Fourth Grader's Essay on Marriage Equality Goes Viral, Earns National Praise

There was a time when a great school essay earned a place on mom and dad's fridge. Today, it can spark a national political conversation and land a place in internet history.

That's what happened when an anonymous fourth-grade student opted to tackle the complicated issue of marriage equality -- and managed to boil it down to its most basic point.

Also on Shine: Dad's Love Letter to Gay Teenage Son Goes Viral

"Why gay people should be able to get married is you can't stop two adult's [sic] from getting married because there [sic] grown and it doesn't matter if it creeps you out just get over it," the student wrote.

The teacher was so impressed that he posted it on Reddit on Wednesday, saying that the student shows "More sense than some adults."

"He chose his topic," the teacher, who goes by "rafa3l2," wrote. "I am following the school's curriculum for writing. We attempt to write in a different style every week."

After gaining more than 400 comments on Reddit, the essay caught the attention of major national news sites. Salon's Katie McDonough even called it the "world's most perfect argument in support of marriage equality." 

Here's the 4th-grader's essay, exactly as written:

Why gay people should be able to get married is you can’t stop two adult’s from getting married because there grown and it doesn’t matter if it creeps you out just get over it. And you should be happy for them because it’s a big momment in their life. When I went to my grandparents wedding it was the happies momment.

As you can see gay people should have the right to get married and you shouldn’t judge other peoples lives because if you was gay you wouldn’t want people talking about you.

It's not the first hand-written message of acceptance to strike a chord with a massive online audience. In March, a dad's loving Post-It note to his son, who was preparing to come out, went viral. 

This fourth-grader's essay is making a similar impact. Still, the teacher who shared it with the world thought it could have used a little more polish. Other Redditors were quick to praise the kid's handwriting and point out spelling errors, and his teacher explained that the essay didn't earn an A because the student didn't follow the assignment's rubric completely -- his job is to teach writing, after all. But the child "Did follow the guidelines of choosing a topic, picking a side, and sticking to it," his teacher wrote. And the student has shown a vast improvement over the course of the school year, he added.

"The biggest challenge is not even the spelling and grammar, but getting them to not write like they talk," he explained. "I'm not sharing this because of how perfect the sentences are, but because of how clear his thought process is on this specific issue."

Overall, he's proud enough of the student's work to share it with the world. And now the simple, to-the-point essay has struck a chord with millions of people.

"I was not expecting this to go viral," the teacher told Yahoo! Shine in an email late Thursday, adding that he plans to "inform the student just the places his writing has gone!"

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