The question of whether or not homosexuals should have the right to be legally married is as absurd as asking whether or not heterosexuals should have this legal right. People are People. Love is love. Two people who are in love should be able to marry each other.

Not allowing homosexuals to marry goes against the constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process. It is denying these people basic civil rights which have already been granted to racial and ethnic minorities. In 1967, Loving Vs. Virginia ruled that laws prohibiting interracial marriages were unconstitutional and discriminatory (West Vol 5, 139). Though not racially discriminatory, laws prohibiting same-sex marriages are sexual discrimination. This is especially true when scientfic evidence suggests that most people are born with their sexual orientati

The Defense of Marriage Act was passed in 1996 as a reaction to these arguments (West Vol 6, 94). It defined ''marriage'' and ''spouse'' to apply only to heterosexual relationships for the purpose of federal law. It is argued that this definition of marriage is justified to preserve family values and traditional ethical notions. However, these arguments are based mostly on misguided readings of the Bible and history. After all, the Bible says ''Judge not lest ye be judged.'' Can it therefore be argued that it is ethically right, according to the Bible to judge what someone else's family values should be? These ''traditions'' spoke of are considered traditional because American historians have a ''tradition'' of their own of ignoring homosexuality. In fact, there is historical evidence of the recognition of same-sex relationships up to the end of the medieval period (West Vol 4, 1674). Thi

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Approximate Word count = 607
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)