Imagine being unable to have the right to own property because of your eye color. Imagine getting disgusted looks by passersby and seeing mothers hurrying their children away from people like you. Imagine people telling you to stop being the way you are; to change what you are to conform to society’s standards. But you can’t change your eye color. Sure, you can wear contacts and hide who you are, but that just makes it hurt more; living life knowing that you’ll always have to hide behind a mask, you’ll always have to pretend to be someone else, and you’ll never be good enough. This has been a controversial topic for many, many years: “Should homosexual couples have the same rights as heterosexual couples?” Slowly but surely, gay people have been gaining ground on their way to equality in our turbulent society. Homosexual couples should have the same rights as straight couples. Gay couples should be happy in their own skin, and not be forced to conform to society’s outdated beliefs.

Disallowing certain people certain rights is downright ridiculous and unfair. When two people love one another, nothing else is important. The only thing holding back two gay people’s marriage is what the social norm is and what people like to call ‘the way things are’. Furthermore, allowing gays to marry and adopt children would help with the ever-growing amount of kids in orphanages. Obviously, gays have no method of reproduction, so the number of gay couples adopting children would be extremely high in comparison to couples who have the ability to create offspring. Over 150 million kids are living in orphanages without a home and that vast number will slowly descend if gays are allowed to adopt children. Children deserve to come to a stable home where they are wanted, cared for, loved, and their future needs are met. If a gay couple can provide that, they should be able to have a child however they can. Because honestly, not even the heterosexuals are doing that good of a job. Teen moms, welfare moms, apathetic or indulgent parents, changing lovers, divorcees, new marriages... Finally, marriage is a private affair that is between two people and those two people only. No one would like random strangers commenting on what they can and can’t do in their relationships. If the roles are reversed and only gays have allowance to marry, heterosexual people wouldn’t sit idly by as their relations are picked apart and scrutinized, and they can’t possibly expect someone else to do the same.

Continuing on, homosexual couples pose no threat to anyone’s life or rights. If what someone likes does not hurt anyone or threaten their natural rights, then there are few to no problems with it existing. With this being said, the idea that continuing to restrict people their rights because that is ‘how it is supposed to be’ is ludicrous. Many people also believed that slavery was ‘how it was supposed to be’, but then people realized how ridiculous it was and they snapped out of their ignorant daze. Mary E. Williams, an American writer and commentator, once said, “Same sex marriage would clearly not deprive anyone of any important benefits of marriage, and would not fundamentally change its definition.” On a similar note, Barack Obama himself believes that gays and lesbians should be treated fairly. On ABC News, when questioned on the topic, he stated: “I have always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated equally and fairly.” If the person who was chosen to lead an entire nation believes that treating everyone with respect and equality is the way life should be lived, we should listen. Finally, the Founding Fathers wanted the children of this great nation to be treated fairly and with equal rights, as quoted in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Many great men have reflected upon this statement and have used it in their own writing, so the United States of America should take more steps into becoming a truly free nation.

Taking away a human’s basic right to marriage is against the law. Human right number 16 states that men and women of full age without any limitation due to race, nationality, or religion, have the right to marry and found a family. Following that, gay couples who wish to marry, and are of full age, should have the right to marry and found a family. Continuing on, a survey conducted by Mrs. Thompson’s third core class of 22 middle school students revealed what they believe in on this topic. 86% of the students believed that gay couples should have equal rights, while only 14% believed that they shouldn’t. Finally, Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Freedom is never given voluntarily by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” As with the illegal-yet-accepted racial discrimination in the mid-1950’s, the unlawful oppression of a certain group of people for an unchangeable trait within them will be eradicated and brought to justice just as it had before.

“If gay couples are allowed to marry and raise children, the children will grow up to be gay too, and the child will lose the experiences of having a dad and a mom as parents.” This argument makes perfect sense; where else would gays come from? If this was the case, then all people should be straight and none of them should even have the thought of having relations with someone of the same sex. Also, if having an experience of both a mother and a father is so important, then why are there so many single parents? Surely, with this thinking, the idea of a child being raised by only a mother or only a father should be as taboo as homosexuality. Having parents of both genders does not make the child somehow more whole or correct, it just means they would have a different upbringing to one who did not have that experience.

Some people say that allowing gay marriage will cause more people to be gay. This is seemingly as correct as saying that being around tall people will cause people to be tall themselves. Just because people are exposed to something, does not necessarily mean that they will submit to that thing and follow its lead, especially with an unchangeable human trait. And also, many homophobes believe that homosexuals can just change into being heterosexual, but again, with an unchangeable human trait, you cannot forcefully change it. You can always hide it with whatever methods you choose, but it can never be fully taken away from someone.

In some cases, ‘separate but equal’ works well, but not in this one; civil unions are far closer to separate and unequal. They lack many important qualities and benefits of a straight marriage. For example, civil marriage brings with it at least 1,138 legal protections and responsibilities from the government, while civil unions bring very few of these protections. Not to mention that most states will not even recognize the legal status of the civil union.

People also say that gay marriages will ruin the meaningfulness of marriage if they’re allowed. The sanctity of unions such as Britney Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be forever ruined. Thus, perhaps the allowance of gay marriages will improve the idea of marriage and perhaps set examples for other couples on how to truly love someone for their heart and not their body. But the answer to that question, and many other questions, will not be found unless it’s given a try.

All in all, gay couples should have the same rights as straight couples. It’s only fair, not a threat to anyone’s rights, and the discrimination is immoral as well as illegal. Quite frankly, humans are rubber; they will retain their form unless presented with the right conditions. In this case, the right conditions would be the realization that everyone is born equal and should be treated as such. Allowing gays the right to marry will improve the truthfulness of America’s claims of being a free nation, and it will make over nine million people happy. Why not give it a shot?