Traditionalists are rather unwelcoming to the idea of same-sex marriages because it is deemed wrong for several reasons. First, there are raised religious issues that it has been forbidden by almost all the faith systems to carry out establishments of such sort of relationships; then there are raised social issues that question the effect of such actions on the wider society in the matter of shamefulness and the upbringing of children.
Gay marriages have therefore been under the clouds with a lot of objection on its legitimacy. It is, however, worth noticing that there are more and more cases of gay marriages or gay relationships that point towards the fact that there is a large section of society that either possesses this sexual orientation or supports it. It, therefore, becomes very important to pay attention to this issue because so many people are involved.
The ethical doctrine of utilitarianism is a belief that the actions that a person takes may or may not be acceptable for the wider society and for all sections of the society, but these actions should have a high level of utility associated with them. This means that if a certain action gives a certain benefit for doing it, then people should be encouraged to carry it out.
Based on this theory, it can be recommended that the same-sex marriages should not be marginalized and the people who wish to do so based on their free will, should be allowed to do so. It is a matter of personal choice, and the people who get indulged in these relationships are fully aware of all of the adverse effects that their actions can have.
Gay people cannot have children after marriage, but it is an increasing trend that such couples are adopting children from child homes and shelters. This serves the purpose of supporting infants and toddlers both financially and morally. In the continuation of society, this is pretty much the same thing as the biological parents raising their own children. The only difference in this entire concept is that the children are not biologically related.
The purpose of marriage in the first place is to ensure that the marrying couple leads a satisfied life in which they can satisfy their innate needs. How effective it would be to forcefully demand from someone that they should only marry a person from the other gender if they want to satisfy their desires whereas they would eagerly want to spend their lives with another person of the same gender.
Therefore, from a utilitarian perspective, the concept of gay marriages is equally as effective as the mainstream marriages because, at the end, all the outputs that are required for a married couple can be delivered by a gay couple. Two wide exceptions that are pointed out include the fact that gay people cannot inbreed, but the counter argument says that they can adopt children of others and support them as their own.
Another argument has it that there is no motherly figure in the couple, the counter argument has it that the modern day couples are so busy in their own lives that they are unable to give quality time to their children after all. So, the unavailability of a motherly figure for the adopted children in replacement of two fatherly figures can be enough to raise them as good people.
Work Cited
"Utilitarianism." Utilitarianism.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 July 2016.
