Gay couples and persecution.

Gay Marriage is a matter of respect and human rights because of the way it is received among the general public. Marianne Mollmann takes a different angle of gay rights and marriage: the kids.  Homosexual couples want to have a family that consists of children as well, they go to adopt or find surrogates to have children for them since they can’t go the traditional route. When gays are treated differently and not allowed a right to marry, there’s actually a bit more than that they lose as a side effect. When a normal heterosexual couple has kids they get benefits from their jobs, maternity/paternity leave for example, actually make a difference. A gay couple would have to use their vacation days or some other substitute to be able to get that free time with their children also, the fact that a lot of their children is adopted puts added difficulty to the couple compared to the normal heterosexual couple. While something like this seems rather small and trivial, the maternity leave along with other benefits that a normal couple would have just add up and will become a big disadvantage in one way or another.

Mollmann also talks about the human rights of gays, at the end of the day they are the same as any other human being. Gays have been the target for hate crimes for several several years, that’s not new. In my mind, that’s the equivalent of shooting a African American just because of skin color. People forget that gays are just humans and deserve the same respect and rights as anyone else. Why is it so easy for them to do that?

For too many people it is only a short leap from seeing homosexuality as offensive to justifying physical harm.

Works Cited

Mollmann, Marianne. "Gay Marriage Is a Human Rights Issue." Gay Marriage. Ed. Debra A. Miller. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from "Gay Marriage: The Issue Is Respect." Huffington Post. 2011. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 23 Jan. 2013.