and other STD patients and gives nursing assistance to the cases of STIs.

Gay Rights

The topic of gay rights the American constitution has taken a long term attention of legal and social debates. The civil society of the country, like any other population, had a strict opinion that same sex marriages were unacceptable. However, the government has initiated the protection of sexuality choices of the individuals and timely amended provisions in the law of marriages that encouraged the homosexual groups to look beyond the traditional confinements to their personal rights associated with the matrimonial relationship. As a result, the social movements to protect the gay rights have been announcing their presence for almost a century in the country. According to a study, the gay rights movements to secure same-sex marriage rights in the America began in Chicago, and the momentum of the program spread across the country in the later stages until the Supreme Court ruled out the unconstitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013 (The American Gay Rights Movement: A Timeline, n.d.).
The social reality of gay rights is continuously alarming despite the constitutional grant and legislation for the gay marriages. The changing governments of the United States have always focused on the importance of the classes of diverse sexual orientation in the political affairs of the country. The repeating events of protest by the gay and lesbian groups against violence raise concerns for the leaders as the law enforcing agencies face an increase in the number of hate crimes in which gays were targeted for various forms of physical harms besides brutal discriminations at workplace and social events. This particular scenario has made a social interpretation of homosexuals comprising gays and lesbians in a manner segregated from the regular social norms for marital status, civic participation and various social enterprises. As a result, several bills to protect their rights came across various constitutional levels of legal considerations in the form of bills. However, the legitimization of gay marriages to view in lieu with the social expectation and honor for straight couple marriages has remained a remote possibility in the country due to religious and socio-cultural reasons.

The Concept of Breeding

The social perspective against gay marriages raises challenges to the marriages of same-sex couples because of the fear that the increasing number of such cases can question the natural worth marriage accomplished by childbearing. According to a perception, The legalization of marriage as a social institution helps the married couples a number of benefits from the government provisions with regards to taxes, medical care, housing and educational facilities. The claim that marriage is a civil right and the choice for making a partner needs to be left for the personal choice of the individuals can effectively fill the social gap between the gay couples and the straight couples. Moreover, the instances of same-sex couples delivering better social performance like maintaining better family environment, childcare and mutual trust etc give weight to the arguments in support of gay marriages. However, with regards to the guardianship of children by gay couples, a social expectation prevails that girls without their biological father’s protection can fall in the risk of early engagement in sex and pregnancy related issues while children in general can face the lack of emotional attention in the absence of their mothers. The stronger claims against the gay marriage rights are formed around religious views about marriage and the social perceptions about the nature’s choice of procreation for new generations, which is possible only through heterosexual marriages. The challenge to this claim stands when the marriages between infertile couples can take place and childless parents can continue their matrimony according to the constitutional rights to freedom and civil liberty.
The social acceptance of same-sex marriages is rapidly increasing in the changing environment of the United States with the young generation treating it as a more convenient choice of lifestyle and sexuality for them. According to a survey by NORC at the University of Chicago (n.d.), the ideologically divided society of the country today has better acceptance for homosexuality as the proportion of the people supporting this nature of sexuality is higher than that opposes it. This estimate can point out the fact that gay marriages are becoming a socially accepted event in America in the present trend of the young generation. However, the religiously proactive class of the Catholic bishops is exclusively against this idea by claiming that the concept of marriage is valid only in terms of its accountability for procreation between the male and female united by the matrimonial relationship. Thus from the religious perspective, gay marriages must remain unethical and grievously unjust for they don’t biologically contribute to the expansion of human race. As Liptak (2015) reports, giving response to these diverse opinions, the Supreme Court’s decision to not act on the same-sex marriages has seen the legitimate acceptance of gay marriages in the thirty six states of the country.

Conclusion

The relevance of discussing gay rights has long been a necessity for the societies of the United States of America. The socio-cultural perspective about gay marriages continues to remain secluded and the population has divided views about their own sexuality. The constitution of the country has evolved through various governments and political ideologies with regards to same-sex marriage and its legitimacy in the country. The changing environment in the society of the young generation takes initiatives to challenge the conservative perceptions about marriages and the resultant effect of the various gay rights movements have seen the acceptance of same-sex marriages in majority of the states in the country. Conclusively, the Supreme Court intervention in the century-long debate on gay rights seemingly helps the activists and organizations to overcome the rage of the conservative orthodoxies and religious restrictions about this topic.

References

The American Gay Rights Movement: A Timeline. (n.d.). Infoplease. Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0761909.html
International Council on Human Rights Policy. (2009). Sexuality and Human Rights. Discussion Paper. Retrieved from http://www.ichrp.org/files/reports/47/137_web.pdf
Liptak, A. (2015, January 16). Supreme Court to Decide Marriage Rights for Gay Couples Nationwide. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/17/us/supreme-court-to-decide-whether-gays-nationwide-can-marry.html?_r=1
NORC at the University of Chicago. (n.d.). Americans Move Dramatically Toward Acceptance of Homosexuality.