Love is Love

Marriage is defined as is a socially or ritually recognized union or legal contract between spouses that establishes rights and obligations between them, between them and their children, and between them and their in-laws. Traditionally, a marriage is thought to be between a man and a woman, but as times change, more and more people are beginning to fight for the rights of homosexuals, bisexuals, transgenders, and any others who don't fall into the category of "straight."  However, there is a lot of backlash from people who don't support the movement.  These people either feel that this nontraditional union ruins the sanctity of marriage, have conflicting religious views,  or just view gay marriage as unnatural.  Obviously, opponents of gay marriage are heterosexual and are unable to empathize with the LGBT+ community.  In our own nation, 32 states have legalized gay marriage, which is huge step in the right direction!

Although many social liberals in the United States are frustrated that gay marriage is not totally legal yet, we are way ahead of the game in comparison to other nations around the world.  As more and more states in America begin to legalize LGBT+ marriages, other nations are still punishing, and even killing, homosexuals solely because of their sexuality.  For example, Putin and the Russian government have a law in review that would allow children of gay and lesbian couples to be taken away from them.  Members of the LGBT+ community in Russian cities, such as Arkhangelsk and Ryazan, have had to live their lives around that national ban against "propaganda of nontraditional relations."  Many have joined youth groups and advocacy groups, but they know they are still vulnerable.  The citizens realize that they are the majority, and that many people are supporters of nontraditional marriage, however the government (even though its members have the minority opinion) is far more powerful than the citizens.  While the local media in these two cities have shown homosexuals unexpected support, the government-controlled national media is persistently inhospitable toward the movement of equality.  This may stem from the fact that Russia and the Western world have always been competing for the title of "global superpower," so Russian lawmakers want to be as different as possible from the United States.  

The debate of gay marriage was brought to the globe's attention during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Many nations around the world threatened to boycott and skip out on the games due to all of the anti-gay propaganda that Putin was delivering. Although the games did end up occurring with all of the intended nations, many interest groups have contacted the International Olympics Committee (IOC), demanding that the games are to never be held in a discriminatory nation in the future. The Olympic Charter protects the rights of all athletes, coaches, and spectators, but it cannot interfere with the implemented governmental system of the host nation (in this case, Russia). However, International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach explicitly stated prior to the games that humans all over the world could count on the group to “ensure that the Charter is fully applied at the Olympic Games and is fully accepted at all venues for all participants from athletes and officials to media and spectators.”  This event became a worldwide controversy, and really shed light on how torn the globe is on this issue.

Nigeria, Egypt, and Uganda are also taking extreme measures to sanitize themselves of homosexuality. Many people are being incriminated and getting thrown into jail because of their sexual orientation. Africa as a whole is struggling to catch up with the rest of the world, and is treating gay marriage very harshly.  The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, is not taking this issue lightly now that Ugandan scientists have ruled that homosexuality is a completely social behavior.  Nicholas Kristof takes a medical standpoint on the matter and issued a letter to health officials which stated multiple reasons to persuade the president to reconsider.  He rebuttals the idea that homosexuality is strictly social, and compares homosexuality to race, height, and other similar characteristics. These characteristics do not have one assigned gene that determines the trait; instead, multiple different genes work complexly to determine what each trait will become.  Kristof speculates that homosexuality falls into this category of ambiguous traits.  He reassures the medical professionals that homosexuality is found in every culture, and can also be influenced by environmental factors.  He closes the letter by reminding the recipients that the vulnerable need to protected and that further research needs to be done before any legislation is passed.

One of the most frustrating arguments against gay marriage is that it ruins the sanctity of marriage due to a lack of religious meaning.  In today's society, the religious affiliation that is "supposed" to go with marriage is lacking and rapidly diminishing.  More and more couples are getting married outside of religious buildings.  Marriage is becoming more of a social event, and with religion slowly being removed from the picture, there really is no argument.  Furthermore, heterosexual spouses are just as likely to destroy the sanctity of marriage through cheating and divorce.  In fact, gay couples are likely to be together longer before getting married, resulting in a lower divorce rate.  From a religious standpoint, opponents argue that gay marriage takes away from the true purpose of marriage, which is to procreate.  However, there are many heterosexual couples that end up putting their children up for adoption because they are unwilling or unable to take care of them.  Through the legalization of gay marriage, more children will be able to have a stable home environment with loving parents rather than having to grow up in foster care with a constant change.  Furthermore, the Bible promotes social change.  In Matthew 5:7, “Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”  This metaphor is basically saying that change is necessary for society to grow, and old societal norms can be detrimental to human development.