SAME SEX MARRIAGE

The question of opening the institution of marriage to same-sex couples is the subject of an emotional national debate taking place at family dinner tables, provincial and federal legislatures and in the press. Opponents of same-sex marriages invoke religious tradition and family values. Allowing same-sex couples to marry, they assert, would somehow “deconstruct marriage, legitimize counterfeits, and re-define family in ways that would make it unrecognizable as the foundational social institution” (Washington Post). On the other hand, many gay-positive and religious liberal news sources stress that same-sex marriages and/or civil unions should be approached as civil liberty issues. The right to marry the person with whom you have made a lifetime commitment is of paramount importance to many - a major human rights issue. Author Andrew Sullivan wrote: "...marriage has become a way in which the state recognizes an emotional commitment by two people to each other for life. And with...