Marriage: the ceremonial binding of two people into one couple. Historically marriage has been the institution were a man and woman join together in the promise of love. Now days the traditional view of marriage is being changed by gay and lesbian couples demanding the same right to love, honor, and cherish their partners as heterosexual couples have. This essay will explore both sides on the debate of gay and lesbian marriages.
             Historically, marriage was seen as a religious and civil union that brought together a man and woman for the purpose of joining family and community interest. Love may have been a part of choosing a mate but not the only factor. Also, a purpose of marriage was to provide a socially sanctioned place for sexual relations. Over time society has came to believe that love is the only reason to marry. Following the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s few people see sex as only being confined to the marriage bed. With these shifts in why to marry, what we expect from marriage has also changed. No longer is marriage a union that is based on the future and welfare of the community. Modern American society has privatized its view of marriage. Society sees marriage as an institution whose contours are plastic, whose purpose is to provide emotional satisfaction to the person concerned, and whose terms are negotiable and revocable. Marriage, traditionally limited to unions between men and woman, in its modern state is slowly beginning to include the idea of same sex couples. When love becomes the primary driving force to marry not the need to set up your own family then marriage can be open to any forms of partnerships.
             Currently a same sex couple cannot marry in the United States. A few states such as Vermont have quis-same sex marriage laws that allow gay and lesbian couples to form civil unions, a formal ceremony is performed by a civil servant and the couple receives a piece of
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