Reasons Why Gay Marriage Should Be Legal

In the past years, our society, specially in more economically developed countries, there has been several arguments to do with various different sectors of human rights. Between them resides the debate of the principles for distinct sexual orientations. Heterosexual weddings have existed for a very long period of time; in fact, the first recorded evidence of a legal union between a woman and a man through a ceremony comes from about the 2350 B.C.

However, homosexual marriage was far more tardy, the first time legalized was -in the Netherlands- between 2000 and 2001 A.C. Now, twenty years later, there are still many countries where it is still illegal and even punished by death penalty. Conversely, as social restrinctions of homosexual couples decreased and they were more frequently seen without being as harshly discriminated, at least towards male partners, governments in more developed countries, started looking at the possibility of allowing gay weddings. This is when the traditional, religious, social and economic polemics arise.

Marriage for procreation

Traditionally, matrimony was thought to have an intrinsic purpose which was to produce and raise a daughter or son. These ideals were implemented when religion was the most important part involved in marriage. Some religions even said (and still say) that partners were not allowed to have sex until they were married as the only motive for this act was for reproduction but never for pleasure and therefore giving birth without being married was a serious sin.

However, nowadays marriage has gonne beyond traditions and people tend to marry for love and not religion or obligation of conceving. Moreover, even heterosexual couples may marry and not have kids, either because they do not have the biological features in order to make it possible or because they simply do not want to. Therefore, if homosexual couples marry and not have kids there is nothing apart from their sexual orientation that differs them from other heterosexual matrimonies that do not have children either. Consequently, if marriage is only for procreation, why aren't those men and women who marry and do not have sons punished? You would probably think that it is their option and right to decide wethere they want to have a descendent or not, right? So why does this change if it is a same-sex spousal?

Some would argue that men and women who unite at least have the biological option of doing so but two men or two women together could never have kids. Nevertheless, the advancement of medicinal science has made things like in vitro fertilisation and artificial insemination possible which allow two women to have children without the need of the physical presence of a man but only his sperm cell. Furthermore, same-sex partners also have the possibility of adopting and marrying makes this process more accesible for them. Yet even when they do marry and have children homosexuals are criticized as some people may ignorantly judge by saying how this is not beneficial for their kids. Notwithstanding the evidence that The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) proves, there is no supporting facts that say that non-heterosexual parents are deficient in parenting skills or that their sexual inclination influences the child's one or creates a gender-identity confusion —which the American Academy of Pediatrics also proves.

Society and homesexuality

We all live in a society in which we all desire to feel accepted somehow. People generally tend to try to adapt to the main majoritarian groups within society; people who prefer remaining in more minoritary sectors are usually discriminated. Verily, coming back to the children's debate, the only unfavourable part of having non-heterosexual parents comes from how the rest of the society treats them, as they are more likely to feel opressed by heterosexuals only becuase their parents are not one of them.

Mistreatment towardas LGTBs' sexual orientations are ten times more likely to occur than towards a heterosexual citizen, this may come in many forms, for example: 50% of them experience negative reactions coming from their family; 85% of them are verbally bullied during the course of a school year, which in 40% of the cases becomes a physical harassments and a third of them stop attendimg school because of this disruption, but this is only in the childhood. When they become adults they frequently suffer from: not being able to have the same opportunities in order to have an interview; discrimination in the workplace; more likely to become homeless, etc. This sort of issues leads to the elevated number of non-heterosexual people who torment from such disorders as depression, anxiety and a great possibility of suicidal attempts.

The more psycologically unhealthy our population is, the more toxic and unbalanced our society is. Legalizing same-sex marriage would definitely help on the acceptance of homesexuality and therefore decrease the issues that consequently occur. Meaning that not only individuals' mental and physical health imporoves as they marry because it creates a larger and stronger emotional link between any couples — without depending on their inclination— as well as gaining financial and legal benefits but it would also create a favourable enviroment for social purposes as a whole population group.

This diminish in discrimination can even benefit certain companies and even governments economically as this social advancement has been an indicador of development in a country, which attracts tourism and encourages more people to feel more welcome living there without feeling opressed. In addittion, not only it attracts people from other places but the homosexual people already living where they are able to marry legally might help local enterprises, sepecially the ones to do with weddings, to gain more profit as their market share would be larger!

Conclusion

In conclusion, legalizing homosexual matrimonies should be carried out as they help: decreasing the discrimination and therefore eradicating barrears between social clases; it gives individuals legal benefits if they want to find a way to have children and if one of the two spousals have a medical adversity or even result in death; it might help to boost the economy and can bring financial gain to federal governments; it provides physical and mental health benefits decreasing rates of psycological disorders and finally... it should be legal because love is a human necesity and marriage is a human right!