"The people who are petitioning for redress from their government right now are hardworking, tax-paying citizens in permanent, committed relationships, many of which have children. All they want are the legal tools to protect their families." Representative Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin said in a debate with Senator Rick Santorum on CBS on February 29, 2004.

It’s the truth, though; honest American citizens are being legally denied one of their most coveted rights each and every day – the right to be legally married, with all the benefits attached to the action.

Two people are granted specific and highly beneficial rights when they get legally married, benefits not granted to homosexual ‘life partners’. A legally recognized spouse can inherit a share of their partner’s estate after death and receive tax exemptions on said inheritance, is in charge of final arrangements, and can visit their spouse in jail or the hospital, where only immediate family is permitted. Married couples can file joint tax returns, move into ‘family housing’ complexes, both receive health insurance from one partner’s employer, and a number of other benefits that are not given along with ‘civil unions’.

On Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the Mass. legislature must rewrite the state laws concerning marriage to include marriage between same-sex partners.

As stated in the official opinion, "The dissimilitude between the terms ‘civil marriage’ and ‘civil union’ is not innocuous; it is considered choice of language that reflects a demonstrable assigning of same-sex, largely homosexual, couples to second-class status."

Plainly spoken; not allowing homosexuals to have civil marriages is absolutely unconstitutional.

Some argue that if a man can marry a man, why can’t he marry a dog? Tell me; can a dog sign a marriage contract? Is a dog a legal citizen of the United States? No, and no. Marriage is a mutual agreement between two human beings.

"I think [these arguments] have no place here… the substance of the issue being should we amend the US Constitution to limit rights rather than expand rights?" said Representative Baldwin when asked if opening marriage to homosexuals would also open the gates to incestual and polygamic marriages.

The question here, I believe, is ‘What is marriage? Why do people get married?’

Marriage is, by many definitions, a mutual and binding contract between a man and a woman with which both promise to stay together ‘in sickness and in health’ and to ‘love and cherish’ one another until death. This, while being a nice sentiment, is not practiced by most Americans. Divorce runs rampant through the United States, and while some argue that marriage is for children to have a complete and loving household in which to be nurtured and ‘raised right’, that’s just not how it works. If that were the case, divorce would be illegal, parents would not be allowed to be ‘single’, and the elderly and infertile would be denied marriage. If a woman cannot have children, can she still marry? Yes. If a woman has a child, is she required to be married? No.

"Marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman. Today's decision [to allow gay marriages in Massachusetts] ... violates this important principle. I will work with congressional leaders and others to do what is legally necessary to defend the sanctity of marriage." President George W. Bush said in a debate after the Massachusetts ruling.

Bush’s statement there is exactly why gay marriage SHOULD be legal; the main disagreements in today’s society on this subject involve religion, which has no standing in our democratic system.

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court declared that separate was not equal. This, at the time, pertained to racial inequalities in schools, but doesn’t that mean that everyone should have the same marriage rights as well? Aren’t all Americans – women, men, white black, straight and gay - supposed to have equal rights?

I believe that every American, defined as an individual who pays his or her taxes and lives in the United States, has the freedom to choose their own religion, the freedom to stand up and speak for what they believe is right, and the freedom to marry the person that they love, no matter what their race, religion, or gender may be.