Despite the Popular Belief, Marriage = Freedom

When asked, “Is love right?” almost everyone will immediately say, “Yes.” However, problems arise when the classic love, love between a man and a woman, is replaced by love between members of the same gender. Mainly due to religious reasons, this love is commonly misconstrued as ‘wrong’ or ‘sinful’, resulting in fierce prejudice against the LGBT community. Being a bisexual in high school, I have experienced disrespect resulting from this prejudice, but nothing too horrible. Mostly it comes in the form of little things, like classmates playing “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry, and snickering to themselves between glances at me. Luckily, I’ve grown to like that song. On a larger scale, my place in the LGBT community has given me a very open-minded opinion on love, and a firm belief that everyone deserves the right to marry the person they love, regardless of sexual orientation.

Although there is a religious aspect to it, marriage is modernly seen as a legal issue. However, the greatest arguments against Gay Marriage are based on religious reasons, such as the Bible’s adversity to homosexuality. The main problem I have with this is that Americans have the freedom of religion, so it’s ironic to have laws with religious ideals. It’s unfair that people can’t marry each other because of a religion that’s supposedly optional. Interestingly enough, the Bible also says divorce is wrong, yet it’s not illegal. Either way, I am a spiritual person and I believe in God, but the God I believe in appreciates relationships for love, not gender.

While some people justify anti-LGBT feelings on a religious basis, there are other people who just think it’s ‘perverse’ or even ‘fictitious’. They are narrow-minded and cannot conceive that love isn’t limited to just between a male and a female. In fact, Sigmund Freud, one of the world’s most respected psychologists, determined that humans were born bisexual, and become heterosexual or homosexual as a result of their experiences. I know from experience that I can have strong feelings for both genders, because people are more defined by their personalities than their genders.

In summary, I believe that all love is beautiful, and that everyone should have the right to secure and develop their love with marriage. It means a lot to me that there are places in the world, such as Canada, South Africa, and European countries like Spain and Norway, where homosexual couples are free to marry. I’m also glad that in recent years, the United States has started making big steps to end the oppression of gays and lesbians, as shown by the legalization of gay marriage in several states. Although I recognize the religious issues with gay marriage as well as the feelings of immorality that many people have, I believe that those arguments are based on ignorance and intolerance, and should not effect the lives of so many who don’t share their beliefs. After all, if you’re against gay marriage, you don’t have to get one.