The Issue Of Same Sex Marriage

In 1996, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA specified that the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman. This federal law was passed to prevent gay couples from nationalizing gay marriage by using Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution, which states,

Gay marriage has been an issue for a very long time and since some states are legalizing it, many worry that it would soon be added as an amendment. The topic of gay marriage brings up religious, legal, and many other issues. In "What's wrong with Gay Marriage?" by Katha Pollitt, the author supports gay marriage and wants it legalized. She states that there is no problem with gay marriage and it's all a matter of separating the church and state. But in “Gay ‘Marriage’: Societal Suicide,” by Charles Colson, the author opposes the idea of gay marriage and states that it will destroy society. Marriage is intended to unite a man and a woman together to bring children into the world, but due to the same-sex marriage,

The current major state and federal law that is affecting same-sex marriage is the Defense of Marriage Act , or DOMA as it also called. The Defense of Marriage Act is a federal law that allows each state to recognize or deny any marriage-like relationship between persons of the same-sex that has been recognized in another state and it also explicitly recognizes for purposes of federal law that marriage is "a legal union of one man and one woman as husband and wife" and by stating that spouse "refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife." When asking the people that I interviewed what their feelings were towards the Defense of Marriage Act and how it currently affects the issue of same-sex marriage and the interviewees who were for same-sex marriage felt that the law was inherently wrong and the person I interviewed who was opposed to same-sex marriage thought the law was good except for one obvious flaw with it.

Windsor struck down the Defense of Marriage Act. The Defense of Marriage Act (commonly referred to as “DOMA”), enacted in 1996, defined for the purposes of the federal government that marriage was a union between one man and one woman. DOMA prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex. In Windsor, the Supreme Court ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause. It required the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages that have been entered into in states that recognized same-sex marriage. At the time of the Windsor decision New Jersey did not recognize same-sex

This essay debates the issue of same sex marriage in the United States. It considers the pros and cons and examines the constitutional issues involved.

The struggle for marriage equality in the United States began in the 1970’s. It became more prominent in 1993 when the Hawaiian Supreme court declared that state’s prohibition against marriage between people of the same sex to be unconstitutional (Weiss, 2013). In response to this, there was significant public outcry and opponents of marriage equality asserted that marriage could only be defined as a union between a man and a woman. This resulted in prohibitive legislation that was enacted in 1996 known as the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) DOMA prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages (Baker, 2013). DOMA also allowed each state to refuse recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states. Be that as it may, in the 21st century, public and legislative support for marriage equality has grown and various national polls conducted since 2011 show that a majority of Americans support marriage equality (Live Science Staff, 2011; Newport, 2011). On May 9, 2012, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to publicly declare support for the legalization of same-sex marriage. The provision of DOMA, forbidding the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages was struck down by the Supreme Court on June 26th of 2013. In the ensuing two years, 36 states, the District of Columbia, 24 Native American Tribal jurisdictions and Guam had legalized same sex marriage. However up

The morality of same-sex marriage is a major controversial issue in the United States today. While Liberals believe that marriage should be the union of two people who love each other and that it should be legal for gay and lesbian individuals in order to ensure equal rights for all citizens, Conservatives believe that marriage is the union of one woman and one man only and that requiring citizens to sanction same-sex relationships violates moral and religious beliefs. Taking opposing viewpoints of this issue are both philosophers David Boonin and Jeff Jordan who discuss the public dilemma of same-sex marriage within their articles.

As this semester has come to a close we reach the inevitable end question, “what is truth.” This is a question which many of the authors we have read works from have differing opinions of. Through reading the works and listening to lectures through this semester I have come to the conclusion that truth is essentially whatever the person who is thinking about it decides that it should be. The people that decide what their form of truth is usually get it from people which have some type of power over them. We use these people which have a form of power over us to help decide what our own truths are and how we will go about enacting them. Christians for example do not believe in gay marriage. It is not part of their truth and most likely never will be. This is because they believe in the bible, and a god (higher power) which tells them that gay marriage is wrong. They use this information to decide what their truth is and how they will live out their lives. On the flip side of this there are many people who were raised, or influenced by people who are completely fine with gay marriage therefore those people whom they influence (the people I spoke of originally) also have that “truth” that gay marriage is fine. The thing that makes this important is the way in which both sides of this spectrum will defend their truth, and act as though it is the correct truth. When everything is essentially boiled down and looked at, truth is nothing more than an opinion one holds. Even things

On June 26, 2015, it was ruled by the the US Supreme Court that the US Constitution will guarantee that same-sex couples have the right to marriage in all 50 states of the US (state by state, n.d.). By many, this was celebrated as a victory. A Victory in the sense of equality, rights, and love. By others, this was seen as an immoral setback. I come to wonder who is right. Is there a right side? I know that there is a side who is for same-sex marriage and there is a side of those who oppose it. However, I know that the Christian faith tends to side with the opponents. I am a Christian; does that mean I am to be an opponent?

