Wow. Get ready for heated debate, I'm sure. It is important to those against it because to them it threatens religious beliefs, political and moral definitions of the very act of marriage itself, and, most importantly perhaps, the status quo. Those who support it see it as another step for equal rights, the ability to be recognized legally and personally as a couple with the same benefits and responsibilities of a heterosexual couple. Whether you support it or not, for me, stands on three key issues. 1) Is homosexuality natural, a choice made out perversion (sin) or a choice made out of freedom? 2) In a government that claims to neither support or condemn any religion, is the "sanctity" of marriage something that courts and legislature even debate? Or do they have the right, in a nation founded by white Christian men, to protect original definitions as they would have been viewed by the forefathers? 3) Is gay marriage a threat to a longstanding, western institution of monogamous, heterosexual lifelong coupling? I do not wish to force my opinions on you, and any decision you make is, for you, the correct one. I will now discuss my views so that any skewing of the above answer can be recognized by you and corrected for if you choose to believe differently. I am a straight, married male, Irish-Mexican with a Catholic upbringing and am a practicing Christian. I support their right to marriage, as a “god-sanctioned institution” can only be condemned or endorsed by the church. If they get married by a liberal pastor or a witchdoctor, a judge or anyone with the authority, I think they should have all legal rights therein. They are not asking to marry in a fundamentalist church, which is a religious and separate issue. Marriage is a religious term, but if the courts wish to aquire it for heterosexual marriage, same-sex parties also have a right to it. Threats to the institution of marriage are ludicrous. Divorce, adultery, and domestic abuse can increase the chances of similar situations happening, but every marriage is independent, and if strong enough, can not be harmed by outside forces.

Other than the significance and meaning implied in a commitment to a loved one, there are a multitude of legal reasons marriage is important. It legally entitles a couple to certain rights. To name just a few: the right to include your spouse on your health insurance coverage, the right of visitation in the intensive care unit at a hospital, the entitlement of inheritance without a will, immunity from testifying against a spouse in a criminal proceeding, the grant for residency for a foreign partner of a United States citizen, the ability to obtain a domestic violence protection order to protect oneself from an abusive partner. These important and yet often taken for granted rights are currently denied to gay and lesbian couples.

I am sorry to say but I am the daughter of two newly married gay women and I know the answer to this question. The reason is because for most gay couples when they say "I do" or "I will", not only are they promising their partner they be by their side forever but they are also making a promise to God that they are going to be loyal and faithful to their soon-to-be wife/husband. When my parents got married they were asked that question and the answer was, "We want to be together forever and we do not want to have one of those weddings that we get after knowing eachother only a few months to a year. We waited six years to get married just to make sure that we truely loved one another and that this was what we wanted." The two of them had spent one year planning their wedding which is alot longer than what some of the straight women spend getting their wedding the way that they want it. Another reason why gays take same sex marriage to be important is because why is it that they should not be able to get married. I would really like to know because from where it is that I am standing there is really no GOOD reason for them not to. I am 14 years old and I have known that my mother was a lesbian since I was 7 and I have told my friends and my parents have told their friends, neither one of us have lost any friends over it. In fact, it is kind of romantic.

The same reason why strays consider marriage to be important. Thats like asking a black person why they consider civil rights to be important.

I imagine probably for the same reasons that straight couples consider marriage to be important.

