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Gay Marriage Facts What you need to know about same-sex marriage
It used to be men and women. Now, society considers a third sex which we commonly ref er to as gays. Over the years, gay people are f ighting f or recognition in the society as well as allowing them to marry whoever they choose based on ones constitutional guarantee of equality. While some conservatives oppose to this idea, there are many libertarians who are backing up this advocacy, even if it takes bringing this up to Congress or the Highest Court of the Land.

Def inition of Gay Marriage

Also known as same sex marriage, gay marriage is a marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or gender identity. In other words, it is the union between man and man or woman and woman according to their own individual liberty and personal pref erence. Marriage among gay can be perf ormed either through a civil ceremony or religious setting as there are various religious groups that support gay marriage and allow same sex marriage ceremonies.

10 Facts about Gay Marriage

Marriage is supposed to be a union between man and woman. But that is not the case here. Over the years, more countries are slowly recognizing and legalizing the same sex marriage and even providing benef its and equal access similar to marriages between man and woman. T he f ollowing shows the dif f erent gay marriage f acts: Recognition of same sex marriage as a civil right has become a political, moral, social and religious issue among a lot of countries. T hat is why the f irst laws allowing same sex marriage were only enacted during early 2000. Netherlands was the f irst country to allow gay marriage when same sex marriage bill was passed and became a law on April 1, 2001 with 3.6% of the total number of marriages attributed to gay couples. However, the number of gay marriage dropped over the years with only 1,100 couples getting married on 2005. As of April 2013, there are only twelve countries that legally recognize and allow same sex couples to marry Argentina, Belgium, Uruguay, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, South Af rica, Iceland, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal and Norway. Israel, Curacao, Aruba and Brazil acknowledge same sex marriage, however do not allow ceremonies to be conducted. In Brazil, civil unions among gay couples can be converted into marriage. In the United States of America, only 9 states plus the District of Columbia allows gay couple to get married Washington, Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa, New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Maryland and Massachusetts. Among these states, Massachusetts is the f irst state to allow gay marriage in 2004 with the Supreme Judicial Court ruling that it is unconstitutional to bar same sex couples f rom marrying.

Marriage among gay couples can only be perf ormed in Mexico City and Quintana Roo although the Mexican f ederal government accepts this to be legal and binding. Although some countries in the world do not allow perf ormance of marriage among same sex couples, there are other legally recognized unions allowed such as civil partnership, civil union or domestic partnership. Although there is still a separate status, this kind of union of f ers benef its and legal consequences of marriage despite the non-perf ormance of the ceremony. Countries such as United Kingdom, Australia, Colombia, New Z ealand, Germany, France and New Z ealand of f er this kind of civil union. According to a study conducted by the American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association, the f inancial, physical and psychological well-being of couples of the same sex are enhanced by marriage, thus making it benef icial f or children to be raised by gay partners. Further studies even show that gay parents are f it and capable as heterosexual parents wherein the children raised will be psychologically healthy and well-adjusted. In f act, the American Academy of Pediatrics concludes that a childs behavioral, emotional and psychosocial adjustment has nothing to do with their parents sexual orientation. Several studies show that same sex marriage in the United States has a link in increasing the HIV rate, thus the reason why some states ban gay marriage. T he Roman Catholic Church is among the biggest religious denomination who opposes and vows strongly against same sex marriage