Ok, I don't usually get involved in issues like this, but I think I should put my two cents in. Tonight on the SBS program, "Insight", they held a debate over whether or not Same Sex marriage should be legalized. The program, while addressing the issues of marriage and whether or not a same-sex couple can bring a child into the world, it brought up many interesting points. I was happy with the program, but am absolutely infuriated after reading the posts made by some people in relation to the topic on the website, http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/.
As a proud gay man in this society, I think that I have the right, just like anyone else, to be legally connected to a partner of my choice, whether they are male or female. If a heterosexual couple is able to have their relationship recognized by both society and by the government, why can't a homosexual couple? Are they still not two people who are committed to another?
One of the arguments that was brought up in opposing homosexual marriage, is that marriage is for a man and for a woman, and if a man/woman chooses to be with the same sex, that is a life choice that they have made, and they make a choice not to be able to participate in marriage. Being gay is not a choice, it is not something that one day you just wake up and you’re gay. You are born that way. Your sexually preference is not a lifestyle choice; it is something that you are born with. Why would any want to live a life why they are subject to discrimination, hate crimes and a lower status in society? I have met too many gay people, who wished that they were straight, because it would be easier.
I personally would love to be able to get married one day, not just to show to someone that I love them and want to spend the rest of my life with them, I can do that without papers, so that I know that me and my partner are recognized legally. To know that if anything happened to me, that they would have the right to make medical decisions on my behalf. I hope I am never in this situation, but I would prefer that someone who I’m intimate with, and someone that I share my life with, has the option to make medical decisions on my behalf if anything was to happen to me. Its not a matter of being able to show the world how much I love someone, but to have the world recognize how much I love someone, male or female.
The ability to bring a child into the world is also a major issue that was debated in the forum. I share the same views on this as I do on same-sex marriage, in that two people, straight or gay, should have the right to bring a child into the world, and to be able to have a happy family. Even though it is not physically possible for two men or two women to have a child, that doesn’t mean that they don’t have the right as human beings to raise a child. Because a woman is infertile, does that mean that she shouldn’t be allowed to have a child because she can’t do it naturally?
For a child to be brought into the world of a same-sex partnership it requires a lot more planning than what most pregnancies would go through. For starters, they have to find the relevant donors, and they need to be able to know that they are willing to stand up to society for something that they want so dearly. I personally feel that if same-sex couples are willing to go through all this planning, then that shows that they are more than able parents, and should be allowed to raise a child. Single mums are allowed to raise a child through IVF, why can’t two mums raise a child? Wouldn’t having two parents be better than one, regards of the gender?
I honestly feel that any relationship, gay or straight, should have the right to be legally bound and that any couple who are willing to raise a child should have the right to do so.
Filed: serious