~*~ Allow Same Sex Marriages And The Right To Love ~*~

To:  U.S And Australian Governments

Although the eligibility for marriage has undergone many major changes during the existence of the U.S. and Canada, and although Natives practiced same-sex marriage extensively before the European invasion, federal, state and provincial laws in North America have always restricted marriage to partners of opposite gender. The Canadian provinces of Ontario and British Columbia began to issue marriage licenses and to record the marriages of same-sex couples in mid-2003. This has raised the level of public debate on the advisability of SSM.

The following arguments have been asserted in favor of SSM. Rebuttals follow each point, and based on the assumptions that homosexuality is a changeable, chosen, addictive lifestyle and behavior. These are the beliefs of most religious conservatives. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, religious liberals, mental health therapists and human sexuality researchers generally believe that homosexuality is fixed, unchosen, sexual orientation.

SSM is an "add on." Opposite-sex couples will be able to marry and obtain all of the benefits that they have always received. The fact that somewhere down your street a loving gay or lesbian couple have decided to get married can have no significant impact on your own marriage.

Across North America, couples meet, enjoy each other's company, date, form an exclusive relationship, and live together. Many want to marry, settled down and raise children. The right to marry the person that you love, have made a commitment to and wish to live with for the rest of your life is a foundational human right. Yet, as of 2003-JUL-12, it is a right that can only be exercised in the Western Hemisphere by traveling to Ontario and British Columbia, Canada. Gays and lesbians have an intrinsic right to marry. Author Andrew Sullivan wrote: "...marriage has become a way in which the state recognizes an emotional commitment by two people to each other for life. And within that definition, there is no public way, if one believes in equal rights under the law, in which it should legally be denied homosexuals."

On 2000-JUL-1, civil unions became available to gay and lesbian couples in the state of Vermont. It is a partial marriage arrangement; the spouses do not receive any of the over 1,000 federal benefits that married people obtain through marriage. "...while the impact of civil unions on the Vermont economy is hard to quantify precisely, there is sufficient anecdotal evidence to suggest that it has given a significant bump to tourism in certain parts of the state."

Canada and the U.S. are multi-racial, multi-religious, and multi-ethnic societies. To paraphrase William Eskridge, Jr. in his book "The case for same-sex marriage:" North American society is a synergy of African, Chinese, English, Filipino, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Mexican, Native American, Puerto Rican and other cultures; of Black, Caucasian, and other races; of Islam, Judaism, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and other religions; of people with bisexual heterosexual, and homosexual orientations; etc. Most of these segments of society have been militantly opposed in the past by the majority. Consider North America's "history of anti-Semitism, nativist sentiment against new immigrants, and interracial prejudice. Time after time, group hatred has been replace by group acceptance and cooperation. Cooperating with others, people learn and grow....The history we...point to with pride is a history of accommodation and inclusion. The history...we would rather forget, and should try to correct, is our history of prejudice and exclusion." 2 Oppression of, and discrimination against, gays and lesbians is the last major hurdle for us to overcome in order to become a fully accepting society. Anton N. Marco, of Christian Leadership Ministries, calls same-sex marriage "The Last Cultural Frontier."

"To Have and to Hold," a pamphlet distributed by The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, states that: "If legally married, gay, lesbian and bisexual couples would have a greater ability to care for and protect their families. The pamphlet mentions many items of financial benefit, including: file joint tax returns; obtain joint insurance policies for home, auto and health; inherit automatically in the absence of a will; secure workplace and other benefits such as annuities, pension plans, Social Security, Medicare; enter jointly into leases and other contracts, such as apartment and car rental agreements; obtain bereavement leave when a partner or child dies; receive divorce protections, etc. In addition, there are many non-financial benefits: being able to visit one's spouse in hospital; being able to handle funeral arrangements of one's spouse; obtaining domestic violence protection orders; being recognized as as the next-of-kin for hospital visits; making medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent, etc.

With marriage comes the right to raise children together including: joint adoption, joint foster care, custody, and visitation privileges. If the marriage ends in divorce, then settlements can be obtained that assure economic protection of the children via child support.

Gays, lesbians, religious liberals, mental health therapists and human sexuality researchers generally agree that homosexuality itself is an fixed, unchosen orientation, not a changeable chosen lifestyle. That said, there are two lifestyles within the homosexual community, as there is within the heterosexual community: single and married. Surveys show that single male gay adults have, on average, a large number of sexual partners. Making SSM available will encourage them to form lasting relationships, marry, and become monogamous.

As for the preceding argument, the availability of SSM would encourage more homosexuals to form long-term partnerships, become married, and leave the single lifestyle. This would reduce the number of sexual partners, and thus the incidence of STD transmission. SSM would have more of an effect on male gays than on lesbians, because the rate of STD infection among lesbians is already low -- lower than that for heterosexuals.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The ~*~ Allow Same Sex Marriages And The Right To Love ~*~ Petition to U.S And Australian Governments was created by and written by Laura-Anne Davey (hippi_angel_@hotmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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