On June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court, ruled 5-4 in favor of same-sex marriage in the landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges. This means that same-sex marriage was officially and effectively legalized in all 50 states, making the United States the 21st and most populous country to recognize it.
While LGBT communities have been celebrating this landmark event in history, there are still many people who will surely disapprove, and I cannot blame them, due to their conservative upbringing. I am 100% straight, by the way, but I have many gay and lesbian friends simply because I treat them as if they were normal men and women. And I am sure they are rejoicing right now.
So what are the benefits of same-sex marriage, anyway? Before the act has been implemented, compared to opposite-sex married couples, same-sex couples have been facing financial and legal disadvantages, including, but not limited to, the following:
1. Legal costs associated with obtaining domestic partner documents to gain legal abilities granted automatically by legal marriage, including power of attorney, health care decision-making, and inheritance.
2. A person can inherit an unlimited amount from a deceased spouse without incurring an estate tax, but is subject to taxes if inheriting from a same-sex partner.
3. Same-sex couples were not eligible to file jointly as a married couple and thus could not take the advantages of lower tax rates when the individual income of the partners differs significantly.
4. Employer-provided health insurance coverage for a same-sex partner incurred federal income tax.
5.Higher health costs associated with lack of insurance and preventative care: 20% of same-sex couples had a member who was uninsured compared to 10% of married opposite-sex couples.
6. Inability to protect jointly owned home from loss due to costs of potential medical catastrophe.
Inability of a U.S. citizen to sponsor a same-sex spouse for citizenship.
With the legalization of same-sex marriage, all of these abovementioned cons will be eliminated, thus having equal rights compared with opposite-sex married couples, which includes the following:
1. Health care coverage from spouse's employer
2. Social Security Survivor benefits
3. Ability to sponsor foreign spouse for permanent residency
4. Possibly lower income taxes when using "married" filing status
5. Right to successorship in residential lease
6. Right to file wrongful death suit
7. Partial exemption from inheritance/estate tax
8. Over 1,000 other rights and privileges associated with legal marriage
9. Marital discount on car insurance
10. Creation of a stable family structure to raise children (though both of them cannot actually make one, they can only adopt)
In general, the main advantage of same-sex marriage is that you and your partner simply express what you truly feel with each other with dignity and pride. However, the main disadvantage of this is that someone else might be offended, thinking both of you already have sinned in the sight of God.
Well actually, in my perspective, while I agree that having sex with the same gender is indeed sinful, having a non-sexual relationship with the same sex is not.
In addition, I also cannot blame the LGBT community regarding their sexual preferences, whether it is homosexual, bisexual, pansexual or transexual. In regards to sexual preferences, I do not consider a man being effeminate or androgynous as sinful (the same goes to lesbians as well). However, I consider being transexual as sinful, even cross-dressing at least, because I believe that God only created two genders, a man and a woman, and that the Bible does not condone cross dressing. Yes there are effeminate men, but although they think they belong to the third sex, they are still men. Same goes to lesbians who show masculine traits. I consider sex change as a sin because you are altering your body, the very vessel of your soul that God had provided to you in order to live.
At this point, I know some of you who belong to the LGBT community may get offended at what I have said, no matter what your actual preferences are. So before it gets worse, I will immediately extend my apologies to anyone who were offended in this portion of the article. I simply shared my thoughts, and I know that I have no right to claim that everything I believe in is right. That is your decision, and I truly respect that. Despite my personal views written in this article, please rest assured that I am a type of person who treats everyone with proper respect, regardless of stature, color or gender.
While I understand how every gay, lesbian and tranny feels within themselves, on the other hand, I also understand the feelings of their families, especially the fathers, who strongly disapprove with their choices, going to such extent that they beat, humiliate, sometimes torturing their own sons just because they were disgusted with the fact that their precious son that he groomed for so many years to take over the responsibilities in the family, was actually gay. This same situation sometimes go to lesbians as well, though physical punishment is rarely seen.
