"We are gathered here today, on this happy and joyous occasion, to join this man and this man in holy matrimony. Do you, the groom, take this man to be your wedded husband?" Many people should open up their minds and realize marriage should be something about the common American happiness that should be shared between everyone whether they are straight, gay or lesbian. Marriage shouldn't just be kept to a Man and Woman, it should be for those who are truly in love. Gay Marriage has always been a controversial matter since most churches refuse to wed two people of the same-sex considering that it "violates" their religious rights. On a second matter, Gay marriage (Civil) and Marriage between a man and a woman (Religious) are both different institutions and therefore should not be against any religious rights. Americans of the United States of America should come to realize that as a nation of immense diversity and religion we as a nation should open our minds to gay marriage and accept it with open hearts, just like how our nation openly accepts (with limitations) immigrants who have come to embrace the rightful freedom we as Americans have been granted by our Forefathers. .
If civil and religious institutions are different from each other why do religious institutions refuse to acknowledge a civil institution? Simple, it's all based upon how the bible is interpreted. In an essay by Welton Gaddy she claims that, " Those who claim to take every word in every passage of the Bible literally declare that the Abraham-centered narrative in Genesis 19 condemns homosexuality" (http://www.interfaithalliance.org/). She then goes on saying that if another person were to read the same scripture in a different mindset they would interpret it as a passage about hospitality and not homosexuality. If someone against same-sex marriage were to explain the bible about homosexuality and how it is sinful, there would be no concrete evidence of what they say is how God really wanted his children to think.
