Introduction
The traditional family was defined as the most fundamental unit of the society. Changing times, however, continue to reorient the focus on what constitutes a family, thus, changing the definition. Researchers and experts decry the varying natures of current families which make it utterly difficult to define family. In a bid to accommodate the wide spectrum of family natures, family has been described as a domestic (or a number of domestic) group (s) of people sharing descent form adoption, any committed relationship, marriage or ancestor. While traditional families were restricted to some sort of kinship tie, the contemporary families, apparently, rarely share the same. Extrapolating the change, the modern world accepts several other traditionally ‘abnormal’ families. For instance, a single elderly woman and her twenty cats, same sex couple, or a sorority. While the aforementioned form so of family may seem like a mere adventure with the word family, they actually exist and are recognized as a valid family. The tradition of family, for example, nuclear family in the American society no longer reflect the reality for most people not only in America but throughout the world. The nuclear family has ceased being the basic form of social life as it was in the past. It is noteworthy, however, that the traditional formation of family drew mostly from the primary function set for the family across the cultures- pursuit of parenthood. Correspondingly, the primary function of a family was to biologically reproduce the society through creation. To this end, some cultures obligate women to bear children, as in a majority of the African cultures.
As has already been seen through examples above, there are families that are non-procreative. A major construct of the modern world, such families are anchor on pursuit for desires away from procreation for example, meeting certain socio-economic ends, or romantic ends, or any reason that the couple choose to advance. Away from any other form of family that has come with the new age, same-sex marriages have got the attention of many researchers and various sects such as Christian sects. It has obscured a discussion on the other traditionally ‘weird’ forms of families and become the subject of debates from various quarters. While homosexuality is as old as time among both animals and humans, formal same-sex marriages is a tentative issue. As the debate heats up, many countries in the world continue to give in to the pressure, on the basis of equality, to legalize and formalize same sex-marriages amidst bitter contest from the opponent quarters. Arguably, the traditional family no longer dominates society. Today, same-sex couples are the new reality. Therefore, accepting alternative family structures is necessary for the well-being of all members of society. On the contrary, opponents, mostly the religious sects, oppose this view with a counter argument that gay marriages will degrade the nuclear family, thus, hurt the greater society. The following discussion aims to develop the opponents’ argument, but extensively examine arguments that support the existence of same-sex marriages in the context of a modern-family and the corresponding perceptions.