Same-Sex Marriage Essay Example for Free

Same-Sex Marriage Essay The issue over same-sex marriage has come into the limelight beginning 1993 when the Supreme Court in Hawaii favored the issue and ruled that rejecting a union of two people from the same gender is not constitutional. The matter became highly controversial as some states made rulings allowing same-sex unions, while others do not based on religious doctrines and arguments. Marriage is an integral part of society and the nation as a whole. Marriage creates a family, which is considered to be the basic unit of society. Parents rear their children to be positive contributors as they grow up and take more active roles. Without the families, the nations social fabric will weaken, and in turn, every other institution will also be affected. The benefits of the union affects the community in many ways. For instance, marriage establishes the paternity of a child, making it easy to assert about child support. Marriage also prevents conflicts regarding relationships. These are just two benefits of the union that the government sees and recognizes. Because of its impact to society, marriage has come to be defined and regulated by laws, both religious and governmental. The federal and state governments, to promote stability and order, not only have the right to define marriage. It is, in fact, their duty to create laws that define marriage in relation to what society dictates. In Massachusetts, for example, its Supreme Court sees the need to legalize and constitutionalized same-sex marriage. This decision was based not on personal views but on intrepretation of the states laws. In other states, rulings were issued liberalizing marriage, but not entirely making it constitutional. However, many states have amended the definition of marriage as the union between a man and a woman. Those against it sees same-sex unions as a factor that would not be good for their states. Work Cited The U. S. Constitution Online. Contitutional Topic: Marriage. 19 April 2008 http://www. usconstitution. net/consttop_marr. html