Thesis Statment
Because this country has invoked separation of church and state, same-sex marriage should be allowed under the constitutional right to pursue happiness.
What is a family?
What is the separation of church and state (SCS)? It is a legal and political principle derived from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a national religion by the Congress or the preference of one religion over another, non-religion over religion, or religion over non-religion. Originally, the First Amendment only applied to the federal government. Subsequently, under the incorporation doctrine, certain selected provisions were applied to states. It was not, however, until the middle and later years of the twentieth century that the Supreme Court began to interpret the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses in such a manner as to restrict the promotion of religion by state governments. Now this may sound like a bunch of mumbo jumbo but in understandable English this states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” Meaning that due to this principle, religion has nothing to do with whether or not we actually allow same sex couples to engage in the act of marriage. Today’s culture is expanding in various ways. Why should anybody hide or be told they are not allowed to do any one thing?
As we all know there are a few celebrities that have no problem with letting the world know that they are homosexual. The list includes but is not limited to such people as Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O’ Donnell, Clay Aiken, Lance Bass, and Melissa Etheridge. Ellen married her life partner Portia de Rossi in the state of California, but due to the Proposition No. 8 their marriage is no longer legal. Rosie married her partner Kelli Carpenter on February 26, 2004 in San Francisco when the Mayor allowed same-sex marriage, but then later on their marriage was no longer legal when all those certificates were voided. Rosie also is a strong activist for allowing homosexual couples to adopt and has quite a few foster and adopted children herself. Clay, who also has a child, announced he was gay in September of 2008. Lance, who declared himself gay in July of 2006, was once part of the band NSYNC. Melissa announced that she was a lesbian in 1993, has had 4 children; two with ex-partner Julie Cypher and two with current wife Tammy Lynn Michaels. Because of the Proposition No. 8, their marriage is no longer legal.
In a recent article in the Advocate Magazine it states there have been a lot of comparisons between gay and African American rights. This article also demonstrated how mass confusion can occur when the information for a major proposition happens during an election. For example: California residents were confused on how to vote for Proposition 8 due to all the excitement over the election. They thought that a vote for the proposition meant that it would allow same-sex marriage and that a vote against was against same-sex marriage when the reverse is how it should have been voted. The article focused more on Proposition No. 8 because the controversy occurred during the election. However, this one little article on one issue shows how much importance homosexual marriage has. It also shows that once we allow same sex marriage then our very last civil rights battle will be over!
We have equal rights for everyone except homosexuals! Why is the issue of homosexual marriage such controversy as long as they are not forcing the issue on anyone? If this country truly believes what the constitution says that everyone has the right to the pursuit of happiness and we have invoked the separation of church and state, then religion should not be able to deny same-sex marriage.
As we all know there are a few celebrities that have no problem with letting the world know that they are homosexual. The list includes but is not limited to such people as Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O’ Donnell, Clay Aiken, Lance Bass, and Melissa Etheridge. Ellen married her life partner Portia de Rossi in the state of California, but due to the Proposition No. 8 their marriage is no longer legal. Rosie married her partner Kelli Carpenter on February 26, 2004 in San Francisco when the Mayor allowed same-sex marriage, but then later on their marriage was no longer legal when all those certificates were voided. Rosie also is a strong activist for allowing homosexual couples to adopt and has quite a few foster and adopted children herself. Clay, who also has a child, announced he was gay in September of 2008. Lance, who declared himself gay in July of 2006, was once part of the band NSYNC. Melissa announced that she was a lesbian in 1993, has had 4 children; two with ex-partner Julie Cypher and two with current wife Tammy Lynn Michaels. Because of the Proposition No. 8, their marriage is no longer legal.
In a recent article in the Advocate Magazine it states there have been a lot of comparisons between gay and African American rights. This article also demonstrated how mass confusion can occur when the information for a major proposition happens during an election. For example: California residents were confused on how to vote for Proposition 8 due to all the excitement over the election. They thought that a vote for the proposition meant that it would allow same-sex marriage and that a vote against was against same-sex marriage when the reverse is how it should have been voted. The article focused more on Proposition No. 8 because the controversy occurred during the election. However, this one little article on one issue shows how much importance homosexual marriage has. It also shows that once we allow same sex marriage then our very last civil rights battle will be over!
We have equal rights for everyone except homosexuals! Why is the issue of homosexual marriage such controversy as long as they are not forcing the issue on anyone? If this country truly believes what the constitution says that everyone has the right to the pursuit of happiness and we have invoked the separation of church and state, then religion should not be able to deny same-sex marriage.
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