I am actually researching this for an essay right now. Apparently there are 1138 rights denied to homosexual couples who do not have their marriage recognized at the federal level. I found this site, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04353r.pdf , that lists all of them with the summaries at the bottom. The summaries essentially are: CATEGORIES OF STATUTORY PROVISIONS CATEGORY 1—SOCIAL SECURITY AND RELATED PROGRAMS, HOUSING, AND FOOD STAMPS This category includes the major federal health and welfare programs, particularly those considered entitlements, such as Social Security retirement and disability benefits, food stamps, welfare, and Medicare and Medicaid. Most of these provisions are found in Title 42 of the United States Code, Public Health and Welfare; food stamp legislation is in Title 7, Agriculture. CATEGORY 2—VETERANS' BENEFITS Veterans' benefits, which are codified in Title 38 of the United States Code, include pensions, indemnity compensation for service-connected deaths, medical care, nursing home care, right to burial in veterans' cemeteries, educational assistance, and housing. Husbands or wives of veterans have many rights and privileges by virtue of the marital relationship. CATEGORY 3—TAXATION While the distinction between married and unmarried status is pervasive in federal tax law, terms such as "husband," "wife," or "married" are not defined. However, marital status figures in federal tax law in provisions as basic as those giving married taxpayers the option to file joint or separate income tax returns. It is also seen in the related provisions prescribing different tax consequences, depending on whether a taxpayer is married filing jointly, married filing separately, unmarried but the head of a household, or unmarried and not the head of a household. CATEGORY 4—FEDERAL CIVILIAN AND MILITARY SERVICE BENEFITS This category includes statutory provisions dealing with current and retired federal officers and employees, members of the Armed Forces, elected officials, and judges, in which marital status is a factor. Typically these provisions address the various health, leave, retirement, survivor, and insurance benefits provided by the United States to those in federal service and their families. CATEGORY 5—EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AND RELATED PROVISIONS Marital status comes into play in many different ways in federal laws relating to employment in the private sector. Most provisions appear in Title 29 of the United States Code, Labor. Page 17 However, others are in Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining; Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters; and Title 45, Railroads. This category includes laws that address the rights of employees under employer-sponsored employee benefit plans; that provide for continuation of employer-sponsored health benefits after events like the death or divorce of the employee; and that give employees the right to unpaid leave in order to care for a seriously ill spouse. In addition, Congress has extended special benefits in connection with certain occupations, like mining and public safety. CATEGORY 6—IMMIGRATION, NATURALIZATION, AND ALIENS This category includes federal statutory provisions governing the conditions under which noncitizens may enter and remain in the United States, be deported, or become citizens. Most are found in Title 8, Aliens and Nationality. The law gives special consideration to spouses of immigrant and nonimmigrant aliens in a wide variety of circumstances. Under immigration law, aliens may receive special status by virtue of their employment, and that treatment may extend to their spouses. Also, spouses of aliens granted asylum can be given the same status if they accompany or join their spouses. . CATEGORY 7—INDIANS The indigenous peoples of the United States have long had a special legal relationship with the federal government through treaties and laws that are classified to Title 25, Indians. Various laws set out the rights to tribal property of “white” men marrying “Indian” women, or of “Indian” women marrying “white” men. The law also outlines the descent and distribution rights for Indians’ property. In addition, there are laws pertaining to health care eligibility for Indians and spouses and reimbursement of travel expenses of spouses and candidates seeking positions in the Indian Health Service. CATEGORY 8—TRADE, COMMERCE, AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY This category includes provisions concerning foreign or domestic business and commerce, in the following titles of the United States Code: Bankruptcy, Title 11; Banks and Banking, Title 12; Commerce and Trade, Title 15; Copyrights, Title 17; and Customs Duties, Title 19. This category also includes the National Housing Act (rights of mortgage borrowers); the Consumer Credit Protection Act (governs wage garnishment); and the Copyright Act (spousal copyright renewal and termination rights). CATEGORY 9—FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST Federal law imposes obligations on members of Congress, employees or officers of the federal government, and members of the boards of directors of some government-related or government chartered entities, to prevent actual or apparent conflicts of interest. These individuals are required to disclose publicly certain gifts, interests, and transactions. Many of GAO-04-353R Defense of Marriage Act Page 18 these requirements, which are found in 16 different titles of the United States Code, apply also to the individual's spouse. CATEGORY 10—CRIMES AND FAMILY VIOLENCE This category includes laws that implicate marriage in connection with criminal justice or family violence. The nature of these provisions varies greatly. Some deal with spouses as victims of crimes, others with spouses as perpetrators. These laws are found primarily in Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, but some statutory provisions, dealing with crime prevention and family violence, are in Title 42, Public Health and Welfare. CATEGORY 11—LOANS, GUARANTEES, AND PAYMENTS IN AGRICULTURE Under many federal loan programs, a spouse's income, business interests, or assets are taken into account for purposes of determining a person's eligibility to participate in the program. In other instances, marital status is a factor in determining the amount of federal assistance to which a person is entitled or the repayment schedule. This category includes education loan programs, housing loan programs for veterans, and provisions governing agricultural price supports and loan programs that are affected by the spousal relationship. CATEGORY 12—FEDERAL NATURAL RESOURCES AND RELATED PROVISIONS Federal law gives special rights to spouses in connection with a variety of transactions involving federal lands and other federal property. These transactions include purchase and sale of land by the federal government and lease by the government of water and mineral rights. CATEGORY 13—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS This category comprises federal statutory provisions that do not fit readily in any of the other 12 categories. Federal provisions that prohibit discrimination on the basis of marital status are included in this category. This category also includes various patriotic societies chartered in federal law, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars or the Gold Star Wives of America. So you can see why the recognition of marriage is so important to these couples.

