“The Worst Thing About Same-Sex Marriage” by Sam Schulman presents an interesting argument against same-sex marriage that relies on maintaining a traditional form of marriage. He actually claims that same-sex marriage is “useless” (381). According to Schulman there are 4 main effects of marriage in his definition which he calls the kinship system. First, marriage protects and controls a woman's sexuality. Second, possible pairings are limited by the kinship system to avoid incest or other taboos. Third, marriage creates a situation in which licit sexual relations can take place. Fourth, it establishes a clear distinction between childhood innocence and adult, married life. All of this adds up to maintaining a standard family hierarchy, in which a marriage almost forcibly brings two families together and creates a structure in which children can be raised. He also presents a variety of flimsy arguments with the general point that same-sex marriage does not and cannot have "the authority and majesty of the kinship system" (383). Since he views same-sex marriage as being entirely rooted in the relationship between two people, and rejects that it is only a minor part of the institution of marriage, he predicts that this type of marriage will disappear and will only stay laughing. consider for a moment that any marriage, except one that respects these principles, can be satisfactory. There is a very strong implication that this is the proper form of marriage, and any other form of marriage is a kind of pointless deviance. This is almost completely unsupported. He even concedes that romantic marriage constitutes the majority of marriages in the West today, but immediately denounces the romantic aspect of marriage. It's pretty easy to demolish his argument that this sho...... middle of paper ...... ouple can't. There is no reason why homosexuals should not be allowed to marry if we allow non-homosexual couples who cannot have children to marry. There is certainly historical precedent for allowing only heterosexual couples to marry, but since our current understanding of marriage has changed so much that it is relevant, we should seriously consider giving homosexuals the right to marry. Same-sex marriages would require only a relatively minimal change in current laws, and it is difficult to imagine a social structure that same-sex marriage will create that does not already exist with the current legal form of marriage between a man and a woman . There is no single definition of marriage in the world, but as many definitions as there are marriages. If love exists, there should be a marriage that can be created to suit it if both parties are willing to put in the effort to make it work..