LGBT Marriage

                In America, we have always prided ourselves in being the ‘land of the free’ and ‘upholders of liberty’. While these labels remain true in many aspects of our society, we have yet to extend these freedoms and liberties to certain minority groups. This being said, the LGBT community is currently being deprived of marriage rights. This fundamental freedom is being denied to the LGBT minority mainly because of stubborn politicians.

                In order to analyze the LGBT marriage issues we first need to gain a basic understanding of what marriage is. Marriage has its roots in religion. In the Judeo-Christian sense, marriage is the social contract between a man and a woman. Men and woman would get married through a religious ceremony which would, in theory, solidify their relationship for the rest of time. Many believe that this religious ceremony was developed over thousands of years because of the need for families to produce children in order to perpetuate. Without children, families would lose their power and/or wealth. Religious institutions adopted this ritual and have used this basic definition of marriage for thousands of years.

                Interestingly enough, states began to uphold marriage contracts. Governments became part of the marriage process. Now, marriage was not only a social contract but also a legal contract. Laws were created about the terms of marriage and specific tax codes were made applicable to married couples. If marriage remained solely a religious practice then there would be no controversy over it. But now that the government became involved, citizens want to ensure that these marriage policies do not discriminate against certain groups.

                It’s already established that the religious definition of marriage is a contract between a man and a woman. That’s all fine and dandy until the government gets involved. Since there is a separation between church and state in the US, the question is should the government adopt the religious definition of marriage? Well, let’s look at this logically. Marriage guarantees certain privileges among those who are married. If the government were to limit marriage to only a man and a woman, these privileges would be held from those who seek to marry others of the same gender. This is a classic case of discrimination. Thus, the answer to the previous question is no, the government should not adopt the religious definition of marriage. In order to promote freedom and equality in America, the government must extend marriage rights to the LGBT community or simply drop its involvement in the marriage process all together.