Gay Marriage

Abstract

The research paper aims to provide a deeper understanding in the meaning and definition of gay marriage. The main purpose of this research paper is to compare the different view or what we call as societal perception in different categories. The categories used in this paper are men in general, family perception on gay marriage, regional comparison and lastly religious point of view on this matter.Articles accessed through the internet nad newspaper were used to help give a wider view of scope on this field of study.

Introduction

Marriage is what we call a lifetime commitment to constantly provide emotional intimacy to your spouse, thereby uncovering your true self and, ultimately, your unique purpose for being created. According to Robert F. Murphy in his book entitled "Cultural and Social Anthropology", he stated that "Marriage is a truly peculiar institution". According to the definition of marriage obtain from Merriam-Webster dictionary which is the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband for male and wife for female in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by the law. But as time passes, the marriage constitution of uniting a man and a female as one has change and now gay marriages have been recognized and to some country it is accepted based on the law. With this the issue of civil partnership or same-sex marriage has been one of the main topic of discussion in recent years (Auchmuty, 2004; Boyd and Young, 2003; Jeffreys, 2004). Same-sex marriage is slowly gaining a foothold across the world. In five countries--the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, and South Africa--lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people can marry, although only in Canada is marriage completely equal for both homosexual and heterosexual couples (Ruth Mitchell, 2007). "Adding on, to some cultures, homosexual behaviors have been variously approved of, tolerated, punished and banned."(N.Alagappar, K.Karamjeet, 2009).

Before going deeper into same-sex marriage or gay marriage, let us first consider the definition of gay. Gay, according to the Oxford Dictionary brings the meaning of homosexual which is sexually attracted to people of one's sex. This is characterized by the sexual attraction between people of the same sex including both male and female. Other than that, The Free Dictionary online by Farlex stated that the word gay refers to the people whose orientation is to the same sex, in large part because this is the term that gay people prefer when referring to them. The word 'gay' tells the difference from homosexual mainly because of the cultural and social aspects of homosexuality which opposed to sexual practice. According to the dictionary, it stated that many writers reserve gay only for males, but the word is also used to refer to females as well, in another term is called lesbian. Based on the definition of gay from two different dictionary, it is clearly stated that gay people involve both sexes, male as well as female who are sexually attracted to each other and this only happen between people of the same sexes.

Gay marriage legitimization, a specific, divisive issue in the political and social dimensions, is concerned with several political and social issues that have raised fundamental questions about Constitutional amendments, equal rights, and American family values (Po.L.P, Meng.J, Zhou.S, 2010). With all the jobs done by the news, since then media have become relatively important not only in delivering the news but also in affecting the people's attitude and perception towards gays and lesbian. As stated in Tan (1999), the media had played a crucial role in communicating foreground homosexuality, which forced and provoked unparallel discussion on sex and sexuality which are considered as taboo of the country. The potential exists that the media could influence matter, control innovation because it remains the potent way of informing society on a mass scale about things (Gideon, 2003). (As cited in Ponmalar et al, 2009)

Religion View

Throughout the years, evidence of homosexual practices has been found in the form of graphic art as well as literature during the ancient civilization. Homosexuality being defined as a social problem nowadays has been the most consistent enemy towards the Church. In the Bible, both in Old and New Testament, a conclusion is drawn which is a person that is homosexual is an abomination to the Lord and that person is denounced as transgressors of the natural order, and are "disinherited from the kingdom of God".

In the medieval times, Peter Damian condemned the spread of homosexuality among the clergy as for Thomas Aquinas; he stated that homosexual acts are "contrary to the natural order of venereal act as becoming to the human race."

The civil law that tied to homosexuality originally followed the church law and always has been consistent with it. But as recently as 1971, forty-seven states had statutes defining homosexual acts as criminal behavior. By the mid-1970s, however, out of the forty-seven states that ban homosexuality, one third of it has begun to accept the idea of homosexuality among their citizens. In 1974, the American Psychiatric Association decided to remove homosexuality from its illness list for mental disorder. This is because homosexuality is basically not a mental illness but a rejection of heterosexuality norm.

Cultural View

Before making clear our perspective or point of view towards homosexuality, first we need to have a wider view of the whole issue. To Westerners, the attitudes and behavior of Sambia and the Keraki of New Guinea are startling .The Sambia have the belief that no boys can grow into a man naturally unless they have done oral sex with men of the tribe where as for the Keraki, the homosexual only begins during puberty rites. For the Keraki, the unmarried or so call older guys will have anal sex with the younger ones. This ceremony will continue for the next generation. For the Sambia and Keraki, homosexual acts are considered as a passage to "masculinization."

Past Researches

In the year 1948, Alfred Kinsey and his associates conducted a research on homosexuality and the Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. In his research, he concluded that most of the homosexual behaviors are a form of experimentation, and almost all of them continue living a heterosexual live. Other than that, in Kinsey's research he also concluded that about 4 percent of U.S male is exclusively homosexual throughout their live. In Humphrey's research, he stated that there are men that use a system of gestures to