Does Gay Marriage Affect College Students?

By William Sharon on November 19, 2013

In a perfect world, the answer would be ?No, it does not.? Gay marriage should not be a controversial political issue, but because it is, college students are involved. The number of college students who are directly affected by the legality of gay marriage is relatively low (just as the overall number of married college students is low), but when it comes to politics, our interest and involvement is anything but.

Photo?by?Guillaume Paumier?on flickr.com

Ultimately, the question boils down to the meaning of the word ?affected.? For example, a person can care a great deal about starvation in third-world countries, though the issue may not directly ?effect? him or her. He or she has the power to act upon how he or she feels (perhaps by donating money), regardless of actual involvement. ?Thus, it is not unreasonable that someone who is totally removed from an issue such as gay marriage may be able to decide to effect the issue, even if the issue does not directly affect him or her. If, for example, a college student wants to support the rights of others, standing up for gay marriage is one way in which he or she may achieve this goal.

The problem is, the freedom to effect an issue should not extend to repression. If a college student is not directly affected by gay marriage, but disagrees with the institution for whatever misguided reason, then that student should not have the power to repress those people who are directly affected by gay marriage. It is not an issue of viewpoint, it is an issue of rights. I am not black, so what right do I have to limit the freedom of black people?

Some would argue that any governmental institution that they disagree with does, in fact, affect them, and that therefore they should have a say in whether or not gay people should be allowed to marry, no matter their view. This is a common misconception, and frankly, it is why the legality of gay marriage is a controversial political issue to begin with. The reason this opinion is flawed is that people assume that our political system is an outright democracy, when in fact it is a democratic republic.

The distinction is paramount, as in an outright democracy it would be reasonable for gay marriage to be impermissible merely because the majority of people, gay or not, felt that it should not be allowed. However, in a democratic republic the right to vote does not extend to the right to vote away the freedoms of others. Thus, a vote to prohibit gay people from receiving a right merely because they are gay would be inconsistent with our political system.

Returning to the question then; are college students affected by gay marriage? The answer remains ?no.? Inherently, and as a representative body, college students are not affected by gay marriage. That is, they are not affected by gay marriage any more than the rest of society is. To some, it may mean the freedom to marry as they please, to others it may be a matter of complete indifference, and to yet others, it may be offensive on a visceral level or for religious or other reasons. A difference between college students and the rest of society, however, is that college students are traditionally a force that drives change. They often lead the protest that results in rejection of societal norms and adoption of new norms that their own children will be left to protest when they inherit the mantel of revolution. So, whether college students are affected by gay marriage in any way that differs from that of the general public is less the question than whether college students will take on the issue and drive its rhetoric. And if they do take it on, in what direction they will drive it.

But as I mentioned previously, it is difficult if not impossible to see how college students as a collective group are affected by gay marriage any more than they are affected by any marriage other than their own. Notwithstanding the manufactured harm to marriage as an institution (a ?harm? amply exemplified by countless instances of well-publicized indiscretion of the heterosexual variety) gay marriage does not affect anyone other than the people connected to the married couple. Because there is no effect beyond the borders of the couple themselves, there can be no spread of ill-effects to any group as a whole ? college students included.

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