Debate Paper

Affirmative Speech

For years, homosexuals have been trying to gain the legal right of marriage. But their efforts have been near useless because of the local, state, and federal authorities. The authorities on all levels simply ignore the complaints of gays, hoping they’ll be pushed aside and forgotten. But, in the past three decades, gays have been thrusting forward toward their right to marry. So therefore, I believe that Minnesota should establish laws that allow gays to marry and laws that ensure equality for all.

Contention I. Sheer Numbers
Gay marriage cannot be ignored. The numbers of gays and gay activists will continue to grow until Minnesota has no choice but to allow the legal marriage between same sexes. According to a recent survey done by the Washington Times, about 57.6 million U.S. citizens are affected by or related to a gay family member. Now those numbers are only going to grow. Just because the state doesn’t allow gay marriage, that doesn’t mean there are no gays. Gayness will continue to spread, just like it is inside many high schools. Time magazine stated in one of their articles that the average gay now comes out of the closet at around graduation year of high school! Now look, homophobia has spread down to the high school level! At this rate, there will be so many gays that no state will be able to ignore their cries for freedom.

Contention II. Betterment of Society
Back to our previous contention, think of those 57.6 million people affected by homophobia. Imagine that they were able to live their life without persecution or live together as a happy gay couple. Those 57.6 million people would benefit our state economy in such a way that we would have wished that we legalized gay marriage a long time ago. The Washington Times states, “It [the legalization of gay marriage] will reduce the number of divorces caused by fraudulent marriages, ensure that more orphaned children grow up in stable and loving homes, raise the standard of living for children with gay parents, make neighborhoods safer for families and boost the economies of struggling communities.”