What is Marriage?

It can be so scary to think that your family might be illegal. But the truth is that a family with two moms or two dads is not breaking any rules. It’s not illegal. The other kids in Zane’s class are confused, and now Zane is confused, too. Zane is upset because he thinks that his moms are married illegally. He’s afraid that they will get in trouble, and maybe the police will come get them.
What can you do if someone at school tells you that your family is illegal? How could you help a friend who was confused about families with two moms or two dads? The first thing is to understand why some kids and even some adults might be confused.
When two people are married to each other, it means that they want to live together and share their lives with each other for a very long time. Sometimes it means that they want to have kids together and raise a family.
Some people think that the word “marriage” can only mean the commitment between a man and a woman. But many other people think that “marriage” can mean commitment between any two people who love each other and want to share their lives for a long time.
When two people get married, the government helps them in a lot of ways. Sometimes the government makes it less expensive for someone in the family to go to the doctor when he or she is sick. Sometimes they can make it easier for the two married people to buy a house together. Sometimes they make it easier for them to have children or to adopt children if that’s what they want to do. These good things that help married people be together, or raise a family, are called “benefits.”
In most places, the government only gives these benefits to a man and a woman who get married to each other. In these places, two men or two women who get married do not get these benefits from the government. This is what people mean when they say that it’s not “legal” for two women or two men to get married in those places. It means that they can’t get benefits from the government. In the United States, and in many other countries, it doesn’t mean that they are breaking the rules, or that they could get in trouble for loving each other, or wanting to share their lives for a long time, or raising a family together.
In some countries