What exactly is gay marriage? Some believe it is wrong or sinful while others believe it is a civil right. If you break down the two terms, you will see that the issue is not just black or white. The term homosexual, according to You May Ask Yourself (Conley, 2013, p. 302), means “the social identity of a person who has sexual attraction to and/ or relations with other persons of the same sex". Marriage, however, does not have a solid definition. No one can seem to agree on what marriage really means. According to Gay Marriage Debate (Debate.org, 2015), "In 1922, the word [marriage] was taken to refer to a relationship of one or more men with one or more women that is recognized by law and involves certain legal and social rights and duties.
…show more content…
No two cultures are exactly alike. For example, in 2001, the Netherlands held the first same-sex wedding. At the same time, states in North America were in the process of banning gay marriage. Had the two countries shared the same cultural background and social norms, perhaps same-sex marriage would have been legalized in the United States at the same time. Culture plays a big part in how you are raised, and, therefore, it plays a big part in the beliefs you are raised with. It has everything to do with why people feel negatively or positively towards the subject of homosexual marriage. Cultural norms are always changing. For example, in 2015, 55 percent of Americans approved of gay marriage while only 35 percent approved of it in 2001, according to Same-Sex Marriage: Global Comparisons (Renwick, …show more content…
A lot of, if not most, religions see gay marriage as a sin, and wish for it to be banned, while atheists do not. This is not to say that all religions adopt a homophobic attitude towards gay marriage. However, Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage (2015) proves that 82 percent of those who are unaffiliated with a church or religion favor gay marriage rights while less than 62 percent of Protestants and Catholics approve of it. Just as society decides how certain races should be treated, it decides which races are more accepting. While only 24 percent of white Evangelical Protestants accept gay marriage, 34 percent of black Protestants favor it. This is obviously not a huge gap though it is still enough. Family members play a big role in feeding the fire. Perhaps the biggest influence on socialization in a child is their parents. Prejudices and beliefs usually start at home. The media is also a big fire stoker here. The media is a major source of information for Americans. We get the news, as well as the newest social norms from multiple branches of the media on a daily basis. If a widely popular newspaper reported statistics in every editorial stating that gay marriage was hurting the economy or well-being of United States citizens, then people would start to believe that gay marriage was an evil practice. The gullibility of the human mind is very odd. However, gay marriage
No two cultures are exactly alike. For example, in 2001, the Netherlands held the first same-sex wedding. At the same time, states in North America were in the process of banning gay marriage. Had the two countries shared the same cultural background and social norms, perhaps same-sex marriage would have been legalized in the United States at the same time. Culture plays a big part in how you are raised, and, therefore, it plays a big part in the beliefs you are raised with. It has everything to do with why people feel negatively or positively towards the subject of homosexual marriage. Cultural norms are always changing. For example, in 2015, 55 percent of Americans approved of gay marriage while only 35 percent approved of it in 2001, according to Same-Sex Marriage: Global Comparisons (Renwick, …show more content…
A lot of, if not most, religions see gay marriage as a sin, and wish for it to be banned, while atheists do not. This is not to say that all religions adopt a homophobic attitude towards gay marriage. However, Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage (2015) proves that 82 percent of those who are unaffiliated with a church or religion favor gay marriage rights while less than 62 percent of Protestants and Catholics approve of it. Just as society decides how certain races should be treated, it decides which races are more accepting. While only 24 percent of white Evangelical Protestants accept gay marriage, 34 percent of black Protestants favor it. This is obviously not a huge gap though it is still enough. Family members play a big role in feeding the fire. Perhaps the biggest influence on socialization in a child is their parents. Prejudices and beliefs usually start at home. The media is also a big fire stoker here. The media is a major source of information for Americans. We get the news, as well as the newest social norms from multiple branches of the media on a daily basis. If a widely popular newspaper reported statistics in every editorial stating that gay marriage was hurting the economy or well-being of United States citizens, then people would start to believe that gay marriage was an evil practice. The gullibility of the human mind is very odd. However, gay marriage