Pro Gay Marriage Essay. If Canada is seen around the world as this accepting and diverse place, what image does it send out by not allowing homosexuals and lesbians to marry? Homosexual marriage should be a constitutional right in order for the world an

discrimination and predjudice can be defeated.         Under article seven of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it states that all are equal before the law and have the right to protection against discrimination[1]. If one were to look in history, there is much proof of rights being taken away from minority groups. Anti-miscegenation or the act of prohibiting interracial marriage was not uncommon in the states in the early 1900’s. An act in Virginia made it completely illegal for a white and a “coloured person” to marry[2]. However, over the past 50 years society has learned now that racial segregation is wrong and brings discrimination against minority groups that still haunts us today. Anti-gay marriage and anti-miscegnation have historical parralells which set human rights backwards, even today there is still a stigma placed on interracial couples. If gay marriage is not made a constitutional right, will Canada and the world look back in a few years and feel the same shame?         With the discrimination that comes from disregarding homosexuals and the pleads to have the right to marriage also comes outward hatred from other groups of people. In 2004 a General Social Survey in Canada found that approximately 362,000 people over the age of 18 identify themselves as gay or lesbian[3]. Of 60,000 hate crimes commited in Canada in 1994, sexual orientation was the third largest reason just behind race and religion[4]. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms also states under article 15 that every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability[5]. Sexual orientation is not included in these groups. Excluding sexual orientation from protection against discrimination leaves a minority group unprotected and open to hate crimes. Perhaps if society began to accept homosexuals as it did with interracial couples, younger generations would grow up with a positive attitude towards them rather than shunning them.         Aside from the positive effects legalizing gay marriage would have on society as a whole, there is also the positive effects it would have on family life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family[6]. A society functions based on the happiness of a family, and allowing gay couples to marry would give them that fundamental feeling of actually being a family. A Canadian census in 2001 found that there are 34 200 gay couples living with children[7]. Although many people argue that gay marriage destroys the sanction of marriage and ruins the idea of family, there are also plenty of examples of heterosexual marriages failing as well. Gay couples have the same capabilities of raising a family as heterosexual couples would, and allowing gay marriage and adoption allows for more parentless children to be adopted, and to have a sense of family.         Regardless of sex, marriage should be a constitutional right. If a man and a man or a woman and a woman want to marry each other, the marriage should be allowed. When people deny this union between two people, it doing society a diservice. Denying gay marriage like denying interracial marriage sets human rights back and does not allow society to move forward. People will continue to discriminate against other groups and ignorance will never end. Canada is a mosaic society built from different people from diverse backgrounds. If Canada does not accept a persons diversity, where does that leave the country? [1]  No Author. Universal Declaration of Human Rights retrieved from http://www.claiminghumanrights.org/udhr_article_7.html (Claiming Human Rights: 2010) [2] No Author. Virginia Code retrieved from  http://www2.facinghistory.org/Campus/rm.nsf/61A7F88FF16FBD9585256E8E001178AC/620585E98DFA385D8525707B0008D931?OpenDocument (Facing History Ourselves: 1997-2011) [3]  Beauchamp, D. Sexual Orientation and Victimization 2004 retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85f0033m/85f0033m2008016-eng.htm (Stats Canada: 2004) [4]  Statistics Canada. Hate Crime in Canada retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-551-x/85-551-x1999000-eng.pdf (Stats Canada: 2001) [5] No Author. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms retrieved from http://www.efc.ca/pages/law/charter/charter.text.html  (Electronic Frontier Canada, No date) [6]  No Author. Universal Declaration of Human Rights [7] Brown, L. Same Sex Parenting retrieved from http://www.parentscanada.com/relating/articles.aspx?listingid=157 (Parents Canada: 2007)