The best paper I did in college during my senior year. It was a paper for my Argumentation and Debate class.

1. Same-Sex Marriage Debate
The Same-Sex Marriage Debate
Aaron Waisler
Hofstra University

2. The Same-Sex Marriage Debate
1
The issue of same-sex marriage can be a confusing one. In my research, I have
discovered that the affirmative argued more convincingly than the negative because they
successfully advocate a need for a change to the status quo. The reasons given by the negative
have little weigh very little in the argument for same-sex marriage. Many arguments that the
negative makes concerning this sensitive issue are arguments that can easily be played down by
simple historical evidence.
The affirmative makes several valid points and backs them up with hard evidence and
statistics. One of the points that they make is that same-sex couples should have access to the
same benefits as heterosexual couples. Many benefits, such as healthcare, are only available to
married couples. If we make same-sex marriage legal, these couples can save a great deal of
money, and the money they would be spending out of pocket for services such as insurance, can
now be spent giving back to society through taxes and the consumption of goods and services.
According to a 2009 analysis by the New York Times, the cost of being gay and in a same-sex
relationship is extremely expensive. The worst case scenario uncovered by the analysis was a
gay couple who ended up spending $465,562 throughout their lifetime. The analysis found the
best case scenario to be “$41,196…for a couple with significantly better health insurance, plus
lower taxes and other costs.” If this is the cost of being gay in 2009, imagine what the cost would
be now, in 2014, with higher taxes and inflation upon us! Typically, social security and
healthcare benefits are only offered to heterosexual couples because homosexual couples are not
yet recognized in the United States legal system as ‘married’ couples and, marriage, according to
its original definition, is between a man and a woman. More on that later on in this essay.
Another argument for same-sex marriage is that the institution of marriage needs to
evolve

3. The Same-Sex Marriage Debate
2
Another part of the argument for same-sex marriage is that same-sex couples, although
not able to reproduce biologically, should be encouraged to adopt. The American Academy of
Pediatrics came out in support of Dr. Benjamin Siegel, chairman of the American Academy of
Pediatrics Committee on Psychological Aspects of Child and Family Health said in a March
2013 article published on the American Academy of Pediatrics website, “Children thrive in
families that are stable and that provide permanent security, and the way we do that is through
marriage.” Children would be better off with homosexual parents than in a foster home where
family life is not as stable. Dr. Siegel goes on to say, “The AAP believes there should be equal
opportunity for every couple to access the economic stability and federal supports provided to
married couples to raise children.” This goes back to my earlier point regarding monetary
benefits married couples are eligible for in the United States. If we do not legalize same-sex
marriage, these couples will have to pay more out of pocket for necessary services such as
healthcare and social security and will spend less money on buying goods and services, which
will only serve to further weaken our economy. So, in fact, discriminating against gay couples in
this way will only serve to hurt the economy. According to a 2013 editorial published in the
Washington Post, it shouldn’t matter the sexual orientation of the parents, as long as they are
loving parents. The article affirms this by saying,“We should be begging gay couples to adopt
children. We should see this as a great boon that gay marriage could bring to kids who need
nothing more than two loving parents. The answer to [Justice Elena] Kagan's question is that gay
marriage doesn't harm traditional marriage.” The more gay couples that adopt, the less children
that will be placed in foster care and orphanages. As the Washington Post article says, all a child
needs is two loving parents. A child would be better off in a household with two gay parents than
in an orphanage or foster home where circumstances constantly change and there is less stability.

4. The Same-Sex Marriage Debate
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Perhaps one of the most significant arguments for gay marriage is the psychological
implications of not legalizing it. According to an NPR story published on their website,
Columbia University psychologist Mark Hatzenbuehler said that "Lesbian, gay and bisexual
individuals who lived in the states that banned same-sex marriage experienced a significant
increase in psychiatric disorders.” According to Hatzenbuehler , “there was a 37 percent increase
in mood disorders, a 42 percent increase in alcohol-use disorders, and — I think really strikingly
— a 248 percent increase in generalized anxiety disorders." Mr. Hatzenbuehler is using the logic
line of argument here. It is logical that bad news will trigger some sort of mental problems in
affected individuals.
There are also many arguments against the legalization of same-sex marriage. These
arguments, by far, have to do with morality rather than logic, which is not the best way to make
an argument. Morality is subjective. What is moral to one person may not be to someone else.
I’ve outlined several of these arguments in the paragraphs following.
According to ProCon.org, one of the arguments against gay marriage is that the
institution of marriage has been defined as between a man and a woman. The affirmative
downplays this argument by stating that “marriage is redefined as society’s attitudes evolve, and
the majority of Americans support gay marriage. The affirmative backs up its argument with
statistics and dates such as a “2013 Gallup poll showing 53% of Americans [an overwhelming
majority] support gay marriage” and the date of 1967, when interracial marriage became legal.
These statistics and dates reaffirm the affirmative’s argument that the institution of marriage is
ready to evolve once again.” If we could legalize interracial marriage, then we can legalize same-
sex marriage. We’ve made radical changes to the institution of marriage before, so it should not
be so difficult to do it once again.

