Author: Riley Kimball|Linni Kral|Emily Phillips
On May 15 this year, the California Supreme Court ruled that “sexual orientation is not a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights.” Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment initiative on the ballot this November, was introduced to combat this ruling. This proposition hinges on the unfair notion that homosexuals do not deserve the same rights to marriage as heterosexuals. Massachusetts has legalized same-sex marriage, and this election season, California has an opportunity to advance the liberal movement towards the institution’s ubiquitous legalization.
As fervently as protectmarriage.com might insist that Prop 8 “is NOT an attack on gay couples and does not take away the rights that same-sex couples already have,” there is no denying the truth of the matter: the initiative reads, “eliminates right of same-sex couples to marry.” This measure is an assault on gay rights and must not pass. To define marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman is to legally impose a Biblical understanding. Some people are ignorant of the love that can exist between homosexuals, and they may be frightened by the idea of same-sex marriage, but this is not qualification for a limitation of rights.
The Yes-on-Prop-8 camp also claims that by allowing same-sex marriage, the door is opened to all types of union. No historical precedent exists on which to base this claim.
Another argument employed by many is that homosexuals cannot raise children in a normal, healthy environment. This is simply not true; researchers have compiled studies done in the last two decades and concluded that children raised by homosexual parents are equally well-adjusted, and sometimes even more so, as compared with children in a heterosexual household (WebMD.com). The studies also revealed that the former often suffers less psycho-socially than the latter, despite claims that the children would be harassed for their circumstances.This November, instead of denying the love between two individuals, be open minded. With a “No” vote on Prop 8, a step is taken toward a future free of sexual orientation-based discrimination.
Riley Kimball is an undeclared first-year. He can be reached at kimball@oxy.edu.
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