Template:Cover abstract/Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is the union of two individuals of the same sex in a marital relationship, with the full legal rights and responsibilities allotted to this contract in a given jurisdiction. Legally defined marriage of homosexual couples is rare indeed; more common is a "civil union", which includes many of the all-important legal trappings, without the title "marriage" and the religious overtones that some think are implied by the word.
Arguments for same-sex marriage to be allowed are numerous: equality, human rights, happiness and so on. Arguments against it or to expressly prohibit it range from the blatantly bigoted to the slightly odd, such as marriage being "only for producing children" (which would render any infertile person, heterosexual or otherwise as ineligible).