5. The Same-Sex Marriage Debate
4
Another argument against same-sex marriage is that it will increase the instances of
children being raised in same-sex homes. The negative argues that it is unhealthy for a child to
be raised in a home with two mothers or two fathers because children “need a mother and a
father”, according to ProCon.org. This argument is downplayed by the affirmative when they
argue that same-sex marriage makes it easier to adopt kids out of foster care and give them stable
homes. A stable home doesn’t necessarily need a mother and a father. Two mothers or two
fathers can provide just as much support to the child as a traditional mother-father household
can. According to a 2013 study published in the Journal of Family Psychology, family type is not
a predictor of psychological adjustments in children. In fact, the study finds that children adopted
in to homosexual homes run little risk of having psychological problems down the line. It lists
other factors that play much more heavily in to the psychological outcome of a child than family
type and sexual orientation of the parents, such as abuse or neglect, parents that don’t get along,
and several other factors.
The negative also argues that the instance of the child being homosexual increases in a
same-sex household. This argument is irrelevant because it is a fallacy. It uses the “Begging the
Question” fallacy because it uses the conclusion as a part of its argument. It is a roundabout way
of arriving at the conclusion. Gay marriage is what the debate is about, yet the negative is using
the debate itself as an argument. They are saying that the kids will turn homosexual because their
parents are. First of all, there are many instances where that is not the case and, second of all, it
shouldn’t matter whether the child turns out to be homosexual. They are not providing us with
much of an argument. According to a Huffington Post editorial, Relating to this argument, the
negative believes that same-sex couple cannot have children together. While that is true, they
leave out an important part of the argument. They purposely omit adoption as a way to grow a

6. The Same-Sex Marriage Debate
5
family. This is not much of an argument because they give only one reason for the argument,
which is not a valid one. They believe that the only reason gays would want to have kids is for
their own gratification and not for the purpose of raising children and growing a family. This
argument makes no sense because they give no evidence to back it up. In a case study published
by The American Sociological Organization in 2001 presented a counter-argument “that children
of gay parents are more apt to suffer confusion over their gender and sexual identities and are
more likely to become homosexuals themselves.” However, the study counters that by implying
that “it is difficult to conceive of a credible theory of sexual development that would not expect
the adult children of lesbigay parents to display a somewhat higher incidence of homoerotic
desire, behavior, and identity than children of heterosexual parents. For example, biological
determinist theory should predict at least some difference in an inherited predisposition to same-
sex desire.” Even if children of same-sex parents develop these desires, there is not much
evidence to prove why it would be harmful.
Yet another argument the negative presents is that “same-sex marriage is incompatible
with religious texts”. These texts they speak of are several thousand years old, in most cases, and
times were different back then. This goes back to the earlier argument I listed where the
institution of marriage needs to evolve with the times. Back then, no one would ever dream of
having a homosexual relationship, and, if they did, they sure didn’t talk about it. Marriage needs
to evolve, much like the legalization of interracial marriages, as discussed earlier in my research.
Back then, it was also acceptable to have multiple spouses. They’ve outlawed that, in our country
at least, so theoretically, same-sex marriage should be able to be accepted. Religion is even
evolving with the times. For example, there are many instances where Pope Francis is supportive
of gay people. Although the church has not officially affirmed its support for gay marriage, it has

7. The Same-Sex Marriage Debate
6
made important steps under the leadership of Pope Francis to change its views on the entire
same-sex issue. In a Washington Post article published yesterday, December 8, 2014, he
reaffirmed his and the church’s views yet again. “He said the Catholic Church must help parents
to stand by their gay children.” This is the first step to radically changing the church’s views on
same-sex marriage. Although the Pope “maintained that gay marriage was still not on the
Church’s agenda,” this is the first step in the right direction. As for the other main religions, we
have yet to see any radical changes in their ancient beliefs that marriage is between a man and a
woman.
The argument for gay marriage is extremely strong. One of the many reasons to support
gay marriage is that marriage, whether homosexual or heterosexual, is good for the economy.
According to a Huffington Post article published in October of 2013, “a Gallup poll finds that
married Americans spend $35 more everyday on average than their single counterparts.” The
article cites “around two-fifths of those surveyed cited financial stability as a critical reason for
their wanting to tie the knot down the line.”
In conclusion, the argument for gay marriage legalization carries more weight than the argument
against it.

8. The Same-Sex Marriage Debate
7
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