Civil marriage is more than merely a commitment to love one another. It enables married couples additional financial responsibility as well as benefits. It is the institution that provides automatic legal protection for spouses. Prohibiting same-sex marriages is discrimination. Denying homosexuals the opportunity for a legal marriage is morally wrong. By denying them marriage, we also are denying the benefits that go along with a marriage. According to the Legal Information Institute, the traditional definition …showed first 75 words of 2350 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2350 total…n.d.). Changes in Marriage: Past, Present and Future. Retrieved on 12/9/03, from http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_mar2.htm Stoddard, Thomas, "Gay marriages: Make them Legal", Current Issues and Enduring Questions, Bedford Books, Boston, 1997. http://www.stedwards.edu/hum/drummond/stoddard.html Sullivan, A. Here Comes the Groom. (1989). Retrieved on 12/13/03 from http://www.andrewsullivan.com/homosexuality.php?artnum=19890828 Vatican Fights Same Sex Marriages. (2003). Retrieved on 12/6/03 from http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/07/31/vatican.gay.marriages/