Same-sex marriage has never been allowed in law or religious doctrine, but recently Hawaii has passed a law to allow same-sex marriage. Other stats have objected and fear being forced to recognize such unions. Religious leaders protest as well and see such a law as a threat to religious freedom. Many see same-sex marriage as a threat to the definition of marriage and to the family and marital bonds in society as well. The reasons for these objections are analyzed, as well as the reasons why same-sex marriage should not be enacted into law.
The issue to be discussed is whether or not homosexuals should be allowed to marry one another. There are a number of rationales that have been offered by those in the gay community as to why they should be allowed to marry, and generally the impetus has come not from a desire to be married as such but as a result of various social and economic benefits denied to gay people because they cannot marry. For some in the gay community, demands for gay marriage may in fact be a form of challenge to the "straight" community, but those who are truly serious about the issue are attempting to secure for homosexual partners such rights taken for granted by heterosexual married couples as the right to inheritance, to insurance benefits, for one partner to visit the other in a hospital, and so on. Society has so far deemed marriage to mean more than this and to have at least the possibility of procreating children, and this idea, sometimes but not necessarily touted as a demonstration of dedication to family or so-called "family values," is used as an argument to deny gays the right to marry one another.
Tensions between the gay and straight cultures of America have been noted by sociologists and the news media for some time. The gay community has taken a lead from the civil rights movement and more and more has asserted itself as a political force, demanding recognition, respect, and equal treat...