“The Worst Thing About Gay Marriage” by Sam Schulman presents an interesting argument against gay marriage that is based on maintaining a traditional form of marriage. In fact, he claims that gay marriage is “unnecessary” (381). According to Schulman, there are 4 primary effects of marriage within his definition which he calls the kinship system. First, marriage protects and controls a woman's sexuality. Secondly, possible matings are limited by the kinship system to avoid incest or other taboos. Third, marriage creates a situation in which legitimate sex can occur. Fourth, it places a clear division between childhood innocence and adult, married life. This is in addition to maintaining a standard family hierarchy, where a marriage almost forcibly unites two families and creates a structure in which children can grow up. He also presents a series of shaky arguments with the general point that gay marriage does not and cannot have “the authority and majesty of the kinship system” (383). Because he believes that gay marriage is entirely rooted in the relationship between two people, and considers it a minor part of the institution of marriage, he predicts that this type of marriage will disappear and be remembered only with laughter. consider for a second that any marriage that does not meet these principles can be satisfactory. There is a strong implication that this is the correct form of marriage, and anything else is some kind of uninteresting deviance. This is almost completely unsupported. He also admits that romantic marriage constitutes the majority of marriages in the West today, but he immediately denounces the romantic aspect of marriage. It's easy enough to demolish his argument that this...half of paper...a couple can't. There is no reason why gay people should not be allowed to marry if we allow non-gay couples who cannot have children to marry. There is certainly historical precedent for only allowing heterosexual couples to marry, but since our current concept of marriage has changed so much as this is relevant, we should seriously consider giving gay people the right to marry. Gay marriage would require only a relatively small change in current laws, and it is difficult to think of a social structure created by gay marriage that does not already exist with the current legal form of marriage between a man and a woman. There is not just one definition of marriage in the world, but as many definitions as there are marriages. If love exists, there should be a marriage that can be created to accommodate it if both parties are willing to put in the effort to make it work.