Marriage is considered throughout the world the scared and holy union of two people. Over time things have changed about marriage whether it be that we marry someone from another race, or religion, or have the ceremony carried out in somewhere other then a church but the idea is still the same. Marriage is two people celebrating their love for each other by agreeing to spend the rest of their lives together. Some call marriage a right, such as freedom of speech. Then I have a question for you. Why isn’t this right free for everyone?
For many years gays have been fighting for the right to get married. They don’t see the difference between those of the same and opposite sex marrying, and neither do I. I am a straight Canadian Catholic teen. I am for the gay rights movement because I believe in equality for all. I do not believe that it is a crime against God to allow same sex marriage. There are far worse things one can do. I believe that love knows no bounds and that if two people are truly and deeply in love with each other that they should get married.
As of July 20, 2005 Canadian gays have had the right to marry. At the time the Liberal government took some flack for this. But was hailed for becoming the fourth country to make same sex marriage legal. People said that it was a historic moment and that the world was making great leaps into greater acceptance. Some say that it’s hard for society to accept gays and that it will take some time before they’re truly integrated into society. But historians have uncovered evidence that thousands of years ago in ancient Greece there was an army comprised entirely of gay soldiers and their lovers. It was believed that if you were fighting with your lover then you would fight harder, and since woman weren’t allowed in the army homosexual men were the ones that they could turn to. Some would say that the Greeks were pagans and believed a lot of crazy things, which is true, but they were the best fighting unit and if people could accept gays thousands of years ago why can we?
I can see why many people are opposed to gay marriage. Some think that it’s wrong; some say that if it’s not good enough for their religion then it’s not good enough for them. For me it’s not a question of religious faith and belief but a question of equality. Everyone is equal and everyone should have the same rights. Think back to WWII when Christian churches hid Jews from the Nazis. They didn’t care that the Jews didn’t believe in Jesus, they knew that they weren’t being treated fair and helped them out. Now in no way am I comparing Christians to Nazis or am I saying that gays are being treated as worse as the Jews but it’s the same principle. Equality is for everyone and no one has the right to pick and choose who should get it.
A contest entry
- The Great Debate by EmeraldDreams.
185 points, ended September 3, 2007, 5 entries
Bronze trophy winner
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Comments
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I like the way this is written, very fluid and very strong to the point. The last paragraph especially i found to be very striking and thought provoking. Nice job, thanks for the entry.
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I disagree with your first sentence. Marriage has always been considered the sacred and holy union of a man and a woman and not two people. There is a reason that it was ordered this way and was accepted by society. A child needs to have both a mother and a father and each brings uniques qualities and attributes to a relationship. A child with two fathers would be missing the stabilizing influence and tenderness that only a mother could bring. A child with two mothers would miss the qualities he could only gain from having a father figure in his life. As much as we would like it to be men and women are not the same.
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Ok... Gays were killed in WWII also, just like the Jews, but I'm not going to get into that lol. I love you... don't know you, but I love you lol For a straight boy to say that, it takes a lot of courage and I thank you for it. Way to make a stand for the pinks and purples lol I really don't like getting into this topic because, being gay, I'm going to be bias to our side. But like the blacks (no offence) it just takes time getting used to. Even after they were released from slavery, they were treated like shit. So to all you gays out there, just wait, and we will be accepted soon or later... and u know, if u wanna hook up or something lol kidding.
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Im glad that there are people in the world that agreee that we gays and lesbians should be allowed the same privillages
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Nice
Well, you gave very good examples, esp. the Greek part, reinforcing a point (that gay had been okay thousands of years ago) and giving personal experience from living in Canada and what your government has done. You should do some grammar checks.. just a little smoothing over...
" Now in no way am I comparing Christians to Nazis or am I saying that gays are being treated as worse as the Jews but it’s the same principle." ..... But you WEREN'T comparing them, and it's not the same principle, you didn't make a principle there. You talking about how Christians hid Jews from the Nazis even though they were different. This is all well and good, but does not correlate into your debate. Take that whole bit out, replace it. Nice job! -
Ooh, interesting, I never knew there was an army in ancient Greece comprised of gay soldiers....I learned something new today!
You had a few grammar erros in here that you might want to fix...Also, toward the end, the sentence "Now in no way am I comparing Christians to Nazis" got a little confusing. You should probably point out that it is "present-day Christians" you mean, not the ones in the past that hid the Jews...You may also want to make a statement about anti-gay people tending to also be Christian, because it may or may not be common knowledge. Just be careful not to pin ALL Christians as anti-gay...
Also with that last paragraph, when you say that you're NOT saying that gays are being treated as badly as the jews were...I'd like to point out that during the Holocaust, Jews, gypsies, people with physical and mental disabilities, AS WELL AS gays who were persecuted. It is the latter group that is sometimes not mentioned in books. In fact, the inverted pink triangle, one of the symbols of gay pride, has its origins in the Holocaust - just like the Jews were forced to wear the Star of David, the gays had to wear this triangle.
The more you know!
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Thanks for the comment Token
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Your point is very well stated. Good work on this piece. A lot of people fight daily for their rights. You've stated your case elequently. Good luck in the contest.
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