The Human Rights Campaign says,“In America, freedom means freedom for everyone.”  America is supposed to have equal rights for everyone, since we are the land of the free. That is why I think gay rights need to be legalized. Having them be denied rights is taking away from their freedom. Every human deserves equal rights.

The most important part of legalizing gay rights is making sure everyone is equal and not treated better or less than others because of who they like. According to the Defense of Marriage Act on June 26, 2013, same-sex couples that are married are denied 1,138 federal rights that heterosexual couples have. To have everyone treated equally they need to put an equal benefits ordinance in place. The Human Rights Campaign says “An equal benefits ordinance requires the contractor with a state or local government to offer equal benefits to its employees.” These ordinances would give same-sex couples that are married the same amount of benefits as heterosexual married couples, which is more than one thousand different benefits. An example of a benefit they would be getting is unpaid personal leave. In order to have equality we can’t have laws that make it okay to discriminate people because of who they like. On March 26, 2015, the Indiana state governor passed a Discriminatory Statute into law. These statutes allow business to refuse service to members of the LGBT people or any person based on their religion. In the first amendment to the United States Constitution it says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” By putting these types of laws in place we are taking away our freedom of religion.

The most common right people know about to be legalized is the right to marriage. The definition of marriage according to Dictionary.com is “Any of the diverse forms of interpersonal union established in various parts of the world to form a familial bond…” One of the biggest arguments for people against gay marriage is that marriage is for procreation this was in an article called “The Purpose of Marriage is Not Procreation” published on April 1, 2013. If marriage was only for procreation then how come a heterosexual couple that is infertile can get married or if they simply don’t want children? If marriage was only for procreation these couples wouldn't be allowed to get married either. Even though same-sex couples can’t reproduce they can still adopt or have a surget. Both of those options still create a family. Other people who are for same-sex marriage will say that marriage is for love. Even though to some people this may not be the most normal relationship it is still love, and love is love. If a man and a women can love each other why can't a man and a man or a woman and a woman love each other? All of those couples love each other.

 Religious Tolerance stated that one of the biggest reasons some people are against gay marriage is that it goes against the bible or their religion. Religious Tolerance also did a study on the Bible and they saw that in some passages where being gay was punishable it was also a crime to eat shrimp. In other passages it was illegal to wear linen and wool at the same time, now people still eat shrimp and wear what they want and Christians aren't saying anything against them. This shows how times are changing and not everything stays the same over time. In John 4:7-8 it reads "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God whoever does not love does not know God because God is love." In this verse it is telling everyone to love each other, but they choose not to love gays because in their bible it says it isn't okay. These two ideas contradict each other by saying not to love gays but to still love everyone.
         

Many people think that people who are gay choose to be gay. If they got to choose to be gay why would they choose to be picked on and made fun of? The American Psychological Association did a study on gay conversion therapy. Gay conversion therapy is a therapy Tory and change your sexual orientation. When The American Psychological Association finished their study it found that this kind of therapy is not helpful, or "harmful and worsens self-hatred." Live Science did a study on animals on March , 2015. The study was to see if animals could also be homosexual. They discovered many animals that were including lions, chimpanzees, and over one hundred and thirty bird species according to Live Science. With this information it gives us the idea that homosexuality is a modern human innovation.
         

Gay rights need to be legalized. America needs to have equality including everyone has the right to marry. No matter your religion you should be able to get married. Gay is being normal and more people are starting to accept it. We live in America, this is a free country everyone needs their rights. Every human being deserves rights no matter their race, gender, or sexual orientation. they are still a human being.