“With Liberty and Justice for All”

An touch sensation of the social in tintity that exists as it pertains to Gay conglutination Aimee L. Vroman Strayer University Online innovation to Sociology SOC 100-015016 Professor Paul Humenik awful 22, 2010 Abstract In recent years, the think over same-sex marriage has gr cause from an get out that occasionally arose in a few pronounces to a nationwide controversy. Indeed, in the last five years, the argue over homophile marriage has been heard in the halls of the U. S.Congress, at the washcloth House, in dozens of state legislatures and courtrooms, and in the rhetoric of election campaigns at both the national and state levels. Moreover, the battle over whether cheerfuls and lesbians should be allo sweep up to wed shows no signs of abating. In the last year alone, three states have illegalize same-sex marriage and four states have legalized the practice. The time for debate is now over. The issue of gay marriage is non one of phantasmal degradation, social erosion , or even ethical breakdown. It is an issue of nontransferable by rightss guaranteed to all citizens of this country.The fact that our federal official government does not recognize gay marriages is an atrocity and shameful at best. The foundation to gay rights will ultimately be obtainn as the right to marry, because with that right firmly established in law, well-nigh other forms of secernment could not be justified. (Bidstrup, Why Gays Should Be Allowed To Marry, 1996) When we as a conjunction look outwards, we see e precisething that we can do to help other societies achieve our level of justice, personal and financial success, freedoms, and everything else that comes with our knowledge and perseverance.However, if we as a union were to look inward at ourselves (something that I am confident that precisely a small percentage of our ordering is willing to do) and at our society as a whole, would we see it in a different lilting? Would we see that even after fifty year s of civil rights and equal opportunity that we still oppress and treat some groups of our society as second class citizens? Our countrys Bill of Rights has been modified by constituent(a) Amendments to verbalize the each and every American citizen has certain inalienable rights.The right to be married is one that we Americans hold near and practiced to our hearts. Why then, is this particular right denied to the gay society? One of the biggest and loudest arguments against gay marriage in this country is that it is against God and that it is against what it says in the Bible (The cristal and Eve, not Adam and Steve argument). Yes, this country was founded on Christian principles and laws that were perceived to be fair to all of its citizenry. However, this is not the seventeen hundreds nor is it the time of the Inquisition.This is the so called modern Era, in which not precisely technology and finance be suppositious to be upgraded and ever changing for the better but also societal have gotance of pot that are different from what we perceive as mainstream and the societal norm. How can there be societal justice for the gay association when we as a society, who proclaim ourselves to be enlightened and forward thinking, renounce even this most basic of rights to the gay confederacy? The answer is unsubdivided there can be no societal justice for the gay community in this aspect.What if we were to turn the tables on society and tell everyone that is not a part of the gay community that their marriages, civil unions, and other forms of confederation were invalid and no longer existed in the eyes of the government? in that respect would be a societal upheaval. Anarchy would ensue and the government would be dismantled by the people. Later, when the people had decided that there had been enough chaos, reform by the people and for the people. The only reason this has not happened with the gay community is because they are the minority in this case.Fo r centuries of our countrys history, we have been nefarious of oppressing and even enslaving the minorities within our society, to say nothing of denying them the inalienable rights called for in our own Constitution. Over time, those minorities that have fought and fought hard for these rights have eventually been afforded these rights by Constitutional Amendments. Yet still, here we sit in the twenty-first century, and we still cannot see past our own biases and our deep rooted fears of anything that is different or impertinent to us.At the end of the day, our opposition to gay marriage stems ultimately from a deep-seeded homophobia in our culture and society, borne almost entirely out of apparitional prejudice. While legion(predicate) of us do not realize that homophobia exists to the extent that it does, it is a very real part of every gay persons life, just like racism is a very real part of every African Americans life. It is there, it is pervasive, and it has far more s erious consequences for our society than most of us realize, not just for gay people, but for society in general.This religious prejudice comes from several well known entities. Those entities include, but are not limited to, the Catholic Church, the Mormon Church, the American Family Association, and Focus on the Family, and the most conservative of Protestant sects. Together with their various political subsidiary groups, a whole host of smaller right-wing political and religious organizations, and a few out-right hate groups, they are shaping national and local polity towards the gay community.They spend millions of dollars twisting and deforming referendums, propositions, and other local instruments of law solely for the purpose of fear mongering to scare the populace into line at the polls. It is these kinds of evasive action being employed that are outdated and flat out terms in the moral and ethical sense. They say that money corrupts well the produce is in the proverbial pudding. The fear mongering turns into unparalleled hate and it is fueled by these so called Christian organizations. This is unlike to the Christian way of life and contrary to the convictions of a Christian.Hatred by itself, dressed up as religious precept has been used for so long that it is beginning to lose its effectiveness (eventually people begin to figure out that it is mostly a tactic for filling pews, collection plates and campaign coffers more than it is a way of reforming lost souls and tilt society), so the more clever of these organizations have begun to move onto a pat propaganda effort based on that long-time favorite winner, fear (Bidstrup, Gay Marriage The Arguments and Motives, 2009). The time for rhetoric and Bible thumping is over. Our country had its time of religious revolution.It is now time for every person, regardless of gender, race, religious belief, or versed orientation, to be given the rights that our laws and traditions provide. This idea has been the cornerstone of our society and our nation for hundreds of years. We cannot accept the view that Amendment 2s prohibition on specific legal protections does no more than deprive homo verseds of special rights. To the contrary, the amendment imposes a special disability on those persons alone. Homosexuals are forbidden the safeguards that others enjoy or may seek without constraint. (Kennedy, Stevens, OConnor, Souter, Ginsburg, & Breyer, 1996) In the Supreme Court opinion that this quote is taken from, it says very patently that a state (Colorado in this case) cannot prevent any group of persons from fetching part in any public or private transaction. though this case was hotly debated over the next fifteen years, Colorado in 2007 passed a law prohibiting any discrimination against homosexuals. Now if one state can do this and then another and then another, why is it so hard for our federally pick out officials to do the same thing?The only answer that I can give is th e activists, hate groups, and church lobbyists that drop off millions of dollars into the coffers of our Senators and Congressman. This dirty money ensures that once again they will get elected and that once again they will vote to keep the gay community as second class citizens. This state of affairs is unacceptable. The time for change is now. Freedom is the right of every American regardless of gender, race, religious affiliation, and sexual orientation. It is high time that we, as a society, stand up and say in one unified voice, This is wrong and we are not sledding to stand for it any longerWorks CitedBidstrup, S. (2009, June 3). Gay Marriage The Arguments and Motives. Retrieved August 19, 2010, from Bidstrup. com http//www. bidstrup. com/marriage. htm Bidstrup, S. (1996, December 4).Why Gays Should Be Allowed To Marry. Retrieved August 18, 2010, from Bidtrsup. com http//www. bidstrup. com/hawaii. htm Kennedy, A. M. , Stevens, J. P. , OConnor, S. D. , Souter, D. H. , Ginsbur g, R. B. , & Breyer, S. G. (1996, October 20).Supreme Court Bound mass 517. Retrieved August 18, 2010, from United States Supreme Court http//www. supremecourt. gov/opinions/boundvolumes/517bv. pdf