Yes the fathers sometimes have the right to discipline their sons regarding their sexual preferences, but I totally disagree with physical punishment. Because no matter how many times you flog him with a 2x2... no matter how many times you try to drown him in a steel drum full of water... and no matter what kind of punishment you make, you will never change your son's sexuality. You are simply, and slowly, killing the boy. Your son will lose his self-esteem... his confidence to face the world... and his will to live as a person he wants him to be with pride. Much worse, he will have the tendency to rebel against you... he might even think you are a bad father to him due to the physical punishments you gave since you hated your son's chosen path.
But if I am in your shoes, I would rather do otherwise. Should my son reveal to me he is gay, or my daughter a lesbian, I would simply hug him/her, because what they only need is acceptance, not only from the family, but to other people as well, so they can live as normal people without anyone trying to crush their hopes and dreams of living in a world where everybody is treated equally and justly.
Personally, I will never blame the gay or lesbian from being one. Some people might be wondering right now, why there are so many gays and lesbians in this world today compared to several decades ago?
The answer is simple. If you wish to point your finger only for the intention of blaming somebody or something that caused the increase of LGBT, blame it on two things.
First is the surroundings. For parents, before you attempt to beat or humiliate your children who went out of the closet, try first to check the surroundings you think he/she might have been into, whether in your neighborhood, at school, or at church.
I believe any person has the ability to either directly or indirectly influence or affect others, depending on the delivery and choice of words, on charisma, and other certain circumstances that you must also consider. Perhaps you might even conduct your personal investigation by asking anyone close to your son/daughter just to determine who or what is the cause why your child become gay/lesbian. Because through the eyes of a child, anything bad becomes good.
Second is pop culture. I strongly believe that the power of mass media in broadcasting anything popular may affect the minds of the people. The influence of pop culture is strong enough to brainwash the mind of your child, especially in television, wherein there is a possibility that your child may witness some scenes unsuitable for them.
As per Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), one of the six elements to be considered for a show to be unsuitable for minors is sex, and that includes scenes that focus on any homosexual activity. It is still the responsibility of the parent to guide your children as much as possible, and to educate them everytime about the things they see on TV or on the Internet, hear on the radio, or read on the newspaper, whether they are appropriate or not. Proper guidance for our children is still the best and most-effective way to prevent them from becoming gay or lesbian, otherwise, it is most likely they will.
Seriously, let's face it. Over the years, many people have tried to step up, voice out their concerns, even to the extent of defying the naysayers in the government and society, just because they want equal rights.
The women spoke out first, wanting equal rights to men, the right to vote, and the right to work. We accepted their pleas.
Next came the colored people... African Americans wanting to abolish slavery... later wanting to eliminate segregation, and in the case of South Africa, wanting to end the apartheid due to the suffering they received from the supremacist white trash. Slavery was abolished in 1865 after the Civil War, in accordance of the Emancipation Proclamation, and later that year, the Thirteenth Amendment. Segregation, while still existing today, is gradually fading. And apartheid was ultimately abolished when Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa in 1994. Today, as Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder had sung, "Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony."
Then came the Hispanics, the Asians, the Arabs, the Pacific Islanders, even Native Americans, all voicing out the same call for equal rights in unison, because, like the African Americans, they also received the same discrimination from some white trash who thinks they are the superior race. Eventually, we also gave in, despite several cases concerning racism that are still happening today.
Now, it is the LGBT community, wherein the legalization of same-sex marriage is considered by them as the beginning of achieving their ultimate goal of equal rights.
Some people may ask, "Who's next in line?" I do not know whoever that is. But the point is, it does not matter for me if there is still existing opposition from some conservatives and fossilized bigots due to their "moral upbringing". The only thing that matters is that I am continuing to witness the gradual change in our society. And because of this significant event in the history of the LGBT movement not only in the United States but to the whole world, my dream of paradise, where people who follow the path of peace are living under the bonds of equality and justice, is slowly coming to reality.
I, the Pooch, have spoken.
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