Same-Sex Relationships and Marriages

Introduction

Same-sex relationships and marriages have been one of the globally discussed matters that have brought many controversies. The bone of contention is whether these types of relationships should be decriminalized globally or not. Many nations are grappling because many groups, including human rights activists, are pressurizing their governments to legalize the relationships. Men want to be involved with their fellow men as women also prefer to be involved with their fellow women. Around the world, many countries have already legalized unions. The uptake of the relationships in these countries is at an alarming rate. Studies show that people in a same-sex marriage have formed powerful emotional attachments and attracted each other just like in heterosexual relationships. Most of the couples stay in such an arrangement for periods of over ten years. However, same-sex marriages or relationships tear apart the moral fabric of society.

 Background information 

Gay marriages for the longest period had been happening privately. This is because there were no explicit laws that addressed the issue. However, it was kept so illegal that courts could now allow licensing of the marriages whenever parties applied for them. For example, in 1970, a gay couple's request for a marriage license was received in court in Minnesota; however, it was declined to pave the way to the Supreme Court. Maryland banned same-sex marriage in 1973; a series of events happened, including marriages of same-sex couples taking place out of the church as courts gave meanings to same-sex couples as families. In 2011, the defense of marriage act was declared unconstitutional by the US president, Mr. Obama. This act disallowed recognition of gay or lesbian marriages or relationships. Well, this made many states in the US to start declaring the unions as constitutional Gay Marriage. (, 2020). Retrieved 4 December 2020, from https://www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/gay-marriage. In 2015, the US Supreme Court decriminalized the relationship allowing the practice to be held in all 50 states.

Counter Argument

Research studies indicate that homosexual couples can make good parents. The children being brought up by gay parents have not shown any signs of compromise and are well taken care of, just like the children under the supervision of parents who are heterosexual set-ups. The homosexuals can take these children for playing, keep them well-fed, and cloth them. These children are as popular as the children of heterosexual parents in terms of schooling performance and all other aspects that pertain to learners during specific periods in their education journey.

Most homosexual parents in schools have openly claimed their LG status and the adoption of the children they bring to school (Goldberg, 2014). They have never received any form of challenges as their way of life has always been respected. Only a few forms of implicit marginalization, such as a use of insensitive language, have been used but have not gone beyond levels that may raise the alarm. Their issues have always been discussed between the parents and the teachers.

Supporting counterclaims

Many children are taken up in childcare agencies across the US. These agencies are tasked with the role of taking care of these children. Some of the agencies' arrangements are giving out the children to parents who wish to adopt and care for them as their children. When the rates of adoption of these children are compared between heterosexual and homosexual parents, it has been established that homosexual parents form a majority of the children adopted. This is because they prefer to have a child under their care since they cannot bear one of their own. In many states in the US, when compared, there is a rise in adoptions, especially in public adoption agencies and private adoption agencies. The adoption is even taking an international dimension where nationals from different countries adopt children from other countries.

Refuting the counterclaims

Gay or lesbian parents are not any ideal to make good parents. Good parenting starts from when a child is young to when the child grows up. This means that the child will have to identify the gay or lesbian couple as parents. But who is a parent, or guardian, this is a person who can be a father figure or mother figure? A father figure is possible yes, because he is a male and provides all the necessities as desired. This is also true to a mother figure as she is a female, but how do two father figures stay together or have intimate relationships? This is confusing the child who is not even aware of such and an arrangement at that young and tender age.

Evidence for argument

Many children brought up by gay or lesbian parents due to exposure and stigmatization have turned to be disobedient to their parents who happen to have adopted them ("Gay and Lesbian Adoptive Parents: Resources for Professionals and Parents," 2020). This is because they start discovering many aspects of their lives as their sense of belonging starts to overcome them. They begin to understand that they are not under the care of their birth parents hence becoming rebellious.

A rebellious child can be tolerated by a real or biological parent who may wish that the kid may soon change his or her character. However, foster parents, may not tolerate a rebellious child who may prove to be a hard nut to crack.

My Argument

Gay or lesbian couples cannot be role models to child.

Children always look up to the first people who take care of them as their primary role models. When being raised by a gay couple or lesbian couple, the child's morals are to greater extents negatively affected. This is they learn bad habits from the adopted parents such that they think of turning out to be gay or a lesbian just like parents. This is raising children to individuals that should have otherwise not been their personal choice.

A child is born by two parents who are heterosexuals. This means that the child deserves the right to be with a type of parent that is equal in aspects of gender orientation (Patterson, 1992). Heterosexual partners believe in procreating, want to have children, and thus take good care of other children they may adopt. On the other hand, homosexuals who will never bear a child will be hostile to any child that may not be submissive to them, especially during the adolescent stage. These parents may collide or brush shoulders with the kid every time, bringing the relationship onto rocks.

Children of homosexuals are prone to harassment and teasing.

When other children learn of one of their own from a homosexual's family, they may start ridiculing or harassing him or her. This is because the child has two mothers or fathers. When adolescents start discovering themselves, they may harass their colleague who may be coming from a homosexual's family set up (Patterson, 1992).

It does not matter ogre so well in the minds of a young one that her identity documents have parents with the same gender; this will for a long time expose the young one to ridicule, negatively impacting their productivity.

Conclusion

Looking at the above case in general, people should never think of gay parenting or lesbian parenting as anything worth choosing. They should never think of getting or adopting a kid or a child but instead staying just as they have chosen to be in a union of the same gender.

Plan of action

Child adoption agencies should change and restrict the adoption of children to gay or lesbian couples. This is because these partners naturally do not want to bear kids. The law of nature does not provide them with any means for them to bear children. However, it can be allowed for couples that are barren or have given birth to a few children than their wish and have the capability to take care of children to take the responsibility of adopting only.

References

Gay and Lesbian Adoptive Parents: Resources for Professionals and Parents. (2020). NAIC. Retrieved from https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/f_gay.pdf

Gay Marriage. (, 2020). Retrieved 4 December 2020, from https://www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/gay-marriage

Goldberg, A. (2014). Lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adoptive parents' experiences in preschool environments. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(4), 669-681. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.07.008

Miller-Cochran, S. K., Stamper, R., & Cochran, S. (2019). An insider's guide to academic writing: A rhetoric and reader.

Patterson, C. (1992). Children of Lesbian and Gay Parents. Child Development, 63(5), 1025. doi: 10.2307/1131517