Same-Sex Intimate Relationships and Marriage - Essay Example

The law is one avenue that needs to look at issues from the point of ethics and so the decision of whether same-sex marriages should be made legal or not should be decided through the ethical decision-making tool of utilitarianism. The ethical decision-making tool of utilitarianism suggests that those actions should be rendered as ethical that result in the highest amount of benefits to the overall society and not just certain portions of the society (Mackinnon 37). The tool even suggests that costs and benefits associated with a particular action should be weighed before recognizing a particular action as ethical or unethical.

            In the case of whether same-sex marriages should be rendered as ethical or unethical and or legal, the law can take help from the ethical decision-making tool of utilitarianism. The laws either have the option of not recognizing same-sex marriages as legal or the law can legalize such marriages. If the law continues to regard such marriages as illegal, this decision by law would favor a few and cause a disadvantage to the remaining members of society. If the law regards such marriages as legal, the overall society would benefit while only a few negative effects may be experienced by the society.

            Some of the several benefits that same-sex marriages have to offer include a solution to the problem of children who are unwanted and the burden on the state to take care of and provide for such children. Since couples in similar-sex marriages cannot produce children, they will be willing to adopt children and take care of them. Due to this, homeless children will gain better homes and supervision of parents to live under and the state’s burden of taking care of parentless children will decrease. A major issue experienced by same-gender couples is that they do not enjoy rights that have been provided to opposite-sex married couples. If same-sex marriages continue to remain illegal, the legal system will be acting in a discriminatory manner where individuals of different-sex couples will enjoy benefits and individuals from same-sex couples will have to experience hardships. Same-sex couples are not allowed to make decisions for their soul mates and they are not allowed to visit them in healthcare settings due to this they experience a lot of emotional issues. Legalization of such marriages will provide both same-sex and opposite-sex couples with equal rights and benefits. Marriages are a personal matter where couples have the right to decide who to marry and whom not to marry. Same-sex marriages are even similar to opposite-sex marriages as these marriages are an outcome of the love and affection two individuals have for each other. Same-sex marriages are not causing any harm to society or any other constituencies, these marriages are opposed by religious identities without any reason. Religious identities should focus on other matters that are ruining society, instead of focusing on an issue that is not causing any damage to society.

            One of the weaknesses associated with utilizing this theory for deciding whether same-sex marriage should be legalized or not is that application of this theory means that the motive due to which such marriages are being protested in favor is not taken into consideration under utilitarianism. There may be several reasons that are unknown and due to these reasons, same-sex couples are protesting to legalize these marriages. These reasons may include methods of gaining tax relief from the government or manipulating the government’s policy on immigration. Another issue is that 100% of society cannot be benefited from a particular decision, even if a decision is benefiting 75% of society, the remaining 25% are being negatively impacted by a decision that is regarded as ethical under the theory of utilitarianism. I completely agree with the decision of legalizing same-sex marriages as I believe that this decision will only benefit society.