ncssm I the stentorian
October 2003 ■ 5
Gay Marriage in the USA?
Shay Wiley
AND Maddie Spinks
A t one time women
couldn't vote and
interracial couples
couldn't marry, but today
many people enjoy and prac
tice these rights. Today gays
should enjoy
the right to be
married, the
same way het
erosexual cou
ples do.
Homosexual
couples
should have
the rights that
accompany
marriage other
couples receive; however,
close-mindedness and the
United States government
stand in the way.
One example of how the
US disenfranchises same gen
der couples is that loved ones
cannot be granted power of
attorney over their partner
because they carmot be mar
ried. Therefore, one could not
see or speak to their hospital
ized loved one, and could not
make bur-
gender couples
be granted
ial arrange
ments if
they were
to die.
The
love that
an individ
ual feels
for a mem
ber of their
own gender is hard for some to
understand, and most opposi
tion stems from that intoler
Same
cannot
power of attorney over
their partner...one
could not see or speak
to their hospitalized
loved one"
ance. Some people consider
romance between people of
the same sex offensive.
Despite irrational negative
reactions to most gay relation
ships, same-sex partners
should be allowed to marry.
Simply because one outsider
disagrees with the sexual pref
erences of another person it is
not reason enough to prohibit a
union between two men or two
women.
In the US, not everyone
practices the same religion,
and just because the majority
of the nation is not Muslim,
the religion is not outlawed.
Similarly, because the majority
of Americans are opposed to
same-sex marriages does not
warrant the prohibition of it.
Government representatives
are elected to uphold the opin
ions and lifestyles of their con
stituents, not the principles of
the representatives' religions.
Church is
separated
from state,
so our rep-
resenta-
t i V e s
should not
be > our
preachers.
Politicians
should not
be pushing
their own religious beliefs on
the world through the legisla
tive system. Even though a
community has negative atti
tudes toward homosexual mar
riages because of their reli
gion, a gay CQuple should not
be kept from upholding their
own beliefs and faiths.
"America prides Itself
in being a free country
in which individuals
can practice their own
beliefs; shouldn't gay
marriage be allowed in
such an accepting
nation?"
America prides itself in being
a free country in which indi
viduals can practice their own
beliefs; should
n't gay mar
riage be
allowed in such
an accepting
nation?
Marriage
is a union of
souls, and
should be
based solely on
love. If two
men love one
another, or if two women love
one another, why shouldn't
they be married? If churches,
governmental officials, or
other citizens disagree with
gay marriage, let them. The
marriage affects only those
who are wed.
Synthesized Diamonds: Faux, or Favorable?
Rebecca Buckwalter
T oday we often have two
options: the natural
choice, i.e. the sort of
milk that Whole Foods labels
"organic"; or the product of
technology, the milk contain
ing the artificial chemicals and
hormones that may make you
grow a third eye one day.
Progress seems to mean that as
time goes on the artificial will
dominate our shelves and
refrigerators - third eyes per
mitting. Allow me to introduce
the gemological twist on this
theme: the synthesized dia
mond.
In Florida and Boston,
scientists and entrepreneurs
have spawned two separate
techniques for the affordable
and reliable synthesis of dia
monds. Gemesis, in Florida,
uses redesigned Russian
machines to subject carbon to
high temperature, high pres
sure conditions that simulate
the geological conditions and
stress that produce a diamond.
Apollo promises to
produce a diamond
with a diameter of one
foot within the next
five years."
In Maryland, scientists have
discovered a chemical vapor
deposition process they are
using to create ever-bigger
gem wafers for both jewelry
and technological applica-
t i o n s .
Apollo
promis
es to
produce
a dia-
m o n d
with a
diameter
of one
foot
within
the next five years. For the
computer industry, previously
limited by the price tag on dia
monds and the heat tolerance
of silicon, these manufactured
diamonds represent a new age
of speed, precision, and power
in electronics and optics.
Diamond synthesis will
destabilize the blood diamond
industry in Africa, which
means the diamond industry
has the potential to, through its
absence
o r
dimin-
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hood
illicit
diamonds. While their work is
illegal, it may be the only
opportunity for some Afncans
to earn the wages needed to
support their family. The one
certainty in the collapse of the
illicit diamond
mining and trans-
portjndijstiy is the
reduction in
deaths and crimi
nal activities asso
ciated with dia
monds.
D e B e e r s ,
which controls
sixty percent of
the world's dia
mond supply, has responded to
diamond synthesis with a
series of progressively more
desperate ploys to differentiate
DeBeers diamonds, which are
natural, from the synthesized
variety. Alas, DeBeers' Gem
Defensive Programme seems a
lost cause - machines and jew
elers alike are rarely able to
tell the difference between the
two varieties of diamonds.
Gemesis has only minute
molecular level
differences that
they intend to
remedy, and
the Bostonians
are producing
perfect dia
monds - differ
entiable only
by their flaw
less structure.
Objections
among the
elites, which I define as those
who purchase and do not actu
ally mine diamonds, range
from outrage over the com
monality now lent to "a girl's
best fnend" to concerns over
the technological conquest of
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l^WMl
the gemological world.
Diamonds are the last gem to
fall prey to a lab and now yet
another aspect of the natural
world is gone. They are no
longer a symbol of eternity,
but an
afford-
a b 1 e
bauble
that
costs
Apollo
five
dollars
a carat
to man-
ufacture.
On the other hand, diamonds
are also losing their power to
destroy and bloody the rela
tions of Africa. Diamond syn
thesis has the potential to top
ple DeBeers, thus freeing large
portions of industry for
While their work is ille
gal, it may be the only
opportunity for some
Africans to earn the wages
needed to support their
family."
J
African control by compro
mising the price and exclusivi
ty of diamonds that built the
DeBeers empire.
The optimistic end effects
of diamond synthesis may be a
technological boom, a conclu
sion to the African blood dia
mond war, and a challenge to
hundreds of years of gem-
induced strife among socio
economic classes, nations and
companies. The synthesis of
diamonds proves that technol
ogy does still occasionally
produce beneficial rather than
gratuitous developments for
our world - the fact that the
positive international implica
tions were accidental in this
case does not diminish the
sparkle of this development.