Why do college students currently support same-sex marriage?

An April 15 national survey, conducted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, found that 57 percent of college students in the U.S. support marriage between two people of the same sex.

For homosexual college students, the reasoning is understandable:; they would want to get married some day and have the same rights as other people.

But what about college students that are not gay? Why do they support the cause?

Think for a moment, about what exactly is being advocated. Is it unjust to deny certain people their equal rights? Yes, of course it is.

However, laws should be abided by. Fracturing them cannot lead toward change, it can only make things worse.

For example, approximately 3,700 gay couples were married in San Francisco in February after Mayor Gavin Newsom decided to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex partners. He did so in defiance of the California state family code, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. As a result, the state Supreme Court ordered these unions to stop entirely in early March.

While it was great for these gay partners to finally be able to get married, now they have to wait on pins and needles to see if the state Supreme Court will deem their marital unions as legitimate.

Thus, this act of defiance not only potentially broke people’s hearts, but it also ensured that gay couples in other cities in California will be denied the right to get married.

Furthermore, homosexual individuals in other areas of the country, specifically the 38 states that consider same-sex marriage illegal, are also feeling the backlash of such behavior.

Take, for instance, the New Hampshire House of Representatives, which plans to “consider a bill that would make it illegal to recognize same-sex marriages performed out of state,” according to MSNBC News. As a result, gay partners from New Hampshire would not able to get married even if they went to another state.

Finally, making this issue center stage may distract American voters from more serious issues in the upcoming presidential election like the war in Iraq and a lackluster economy. If President Bush can deviate from having to address these issues, he may win another term in office and he has made it quite clear where he stands on same-sex marriage.
When the U.S. President calls for a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage and then does not provide any concrete explanation as to why, it is understandable to be upset and lose focus on what is really going on.

The legalization of gay marriage is a noble cause to rally behind. After all, it is an effort made to give homosexual people the same rights everyone else has. and to enure equal rights overall. However, the way it has been accomplished this year can only cause more harm than good in the long run.

A better way to fight for gay rights is to wait until the proper elections are held and go out and vote, not by breaking the law. Hopefully, thereafter, democracy will prevail.