Gay Marriage

Most people believe that they deserve the rights they are granted by the government. An upstanding citizen who pays their taxes, serves their community and abides by the law should be afforded the rights of an American. However, not all citizens are afforded equal rights. Gay and lesbians are consistently denied rights that are typically taken for granted by the average American. Specifically, gay and lesbians couples are denied the right to marry even if they are upstanding citizens. They are held at an unfair disadvantage solely because of their sexual orientation. This discrimination must stop because gay and lesbian couples are law-abiding citizens too, who should be afforded the same rights as heterosexual couples.

One common problem that plagues gay and lesbian couples that are denied the right to marry is their inability to claim their partner’s social security after he or she has died. The Human Rights Campaign, which work to achieve equal rights for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender people, is supporting the effort to attain survivor benefits for domesticate partners. They believe, “Any alteration to the Social Security system must include partners of gays and lesbians in its definition of survivor”(Survivor Benefits 1). Currently, there are no programs that give homosexuals survivor benefits like the ones that are provided for heterosexuals who are married or divorced. Gay and lesbian partners are not able to claim benefits of their deceased, regardless of the fact that all working citizens heterosexual or homosexual pay into the Social Security system for survivor benefits (Survivor Benefits 1). Sadly, this leaves many gay and lesbian couples with an unstable retirement. The most disturbing fact is that even though homosexuals and heterosexual both pay the government for survivor benefits, even people who divorced can even claim survivor benefits whereas a lifelong gay/lesbian partner cannot (Survivor Benefits 1). This is blatant discrimination against people of different sexual orientation. This is only one example of how the government’s refusal to recognize same-sex marriages denies homosexuals rights that are supposedly protected by the state.

The ones who suffer the greatest repercussions of such prejudices are the children of gay and lesbian couples. Non-biological children of gays and lesbians cannot receive survivor benefits if the deceased partner did not legally adopt them. But how is this related to whether or not homosexuals should be allowed to marry? Same-sex couples do have the privilege of adopting children to begin a family of their own. However, they are often rejected because of their unmarried status. Even if the government does not wish to provide some financial security for homosexual couples, it should not punish the children of such relationships. The government directly discriminates against the children of same-sex marriages by not allowing them the same rights as children who have heterosexual parents. Children do not chose who their parents are regardless of your stance on the issue. The Human Rights Campaign has adopted the idea that, “any change must also define survivor to include non-biological children of gays and lesbians found in the changing American family”(Survivor Benefits 2). This is absolutely necessary because it is absurd that innocent children are being denied basic rights due to the sexual orientation of their parents. Death is a painful enough experience; nobody should not have to worry about their financial standings with the government after dealing with the loss of a loved one, let alone, a child. Survivor Benefits must include same-sex unions not only because it denies homosexuals rights that are regularly afforded to heterosexual couples; but because the children of these relationships are being discriminated against as well.

Homosexual’s lack of legal recognition effects them in numerous ways. The argument is much deeper then weather or not they should be married because they live together. If same-sex couples are paying taxes to build roads and help public schools like the heterosexual couples, they should be afforded the same rights. This is the exact argument the gays and lesbians of Vermont are using. In the Baker v. Vermont court case, “gay and lesbian couples had argued that they were denied the protection of more than 300 laws as a result of not being allowed to marry” (Meredith 1). Homosexuals are finally suing the state because they are not receiving

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