Most gays consider it to be important because we feel there is nothing wrong with wanting to spend the rest of our lives with that special person that we have fallen in love with. Being gay is not a disease, its not something that our parents did to make us this way. I can honestly say being born gay is not something that really happens its something we develop. I was straight for 19 years I married 2 times and than fell in love with a co worker and we have been together for over 8 years. Being gay should not matter because we are normal people, we love, hurt, cry, and bleed just like everyone else. We have feelings and work jobs that produce helpful things in life. We have friends and we work double time trying to be accepted. Marriage is a holy and sacred thing thats supposed to be between a man and a woman. But if its so holy and sacred Why allow divorces? I can't speak fo reveryone but I can say that I feel like if gays were treated equal and allowed to marry, you would look back from the day they allowed it and see that there would probably be less divorces between gay couples than with heterosexual couples. Gay people are really not that different except we feel a greater love for the same sex than for the opposite. All we want is to be able to live our lives with the one we love and it be recongnized through our states and the benefits we recieve can be given to our spouses after death, so we know they will be taken care of too.

coz they're gay

If heterosexuals would just take the whole idea of SEX out of their minds. And focus on love maybe they would understand that we should have the right to be recognized as a unity. We are normal people, we do exactly the same as straight people do...We should be allowed the right to marry whom ever we like!!!

Same reasons that straight people consider it important.

To help us Atheists take out Christianity :-)

The way that laws are written, marriage is given a protected status that civil unions or domestic partnerships do not enjoy. If same sex unions do not have the word marriage, they are excluded from several legal rights and responsibilities under the law. http://www.aarpmagazine.org/people/Articles/a2004-03-19-mag-straightanswers.html

Hi it is very important to me as it is all about equality, we should have the same rights as every one else, we pay the same tax, do the same things as heterosexuals the only difference is we like people of the same sex,

it solidifies there relationship and its a sacred bond. same sex partners she have the right to experience that like anyone else

because its a right that is being denied them based solely because of there sexual preference and that is DISCRIMINATION pure and simple and you can bet your life if this was done to hetrosexuals the shit would hit the fan big time and its their rights as human beings

Because we have committed, monogamous relationships just like straight folks do, but we are denied the same rights as they are and not allowed to legally marry, along with all the legal rights that go along with it.

Probably the same reasons some hetrosexuals consider marriage important!

Why did Women Consider the Vote to be important? Why did Blacks Consider Civil Rights to be important? Same reason...It's THEIR Right If your not willing to fight for something thats YOUR'S it implys it has little or no value Prejudice is Wrong No Matter What

It is a fact that people want what they can't have, so even though they may not admit it, that may be the reason.

because they want the same rights that everyone else has.