Gay marriage has come to be a pressing topic in the contemporary society as more and more individuals get actively involved in discussing it. Individuals who oppose same-sex marriage are typically inclined to bring on a deontological argument or to say that legalizing the act might bring on other issues. In contrast, people who support gay marriages focus on matters related to human rights and justice. The arguments generated by each of the sides are certainly thought-provoking and it is very difficult for someone to get involved in the debate and actually pick a side concerning the matter.

Thomas Jefferson wrote about “unalienable rights” in The Declaration of Independence. What he meant was there are rights that are given to us as human beings and cannot be taken away by the government. “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” are among those rights that are being suppressed against same sex couples. Their right to pursue happiness with their significant other is taken from them by the state. Psychologically and medically married couples are healthier in general because they have someone to share their good days and bad days with as well as someone to take care of when they are sick. However some marriages are not so healthy where one of the partners is abusive whether emotionally or physically and it usually occurs in heterosexual relationships. Orphaned children and children in the foster system also benefit from the union of gay couples because since they can’t have their own children they often look to adoption when starting their own families. Because homosexuals are denied the right of marriage to their loved ones they take marriage more seriously than most heterosexuals who take their right for granted. While the Constitution never specifically stated a need for “separation of the church and the state” the idea is implied because America is a diverse nation and “freedom of religion” definitely is in the constitution. “Freedom of religion”

Labels are stupid, but before I met you I thought I was straight. It was a stupid thought; I got way too riled up in arguments about gay marriage to not be personally offended on some level.

Gay marriage, something that has increasingly been on the news, is talked about in chapter five. Lambda Legal Defense eve talks about how they will enforce gay marriage through the manipulation of the courts. The whole trend started in 1996 in Hawaii, with a ruling there saying theres no reason to ban gay civil marriages. The biggest problem, is that this is not the job of the Supreme Court Justices to decide, but elected representatives. In 20 years, the Supreme court has decided in two cases addressing constitutionality of state sodomy in Bowers v. Hardwick and Lawrence v. Texas. In Romers v. Evans, it ruled on a state constitution amendment. William F. Buckley wrote a response where in summary he is declaring the Supreme Court has no right to be in the bedroom of Americans. Having government involved in any personal matter is hazardous. “The debate over which branch of government gets to decide how, when, and why it can be there(Levin.73)” this is saying that the government will enforce themselves in our privacy on other issues besides gay relationships and contraceptives. New York times ran an article talking about sodomy laws, and how they are rarely enforced due to not being able accurately prove anything, and also the time it would take to search for violators. In Bowers V. Hardwick an Atlanta police officer went to Hardwick’s house with a warrant for ticket violations, and found Hardwick with another man in his bedroom. Hardwick was put in jail for 12 hours, with the

Gay marriages have been an ongoing event in the United States for many years. It was not until June 26, 2015 when gay marriage was legalized for all states with a five to four ratio. With gay marriage being legalized, there became many controversies in the nation. The most recent controversy was when a Kentucky county clerk was jailed after defying a federal court order to issue marriage licenses to a same-sex couple. She did not issue because she did not believe that homosexuality should be accepted in society. Many people agreed to the act but others opposed. There are many ways to look at homosexuality and here are three different sociological perspectives of how gay marriage is recognized. The perspectives are structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and conflict theory.

As Americans, we are taught that fighting for our rights is something that we have had to continuously through history. From the American Revolution, to the Civil War, to the Women 's suffrage movement of the 20’s, there has always been some sort of right. However, as we as Americans got closer to the new millennium, the fight for basic rights became a little more intense. It was no longer us as Americans fighting a common enemy such as England, it was now Americans vs Americans. Multiple issues such as gun laws and religion have separated the United States since its creation. Though recently, the main issue that has caused a divide in the American population is the issue of gay marriage.