Gay Marriage – Think about the children

Another reason being pushed to ban marriage equality is that same-sex marriage is invalid because marriage is only for families, for those that bear and rear children; that marriage is a celebration of procreation.

So why won’t someone ”think of the children?”

I guess it is important to stress the fact that many people marry without the intention of ever raising children, are infertile, or beyond child-rearing age; but the current law allows these couples the right to marry because marriage isn’t only about children.

But for many families with children, marriage is an important step for strength. The reality in society is that well-adjusted and functioning gay and lesbian families do exist with children. Laws that guarantee the same legal protections for these families give equal opportunity to ensure stability for the child and family, and there’s “research [that] shows no differences in the outcomes for children of heterosexual parents and same-sex parents.”

Equal laws are in the best interests of the child and these families, because to deny marriage laws to the parents in these families is detrimental, it creates unequal parental rights in the law with further stems to a lack of services, legislation and enforcing of the law that would grant these parents the same legal protections as heterosexual parents.

As I mentioned in my previous article, by denying these parents access to marriage, their alternative (civil unions) has the likelihood of not being considered legally identical or enforced because of its inferiority on social, religious and legal grounds. To repeat the point, the groups that want to keep same-sex couples away from equality are artificially creating inferiority and prejudice for the children that are a part of these families, by aspects of the law, society and less tolerant religious groups. This is why the argument fall apart that banning same-sex marriage is in the best interest of the children because, it is actually counterintuitive.

One more thing to consider is the fact that not only does same-sex marriage have an impact on gay and lesbian couples raising their children, there is also thousands of parents in Australia being told that their own children are not considered equal in the law, that these parents will be unable to watch their son or daughter get married, that these parents are told by certain groups that their child is inferior and that their children are born wrong.  Those groups don’t seem to think or care about these children and the parents to every gay and lesbian person. These parents out there currently have to deal with a government that denies equal rights to their children.

So let’s ask the question again, what about the children?