Project two revised: Argumentative

Caitlin Manweller

Mrs. Tetterton

English Composition: Final Portfolio

15 December 2010

Marriage is traditionally viewed as a sacred and religious institution between a man and a woman. However, in the present time of our country, more and more people are advocating their belief that marriage should not only be a right given to heterosexuals, but to homosexuals as well. The debate on whether homosexual individuals should be allowed to marry is often a heated and tiring debate, with both sides firm in their beliefs. One day this argument will be tamed into a well accepted viewpoint, and every person in our country will be allowed the same rights, but for now it will remain one of the largest debates of our time.

Anthropologists define marriage as: a culturally sanctioned union between two or more people that establishes certain rights and obligations between the people, between them and their in-laws. This definition does not specify only certain people, male and female, it does not include the presence of religion, and it does not restrict the standards or guidelines associated with marriage. More and more people today are accepting same-sex marriages, which is in my opinion, a very large stepping stone into the ways of the future. While the more liberal and open-minded belief systems are slowly working their way through our country, there are still people that disagree with this new way of thinking. This more restrictive way of being is partially due to the emphasis of certain religious beliefs and the concept of tradition in all of our lives.

Rejecting people the same rights that we have as heterosexuals is discrimination, something we should all be familiar with. All the way up to fifty or sixty years ago our country faced a civil rights movement, one that was based on the discrimination against African Americans because of the belief that they were an inferior race. In that period of time religion and tradition were also used as an excuse to undermine and enslave African Americans. In our present time, it is accepted that this mindset was wrong. Our country discriminated against an entire group of people because of their skin color, and denied them the rights we all shared as the “superior” race. Are we not doing the same thing today? We are discriminating against an entire group because of their sexuality. The Executive board of the American Anthropological Association states that:

“The results of more than a century of anthropological research on households, kinship relationships, and families, across cultures and through time, provide no support whatsoever for the view that either civilization or viable social orders depend upon marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution. Rather, anthropological research supports the conclusion that a vast array of family types, including families built upon same-sex partnerships, can contribute to stable and humane societies”.

According to this association, marriage should not be defined as a strictly heterosexual right. Anthropologists learn to interpret the world with an unbiased and professional outlook. They examine all societies throughout the world and collect and interpret the data collected in these cultures. Our government and our people should not deny the rights of individuals, merely because they are different.

Marriage, in my opinion, should be an act of love, understanding, and mutually shared between people. Same-sex marriages and homosexuality in general should not be feared. It is time to try taking a more unbiased and open-minded outlook on the issues we face in this country, as well as everywhere else in the world. Our country is moving into a change, one that will again redefine the standards and viewpoints that are associated with it. Marriage is universal, and it should also be universally offered to all citizens. Eventually, this issue will be resolved, and the banning and discrimination of homosexuals will be eliminated. When that happens I hope to have been a part that change.