Beth LambEnglish 1 HonorsMrs. TurnerMarch 9, 2014The Right to LoveMrs. Joyce Harris of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) received an invitation to a friend's daughters' wedding. She read that it was a lesbian wedding. She felt a lot of anxiety while reading and realizing that there were people very important to the young woman who would not come because of this. Whether a person's opinion is upheld due to religious views or simple disgust with the idea, the country is at a standstill over same-sex marriage. Whatever the reason for the disagreement, both sides have very strong arguments that many may find reasonable. Same-sex couples should enjoy the same privileges as heterosexual couples. The people involved in the same-sex marriage debate all have very reasonable and valid arguments. A point commonly made by those who agree with same-sex marriage is that it would be more beneficial to raise children in a home of loving same-sex parents than to raise children in homes full of abusive parents. As shown in Figure 1, the rate of child maltreatment is much higher among heterosexuals than among homosexuals. Figure 1 Many people make the argument that we should remove the sanctity of marriage by legalizing same-sex marriage. in countries where arranged marriages are still practiced, divorce rates doubled to 50% in 2010. For many people, this argument is an outrageous assumption about something that never existed. If legal authorities decide to keep same-sex marriage illegal, wouldn't it make sense to ban divorce as well to keep marriage as sacred as people claim? Along with the sanctity of marriage, as noted earlier, many countries still have arranged marriages. . From a religious point of view, it is... middle of paper ...... marriage can have many reasonable good points, the rights of same-sex couples should be increased. As shown in Figure 3, the family and pleasant nature of homosexual couples is much higher than that of heterosexuals. Figure 3 The argument comes into play when people say “marriage cannot and should not be redefined.” How much has marriage really changed in recent years and who are we to tell someone they can't marry their partner? And if the government persists in denying their rights, what about the couple where the wife is a punching bag for the husband? or be allowed to marry based solely on social class? What was it like back when the color of a person's skin mattered as it did for almost 200 years? perhaps there should be a “partnership license” for a woman who marries for money or status. Marriage has been redefined hundreds of times before, so why not now?