Ashton DeLano
Staff Writer

A California appeals court found Proposition 8 unconstitutional last month, w–hich was a great move because it protects the rights of Americans.

Prop. 8 was passed in 2008 to define marriage as only between a man and a woman, effectively barring homosexual couples from getting married.

This was one of the most bigoted, demeaning, and discriminatory bills in the history of California.

Its only purpose was to create a lesser class of people with fewer rights than others in the United States, the country where all human beings are meant to be treated equally. Everyone is supposed to have the same rights, no matter what, even if they are a different gender, religion, or color, or have different sexual preferences.

The Declaration of Independence states every person has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Banning marriage between any two people violates their right to pursue happiness in life, which is why the courts were right to declare Prop. 8 unconstitutional.

Despite the courts overturning Prop. 8, some people still believe that marriage between homosexual couples should not be allowed in California.

A large piece of reasoning in favor of Prop. 8 is that is does not lessen the rights of gay and lesbian couples as they may still have a domestic partnership, which entails the same rights.

But federal law, not state law, creates the greatest distinction between a marriage and a domestic partnership.

First, federal rights, such as the access to health insurance and tax cuts, are only given in a marriage, not in a civil union or domestic partnership.

Second, these poor substitutes for marriage are only legal in certain states. This means couples with a domestic partnership only have access to their limited rights in the state that issued the partnership.

Lastly, marriage carries a different meaning in both culture and society, which is why it is most important to most gay activists. The meaning of equality to them is full and complete equality under all circumstances, even connotations in society.

ProtectMarriage.com, a website supporting Prop. 8, argues, “If the gay marriage ruling is not overturned, teachers could be required to teach young children there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage.”

What Prop. 8 supporters fail to recognize that there is not, was not, and most likely will not be a bill requiring teachers to provide curriculum about homosexual marriage. Even if there was such a bill, it would not greatly affect mature students as long as it is taught in the correct grade level.

Now that Prop. 8 has been struck down, the best way to expand the rights of all Americans is to allow marriage between couples of any sexual orientation. Increasing the freedoms of one group in society in no way lessens the rights of another group or individual.

There is no reason why marriage between two same sex people should be banned. It’s effect on society will be limited to gay couples only and no one else.
The most common argument against gay marriage is that adopted children of gay couples will not have a normal life similar to that of children of heterosexual couples, or that their parents will raise gay kids.

But there is no proof to this. In fact, there is more proof against it. According to WebMB.com, “Children raised by either heterosexual mothers or same-sex mothers after divorce, found no differences in intelligence, type or prevalence of psychiatric disorders, self-esteem, well-being, peer relationships, couple relationships, or parental stress.”

Other studies shown by WebMB and Post-gazette.com show children raised by gay couples have almost no difference in their lives. In fact, children with divorced parents end up having more problems in life than children reared by homosexual couples.

Similarly, gay couples do not automatically raise gay children. Many of the same studies show that most gay couples, whether they adopted or artificially inseminated to have children, have heterosexual children rather than homosexual.

Gay couples have every reason to want to marry one another, and there is no compelling reason against legalizing gay marriage. Homosexual couples are normal, functioning members of society like any other minority, and they deserve equal rights and treatment under the law.