Same Sex Marriage Morality: Discussion Research Paper

“Gay Marriage will stabilize society in general”

Despite everything that has been said above, we are all aware that every one of us has an equal right to choose what we think is best for us, we all have an equal right to love the person whom we think is capable of loving us back, and this goes with the fact that all of us should have an equal right to marry the person we feel we loved the most. And this does not mean that we have to marry a person who is of the opposite gender.

We may be unaware that there are still private organizations that are supporting this gay marriage movement. Their very reason for supporting this is because they see it as a matter of love, justice, basic fairness, and civil rights. Many agree that legal recognition of same-gender marriage would make very positive moral and social points – that we as a people value committed, caring relationships and do not discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, or religion (Wolfson, 2004)

“Children of married households (homosexuals or heterosexuals) can be better off than those who aren’t

In Patterson’s research report (1992), she cited that there are major children’s perspectives on homosexual parenting. First among it talks about the phenomenon of openly gay or lesbian parents bearing and/or raising children that represents a socio-cultural innovation focusing on the present historical era; as such, it raises the question about the impact of non-traditional family forms on child development. Non-traditional because, as we are all aware of, it is only in today’s generation at gay relationship is being accepted – socially and legally. Patterson further concluded that as long as the homosexual parents could let their children understand the real scenario, there is a strong indication that children could very well accept and love their parents even though they seemed to be different from the traditional parents in the area.

The second talks about the standpoint of the psychological theory which is: the children of lesbian or gay parents pass several challenging questions for existing theories of psychological development (Patterson, 1992). These challenges may include the capabilities of homosexual parents to raise and teach their possible children with good moral and right conduct. Based on Patterson’s report, there are no significant evidence that could differentiate how heterosexual and homosexual parents raised their children. As long as there is love and respect inside the ‘family’, raising the children morally and properly is not a hard task. Homosexual parents may be physically different, but their love and concern for their children is just equivalent on how the conventional parents do. It is actually not a matter of how a parent look in his/her physical attributes, but on what is contained in his/her heart and mind. Once a parent, of any form, realized his/her responsibility as a parent, all children could be in good hands.

According to Patterson (1992), there is not enough evidence that could suggest that psychosocial development among children of gay and lesbian parents is being compromised in any respect relative to that among offspring of heterosexual parents. She further stressed that despite the long- term standing legal presumptions against gay and lesbian parents, despite awful predictions about their children based on the seemingly accepted theories of psychosocial development and despite the accumulation of substantial body of research investigating these issues, not a single study can prove that children of homosexual parents are in a disadvantageous side when compared to the children of the heterosexual parents. In fact, evidence suggests that home environments provided by gay or lesbian parents are as likely as those provided by heterosexual parents to support and enable the children’s psychosocial growth and development.

Patterson’s reports were not the only one that gave this conclusion. In fact, Golombok and Taker (1992) also agreed that parenting does not vary on the ‘sexuality’ or form, because as the respondents revealed – both from the parents and the children side – there is no difference even if they were borne and raised by a homosexual or heterosexual parent.

This just means that children will never find any difficulty when being raised by the homosexual parents. What really matters is the strong bond between the parents and the children. As long as the parent take good care of the offspring and as long as gay or lesbian parents nurture and provide all the basic supports – emotional, financial, spiritual and physical – needed by their children, problems that may arise could be very limited.

References

Golombok, S. and Taker, F. (1996). “Do parents influence the sexual orientation of their children? Findings from a longitudinal study of lesbian families” Developmental Psychology. Vol. 31 (1). pp.3-11.

Patterson, C. (1992). “Children of lesbian and gay parents”. Child Development. Vol. 63 (5). pp. 1025- 1042.

Polikoff Nancy. “Beyond (straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing all Families under the Law” Web.

Rauch, Jonathan. 2004. “Gay Marriage: Why Is It Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and good for America”. Holt paperbacks: New York.

Wolfson, Evan. 2004. “Why Marriage Matters: America Equality, and Gay People’s Right to marry”. Simon and Schuster Inc.: New York.