2013: An important year for the legalization of same-sex marriage
Vienna Giacchè
As we all know, the legalization of same-sex marriage has been a battle that society has been struggling to fight for many years. Just recently it has become a less controversial topic that many countries around the world have begun to accept. This amazing progress is, in my opinion, a positive change that can only benefit us and create a more open-minded outlook for the new generation and the many more to come. 2013 was an important year for the legalization of gay marriage, as many new places have legalized it. The countries that have most recently passed this law in 2013 are Uruguay, New Zealand, France, Brazil, and England and Wales. These countries add themselves to the list of many others such as Belgium, Canada, and The Netherlands being the first in 2000.
Within the United States, there are an astounding number of states that now allow same-sex marriage. These states include California, New Jersey, Delaware, Hawaii, and Minnesota. Illinois, passing the law in January of 2014, will be the 16th state in the United States legalizing same-sex marriage. This number is rather high considering merely fifteen years ago the option to marry for those who are gay seemed unthinkable. Unfortunately this law will most probably not be taken into consideration in the years to come, in the country in which we reside, Italy: Italy’s strong connection with the Catholic Church, has solid values against the legalization of gay marriage.
Although many may not agree with it, with years to come this view could change and many more countries could begin to allow it, until eventually same-sex marriages will be absolutely normal and accepted. As a very important quote of Barack Obama states “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage. But when you start playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that's not what America's about. Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don't contract them.” I feel that this is an important principle to stand by because everyone has the right to his or her own opinion but not to judge one’s happiness.
Though many countries still have difficulty accepting this new and unconventional idea, the legalization of same-sex marriage has made superb progress throughout the past years. Who knows, maybe one day this map of America will be covered in a bright red!