Same Sex Marriage the Topic

Same Sex Marriage

The topic under investigation will be same-sex marriage. The idea of marriage is both a social and religious contract that is sanctioned by society as a valid contract and event. Depending on the particular society and culture, marriage combines the institution of family with intimate and sexual relationships, and the idea of the unit growing from this union. Traditionally, marriage has been with a man and a woman with the potential of having children, thus creating kinship ties to extend families. Historically, this was also an economic unit; families joined forces with land or property, or even joined nations together. In modern society, marriage signifies a commitment, even though the marriage rate has dropped 17% in the last decade, while the divorce rate prior to 5 years has dropped to 10% (Regnerus, 2012).

Part 2 -- Significance -- for centuries, marriage was both the main social and economic institution of American family life. Over the past few decades, though, marriage has weakened as the prime social institution of family life. There are a number of trends contributing to this: Americans are delaying marriage, living together prior to marriage or consistently, marrying at a much older age, or not at all, and even raising children in divergent environments. These trends in America have been going on in Europe for much longer, caused many say because of a cultural move away from conservative religion and faith-based ways of thinking (Popenoe, 2010).

The significance of allowing same-sex marriage is similar to that of the Civil Rights movement. For years, laws were in place with racial restrictions, now found unconstitutional and unnecessary. If the necessity of marriage no longer focuses on child bearing and rearing, then it becomes more of a civil issue that allows for stability and legal protection under the law. The definition of family is also evolving, as is the family structure itself, and clearly, many heterosexuals are opting not to have children, but to focus on their career and relationships. Opponents of same-sex marriage believe that it will destroy the family unit and core of society. Proponents counter this argument with statistics showing that many marriages end in divorce, that the core nature of society is independent of marriage, and that the issue of civil rights requires rethinking marriage since the prerequisite of having children has diminished over time.