Propositon 8 | Teen Ink

Propositon 8

February 17, 2009
By Anonymous

On November 8, 2008 a law was passed that blatantly went against the American
standards. It was called Proposition 8, a law that banned gay marriage in California and is being
considered for a nation wide law. The people who voted against proposition 8 never realized
what they were doing, how much money they could make off of the marriages, the fact that
American morals suggest freedom for all, and how history repeats itself and in a few years it
could be considered normal for a gay couple to marry.

On average, US couples spend $28,732 for their wedding. About 15% of the total
population had gotten married in 2005, that's about 4,460,000. There was an estimated
59,705,476 couples in the United States. 582,024 were estimated to be same sex couples. And of
the whole estimate of the couple 1.22% same-sex couple in California alone. If both homosexual
and heterosexual couples were to marry that would mean putting about $144,867,433,568 into
the economy. That seems to be an awful lot of money. Without the homosexual couples it could
be only about 128,144,720,000. It seems to be cutting out a whole lot of money, money that
could help the united state's economy. So why pass a law that would put the country's economy
in danger?

'We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish
Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general
Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America.' (Constitution of the Unites States,
preamble.) The preamble of the constitution states 'secure the Blessings of Liberty.' Liberty is
freedom right? Freedom to make one's own decisions, what the US was built for. Yet here is a
law that is prohibiting others from having their own freedom. It doesn't seem
right to do that to other people. America was designed to be the accepting nation. One was free
to do as they please as long as the act they committed was not anarchy or murder. Sodomy and
other acts associated with homosexuals aren't federal crimes, not even a crime at all. Proposition
8 is in direct violation of these morals, taking away somebody's freedom.


The United States, being the accepting land, has never accepted anything at first however.
It takes a while. Virginia passed legislations that prohibited any bi-racial marriages in 1661, and
even going as far in 1691 to make the mother of a biracial child become a servant, as well as the
child. The laws made during this time remained in effect in most states well until the 1950s. Yet
now a person can see a bi-racial person walking the streets and not think of it. They can be idols,
movie stars, pop singers, and now a president. It used to be a crime for two separate races to
produce a child, marry, or even look at one another. Does that sound familiar? It seems that one
day people will end up accepting gay marriage with no problems what so ever, not even batting
an eye at it. Making silly things like Proposition 8 feel like an act of stupidity. The only reason it
was introduced was because the American public was afraid of change, while always come
inevitably.


Voting for Proposition 8 was a mistake. It can cause damages to the economy, the morals,
and proves history repeats itself in America.


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