Why Gay Marriage Should Be Legal

Gay marriage has been blamed for everything from the terrorist attacks of September 11^th to the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. James Dobson even has gone so far as to declare that "gay marriage will destroy this nation and western civilization as we know it." Clearly the debate over gay marriage has become a heated one in which personal opinions and biases often obfuscate the facts and observations already laid in front of us by science and experimental research. In the end, the question of gay marriage should be looked at as any other government policy, rather than through the partisan, often religious lens that is currently employed.

The arguments against gay marriage can be easily divided into religious and nonreligious in nature. First, I will address the nonreligious reasons that detractors of gay marriage provide.