As California Goes...

It is a dim but steady light that shines on the possibility of a United States that will allow gay marriage.

As of November 7, 2012, gay marriage is legal in nine states: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Maryland, Maine, and Washington, in addition to the District of Columbia.
From June until November of 2008, same-sex couples were allowed to marry in California, as well, but with the passage of Proposition 8, an amendment to the California Constitution, marriage was legally defined within the state as a union between one man and one woman. Then, in June of 2010, a federal district court declared this ban unconstitutional. The Court of Appeals upheld the ruling, and it is now being reviewed by the United States Supreme Court.
Despite these state battles, a federal measure seemed to be a long shot. However, with President Obama’s recent formal expression for support of California legalization, the ray of hope for a nationwide lifting of the ban widens slightly.

Marriage is already a precarious institution, with high divorce rates hovering between 40 and 50 percent. Allowing same-sex couples to marry would further weaken it. Additionally, people should not have to spend their hard-earned tax dollars to support something that they don’t agree with.
Not only that, but the majority of strong religious institutions in the United States do not believe in same-sex marriage, and legalizing it would put those churches in a tight spot. If they don’t believe in gay marriage, how can these administrations in good conscience allow same-sex couples to marry in their churches?
Furthermore, what is the point of same-sex couples marrying anyway if they’re unable to procreate? Isn’t marriage all about making families? Adopting a baby into a same-sex family will surely only be detrimental to that child in the long run. A well-adjusted child needs to be raised in a household with both a mother and father, not two of one or the other.

Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage, in 2004. Between 2003 and 2008, its divorce rate declined 21 percent, culminating in the state having the lowest divorce rate in the nation. The states with the highest divorce rates all currently ban same-sex marriage.
Same-sex marriage is a civil right. The 1967 Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia confirmed that marriage is "one of the basic civil rights of man.” This is a matter for government to decide, not religion. Marriage is a secular institution, not a religious one, and as such, the church should have no place in it. There is a separation of church and state for a reason.
To say that marriage and procreation go hand-in-hand is to belittle not only gay couples, but infertile ones. The ability to produce has never been a qualification for marriage, as marriage is a union between two people, not an entire family. Additionally, for every study pointing out the detriments of a child being raised in a same-sex marriage, there is one proclaiming that children raised by same-sex parents do better socially and academically as a whole.

Regardless of the pros and cons of this debate, the fact remains that we are denying basic equal rights to a large segment of our nation’s population. It is humiliating to think that a nation as allegedly powerful and progressive as the United States will not legally recognize the desire of so many to take part in an institution so secular. One can only hope that someday this argument will be nothing more than a past embarrassment to be swept under the rug, like slavery and segregation. If two people love one another and want to marry, it should be nobody else’s business how they choose to celebrate their relationship. It should not matter if they might get divorced, or if they might adopt a child. That is their business, and as such it starts and ends with them. Perhaps the day will come when the phrase “gay marriage” is obsolete, and the single word “marriage” is used for all.

As with any big change, many baby steps must be taken first. Although it may seem as though progress is slow overall, at least the momentum appears to be gaining in favor of equality for all couples. The country’s eyes are on California now, and as history tells us, “As California goes, so goes the nation.”
One can only hope that it continues to hold true.