North Carolina is the thirtieth state to amend its constitution to ban same-sex marriage. By altering the state constitution, North Carolina has deprived same-sex couples a legal right to express and validate their love.

Our society has an inconsistent and unjust difference in standards between homosexual and heterosexual relationships and marriages. For example, one prominent argument in favor of the ban is that same-sex marriage will tarnish the sanctity of marriage, but some short-lived, drunken heterosexual Las Vegas weddings certainly stain the purity of marriage as well. Though religion may be used to guide one’s own life, this force should not be used to discriminate. Furthermore, the banning of same-sex marriages in thirty states calls into question the truth in America’s alleged separation of church and state. How can we pride ourselves in being a secular nation if a religiously partisan law can oppress people?