Irene Glickman's List: Gay Marriage

Same-sex marriage (also called gay marriage)^[1] is a legally or socially recognized marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Same-sex marriage is a civil rights, political, social, moral, and religious issue in many nations. The conflict arises over whether same-sex couples should be allowed to enter into marriage, be required to use a different status (such as a civil union, which usually grants fewer rights), or not have any such rights. A related issue is whether the term "marriage" should be applied.^[2][3]

Support for same-sex marriage is often based upon what is regarded as a universal human rights issue, mental and physical health concerns, equality before the law,^[4] and the goal of normalizing LGBT relationships.^[5][6][7] Opposition to same-sex marriage arises from a rejection of the use of the word "marriage" as applied to same-sex couples or objections about the legal and social status of marriage itself being applied under any terminology. Other stated reasons include direct and indirect social consequences of same-sex marriages, parenting concerns, religious grounds,^[8] and tradition. Supporters of same-sex marriage often attribute opposition to it as coming from homophobia^{[9][10][11][12]} or heterosexism and liken prohibitions on same-sex marriage to past prohibitions on interracial marriage.^[13]