I believe that same-sex couples should have the same rights in marriage and adoption as heterosexual couples because there are no justifiable reasons why the same laws and rights should not apply equally to all couples regardless of gender. Some people argue that the idea of gay couples marrying and adopting children is wrong for a number of reasons. Firstly, many religions – including the world’s most prominent, Christianity, and the fastest growing, Islam – believe that homosexual acts are wrong.
However, many of the rules laid down by these religions were probably designed mainly to help people to lead their lives as beneficially as possible. In both Judaism and Islam, for example, eating pork is wrong, but it has been suggested that this rule was put into place for food hygiene reasons rather than for any holy requirements. Similarly, it is likely that anti-gay laws were put into place at the time because homosexual sex did not produce children who were needed to increase the population at a time when infant mortality rates were high.
Even if you believe that the sacred texts are the word of God, the vast majority of religious people no longer follow these words exactly. The same chapter of Leviticus that says ‘Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is an abomination’ states that no man must marry the sister of a deceased wife, the idea of which was overturned by the government in the Deceased Wife’s Sister Act of 1880. It also states that a person who has a blemish, a broken hand or foot or a flat nose can not come to the altar.
Which, I’m sure, most Christians would find ridiculous and never contemplate putting into practice. Another argument that people, including agnostics and atheists, put forward against gay marriage is the claim that it is ‘unnatural’ and that gay people are choosing to act in a way that is contradictory to their natures. Clearly, this is not the case because throughout the natural world there is evidence of homosexual activity in a large number of animals other than humans including dogs, hedgehogs and dolphins.
Many of these animals are living in completely natural conditions and therefore must be ‘naturally’ gay. Times change. A hundred years ago, the majority of people in this country believed that inter-racial couples were ‘unnatural’ and would be shocked at the idea of an inter-racial couple getting married, but now most people would be shocked at the idea of this not being allowed.
A reason proposed by some people against gay couples adopting is that children would not have role models of both sexes, which are apparently needed for healthy development. One way of demolishing this argument is by looking at the evidence that around one in four children in Britain live in one-parent families and so are being raised by role models of only one sex. These children are not taken into care or having surrogate father figures forced upon them by the government, so obviously this argument for healthy development is an exaggeration.
Also, if a single homosexual person can adopt a child who will then be raised by a role model of only one sex, why can’t a child be raised by two homosexual parents? Another reservation many people have against gay people adopting is the worry that these children will be perceived as ‘different’ and would be seriously bullied by other children. My argument against this is that if gay people were allowed to adopt and more children were raised by same-sex couples, these children would become more accepted and not considered unusual.
As recently as the 1950s, children born outside of marriage were stigmatised but now, with a much larger number of children in this situation, it is considered completely normal and there is no bullying involved. I think that these points show that the reasons put forward against gay marriage and adoption are unfounded and that there are no compelling reasons for not introducing equal laws for heterosexual and homosexual couples. Because of this, I propose that the government puts their prejudice aside and gives homosexuals the rights they deserve.
