Is Gay Marriage Protected By the United Nations UDHR?

In case you don't know (most Americans don't), the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights was passes in 1948 as "...a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations...". It was partly a response to the human rights abuses of the Nazi regime. Here is the full text: Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United NationsUniversal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations I was aware of it since 1988 (ironically its 40th anniversary). But when I took an ethics class in community college in 1996, a man there brought up whether it could be used to support gay marriage. That's interesting, because I never heard it applied that way before. Gay marriage you know is not a moral or religious issue. The right to marry who you choose is a fundamental human right.

Anyways, here are the two parts of the UDHR that may be important:

Article 16
Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.

and

Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

The last one is interesting, because with "or other status" they seemed to know that more protected classes of people would be added later. But Article 16, does it you mention the fact marriage is usually between a man and a woman? Or does it limit it to that?

Also, some people think the UDHR should be amended to include things like a right to water. Or they could redo it. But some Republicans think that the US constitution should be scrapped and redone. And we all know what that would lead to. So maybe we should just leave it the way it is, and amend it.