Essay --

The institution of marriage has traditionally been defined as between a man and a woman. In the Oct. 15, 1971 decision Baker v. Nelson, the Supreme Court of Minnesota found that "The institution of marriage as a union of man and woman, uniquely involving the procreation(reproduction) and rearing(raising) of children within a family, is as old as the book of Genesis.† The idea that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue is very misleading to many because technically it is far from it. The unifying characteristics of the protected classes within the Civil Rights Act of 1964 include (1) a history of longstanding, widespread discrimination, (2) economic disadvantage, and (3) unchangeable characteristics... 'Sexual orientation' does not meet any of the three objective criteria shared by the historically protected civil rights categories although the opinion that homosexuality is choice rather than a born trait is heavily debated. In recent decades, marriage has been weakened by a liberal view that is more about adults’ desires than children’s needs. Allowing gay marriage would only further shift the purpose of marriage from producing and raising children to adult gratification. Traditional marriage is already threatened with high divorce rates (between 40% and 50%) and with 40.6% of babies being born to unmarried mothers in 2008 according to National Statistics and the preliminary data for births in 2008. Allowing same-sex couples to marry would further weaken the institution. Sweden began offering same-sex couples benefits in 1987, followed by Denmark in 1989 and Norway in 1993. According to a Feb. 29, 2004 report by Stanley Kurtz, PhD, from 1990 to 2000, Norway's out-of-wedlock birthrate rose from 39% to 50% and Sweden's rose fro... ...havior. It is a natural occurrence that girls who are raised apart from their fathers are reportedly at higher risk for early sexual activity and teenage pregnancy. Children without a mother are deprived of the emotional security and unique nurturing that mothers find it almost natural to provide. Our society can choose to support certain types of sexual arrangements, such as gay relationships, and give support in the form of benefits to these arrangements, close or equal to those given to people in a traditional marriage. I believe in equality of opportunity and this would give both gay and traditional marriages equal support, treatment, and benefits from our government. However the term marriage, to those who still remain loyal to the teachings of religion, has an unchangeable definition, which is the union of man and women in matrimony to become husband and wife.