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TCU 360

TCU 360

All TCU. All the time.

TCU 360

Students discuss religious topics in a small group. (Photo courtesy of tcuwesley.org)
Wednesday nights at TCU’s Methodist campus ministry provide religious exploration and fellowship
By Boots Giblin, Staff Writer
Published Mar 27, 2024
Students at the Wesley said they found community on Wednesday nights.

Government oversteps bounds when passing same-gender marriage laws

There’s one four-letter word constantly causing problems for Americans: love.This word may send many screaming for their “Moulin Rouge” soundtracks as evidence of all that is good in the world, but the sad truth is that there are people in the United States whose love makes them second-class citizens.

When U.S. citizens marry, they fall under the protection of 1,138 federal laws.

Sounds pretty sweet, except for one tiny detail: not all U.S. citizens can get married.

Though it may sound like the line from “Animal Farm,” it is true that under U.S. law all citizens are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Same-sex couples living anywhere except Massachusetts are not recognized as legally wed, and in all but five states (California, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire) same-sex couples currently have no legally recognized relationship status resembling marriage.

And while those opposed to same-sex marriage quibble over the implications of expanding the definition of marriage beyond the traditional man-woman variety, the fact is that murderers, rapists, thieves and Britney Spears are allowed to marry while other, law-abiding citizens are not.

This means that social degenerates have access to 1,138 more rights than law-abiding same-sex couples.

And these are not trivial laws.

For example, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act allows employees to take time off work to care for their spouses, but does not grant domestic partners this right.

Many religious people and their leaders decry same-sex marriage as immoral and unnatural, but thankfully, the same First Amendment that protects religious freedom also places religion in a separate sphere from government.

That is why divorce and pre-marital sex are legal.

Get the government out of the bedroom. It’s ridiculous to have laws restricting what two consenting adults are allowed to do with each other in the privacy of their own home.

Even if you believe same-sex relations are immoral, where is the morality in denying hospital visitation rights to a domestic partner?

Where is the morality in denying a man or woman the right to inherit property from a deceased partner simply because that partner is of the same gender?

Where is the morality in granting only legally married spouses the right to live together in nursing homes, ripping apart partners that have spent their entire adulthoods together?

This institutionalized discrimination has a negative impact on the relationships and mental health of same-sex couples, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

Treating same-sex couples as second-class citizens perpetuates the fear many closet homosexuals have of being open about their sexuality.

That’s why it is important to not only grant these individuals equal rights, but to support efforts like today’s National Coming Out Day to remove the stigma of same-sex relationships.

In recognition of the day, TCU Gay-Straight Alliance will collaborate with Inclusiveness and Intercultural Services for a panel discussion in the Student Center lounge from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Talia Sampson is a senior news-editorial journalism major from Moorpark, Calif.

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