Written September 9, 2015
In the article, “The Price of Gay Marriage” by Timothy Stewart-Winter, the author talks about the repercussions of the hype of gay marriage. For example, when New York legalized same-sex marriage the funding for homeless youth (many of which were gay or transgender) plummeted. The author seems to support the idea of same-sex unions but has a realistic view on what happens after the laws have been passed. The author even references feminism by saying “Just as feminists learned after the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, a social movement that throws most of its weight in pursuit of a single policy may falter and stagnate when it achieves a resounding victory” (Stewart-Winter, 2015).
The issue of same sex marriage is most definitely a social problem due to how some groups of people react to it. Homosexual people just want the freedom to love their partner, but others won’t allow them based on a number of reasons. For example, religious people become appalled, as it is something heavily against their beliefs. Geographical location can also have a lot to do with how it is portrayed. In Russia, it is against the law to engage in any homosexual activity of any sort, so that’s a huge issue for the homosexuals living there. In the southern parts of the U.S (also called the Bible Belt), homosexuality is rejected once again due to religion. The media can also influence people to think a certain way by always showing a happy family where the parents are a man and woman.
This article seems to have a more conflict perspective on homosexual marriage. The author explains how same-sex marriage causes societal arguments all focused on sexual orientation and how some policies tend to look over homosexuals. For me, I see homosexuality more through a functionalist’s perspective, as I tend to believe that society has a warped way of forcing this normal idea of a man and woman only being wed.
According to this article, there are a lot of issues with legalizing gay marriage. Some examples are how transgender safety and funding has lowered, the group Freedom to Marry that helped to lead marriage equality won’t help lesbian and gay refugees, and how more violence towards the LGBT community has raised. However, even though there are laws in place to protect the LGBT community, there are still violent attacks where the prosecutors just do not care.
Overall, I tend to agree with the author because he makes a lot of good points of the outcome that most people don’t understand. A lot of anti-homosexuality people just focus on religion when they could focus on the hard facts of what it is doing to our society. The pro-homosexuality people only focus on the good and don’t recognize the bad. In order to have a well-rounded society, we all need to see the good and bad.
Reference Page:
Timothy Steward-Winter (June 26, 2015). The Price of Gay Marriage. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/opinion/sunday/the-price-of-gay-marriage.html?_r=0
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