Why Is There Perspective of Children in "What Does Marriage Mean?"?

                In the article "What Does Marriage Mean?" by Erika Lewis is about how many kids are
confused about gay marriage because their families taught them that it was wrong. She begins with a
scenario: there is a boy named Zane who has two moms and when everyone is talking about their
familes, he tells people. The other kid then begin a discussion of how "two moms can't get married"
because "my dad told me that's illegal". This causes Zane to feel confused and sad. Then the author
asks the question "Has something like this ever happened to you" and then says how it's alright to feel
confused because society has some backwards beliefs. She assures the readers that gay marriage is not illegal and should not be illegal. She then says that in order to understand what to do if you are in that situation, you have to understand why people are confused about gay marriage in the first place. She says people are confused because their family has passed down beliefs from the ages when everyone believed that gay marriage was wrong and the issue didn't really exist. But now that it is an issue and many people believe that gay people should the right to love one another and should be able to get married. It is because of these beliefs that many people are confused about whether gay marriage should be legal or not. "Many of these beliefs also come from religions that are against homosexuality" she explains. Her descriptions use less big vocabulary and the article seems to be targeting children as readers.

               The most interesting and compelling thing about Erika Lewis' writing was that it was meant for children. She might have done this because she believes that it is not a child's fault what they think because much of the topic, they don't understand. Also, a lot of these "beliefs" come from falsified information from their parents and their religion. It may also prove the point that if the kid didn't have his parents opinion to go off of, then they would make their own decisions based on their logic and judgment of right and wrong. In the article, the author obviously believes that gay people should have the same rights as everyone else. From this article, my belief that gays should have equal rights is now stronger and more supported.