In the United States, conservatives and Christians are doing all they can to ensure that gay couples are never able to enjoy the full benefits of marriage. More than that, they are actively working to ensure that gays go back in the closet and are denied basic civil rights enjoyed by heterosexuals, assuming they dare to peek out of that closet. But why? What’s so terrible about being gay?

When discussing gay marriage, one must think about what marriage actually entails. When two people get married, they normally do so for reasons of love, lifelong companionship, and commitment. Marriage, however, is also a legal status, which comes with rights and responsibilities. Married couples receive over 400 state benefits and over 1000 federal benefits, including tax breaks, credit, and healthcare. Unmarried couples, such as gays, who cannot legally marry, are unable to reap the benefits of marriage simply because they are not heterosexual.

Many debate that marriage is a religious right, not a civil one, and legalizing gay marriage is a sacrilege of religion. Marriage cannot be considered a religious right anymore than the 36-hour Britney Spears marriage can be considered serious. If heterosexual Americans treat marriage as a joke and do not take it seriously, why should our government deny gays the right to, or not to, do the same? Another argument against gay marriage is that it is considered wrong in the bible, but this argument is null and void because last time I checked our nation was founded upon the idea of freedom of religion. There is simply no justification or rationality when it comes to the banning of gay marriage.

Gay people are just that: people. They bleed, they cry, they laugh, they eat soup with a spoon…but most importantly, they love. Just as a man and a woman fall head over heels, gays experience the same emotions, the same passion, and the same undeniable chemistry as everyone has with their partner.

As Americans, we do not have the right to judge homosexuals for their life choices unless we first intend to judge ourselves. Time spent worrying about homosexuals and their lives could be better spent worrying about issues that actually matter, such as the ghastly poverty rate or American education. Legalizing gay marriage would not affect anyone in a negative way; it would only affect homosexuals positively. It is a real shame that increasing the quality of life for fellow Americans that happen to be gay bother U.S. citizens so much. In a country that claims to be the land of the free, the government needs to end the hypocrisy and grant homosexuals the same liberties as everyone else.