There are almost nine million Americans who identify as LGBT (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) according to the Williams Institute. That’s about four percent of the population. With the exception of those living in nine states (and D.C.), they can’t get married.


Why is this?


One of our main principles in America is that every man is equal. How are these laws treating everyone the same? They aren't. This is blatant discrimination against millions of Americans led by a group of politicians and church leaders.


Same-sex marriages don't result in children, so apparently same-sex couples have no need to get married. Millions of straight people are married and don’t have kids. Generally, we don’t spite them for that. In fact, it's perfectly socially acceptable. I bet most of the people against gay marriage have never insulted a straight married couple for not having kids. Having kids isn't the whole point of marriage anyway. People do it as an act of commitment.


Commitment.


Why do we use this as an argument against gay marriage? Truth is it's not reasonable. It's both blatant discrimination against people who did nothing wrong and an indolent excuse made by people adamant in their prejudiced mindset against citizens of their country. Sound fair? Nope.


Same-sex couples also adopt kids. That’s good, right? Being there's a huge amount of kids waiting to be adopted in the United States (more than 100,000 according to the Huffington Post); I'd say yes. But people against gay marriage say no. They care more about an antediluvian set of morals than actual living people. Most of the kids won't be adopted and have a family. Isn't that great? And from an economic point of view our tax dollars are paying for the care of these kids. If gay couples adopted them, taxes could go towards public improvement or education instead. So why divert valuable tax money to a cause that could be greatly reduced by allowing gay marriage? Oh, right, they care more about preventing people from getting married than the future of our country. How intelligent!

Although some states allow civil unions for same-sex couples they don't offer many of the same benefits. For one, many states don't have civil unions so how they are recognised varies, offering no guarantees of security. Plus, if a state doesn't allow civil unions, you have to establish residency in one that does before 'divorcing'. Civil unions also don't give people the right to take time off work to care for the spouse or sponsor them for citizenship. But even if a same sex couple is legally married, they can't sponsor their spouse no matter how ardent about it they are because of the DOMA (defence of marriage act that among other things defines marriage as between a man and a woman). That is absolutely wrong.

Another thing, if filling out a government form asking if they are married or single a couple united under a civil union would be lying either way. That's fraud. As in they can arrest you for that. The list of things you can't do with a civil union goes on for miles. In fact, the list of 1049 laws of marriage don't apply to civil unions. So, no filing a joint tax return and forget about family insurance plans. They aren't allowed in a civil union. Sorry folks.


Do you know what else civil unions don't cover? Custody of children. It can be argued. Easily. In a state not recognising civil unions only the biological parent would be considered the guardian of the child unless the other adopts the child. Fair? Not so much. Adoption is a long, expensive process and something that would be unnecessary were the couple allowed to legally marry. Not allowing same-sex marriage is unfair treatment to this portion of our population. Marriage is universal; civil unions are a pathetic imitation.


The LGBT population didn't vote on if straight couples could get married. Why do we vote on if they can? This is unequal, unfair treatment to people who did nothing wrong. Anyone who opposes it uses banal arguments created decades ago. The list is pretty much The Bible says no, they can't reproduce, and the law says no gay marriage. That's three reasons against. Congratulations, they can write a elementary school level paragraph on why not. So what if they are attracted to people of their own gender and can't reproduce? It doesn’t matter; we aren't exactly at risk of extinction here! So, if you think gay marriage is wrong, then you can ignore it. Disregard their marriage. But don't impede on their constitutional right to equality.