Anybody who is opposed to gay marriage at this stage must know that they are in the minority and on the losing side. In Spring 2015 Ireland will hold a same-sex marriage referendum and a "YES" vote would signal a huge step forward in the social standing of our country, as a few others look to follow suit.
Here are 8 reasons why gay marriage should be legalized (in case you needed any).
8. Gay people have just as much a right to be unhappy as straight people.
If gay people want to get married and commit to one person for the rest of their lives, then they should have as much a right to be miserable as everyone else. Marriage is a ridiculous institution anyway, I mean think about it. If you get married at 30, on average you will spend the last 50 years of your life with that same person. Not a decision to be taken lightly!
7. Homosexuality is a human characteristic, not a crime.
For the ignorant skeptics out there, homosexuality is not a choice. It comes with birth.
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6. Marriage is a union of love, not a union of genders.
Hypothetically, if God doesn't exist, gay people have been treated unequally for no reason. Marriage is a human right, and not a heterosexual privilege, so it is about time that it is universally recognised as such.
5. Gay marriage will have no negative effect on the heterosexual community.
Many of the opposition to gay marriage comes from a distinct older section of the heterosexual community. It is fair to say that there is a touch of homophobia among them. They fear what they don't know or understand and for that reason, don't want a change in society which will swing the balance away from them.
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4. Hello? It's an issue of equal rights.
So, we all know that the Bible can be extremely contradictory, such is the sheer numbers of Christian denominations which all interpret the Bible in their own different ways. "All men are created equal?" Well for those religious nuts, stop delaying and delineate equal rights among everyone. It's been long enough.
3. Because society has grown a lot since the Bible was written.
Love is an emotion, right, and a justice. It is not a concept that can be controlled or denied by law or by a book written thousands of years ago.
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2. Diminish stigma and decrease youth self-harm.
A lot of young gay people growing up struggle with their sexuality and are often the target for ridicule and abuse by others due to the stigma attached to homosexuality in our society. Gay marriage would be a huge step in diminishing that stigma and the harmful acts that are sometimes as a result of it.
1. It will increase the number of children safely adopted.
The thought that two men or two women cannot raise a child as well as one man and one woman is absurd. We have moved a long way forward in society in the last half-century and it's time that gay rights are adopted into our country's legislation.
