Same Sex Marriage Equality

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John F. Kennedy once said, “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.” Same sex marriage should be legalized in the United States. The two main reasons for this are the unconstitutionality of denying same sex marriages and the fact that it is going against basic human rights.
First, it is unconstitutional for federal law to ban same sex marriage. In its 2003 Lawrence v. Texas case, the Supreme Court overruled previous sexuality precedents by declaring unconstitutional laws that made homosexual sodomy a crime, holding that although the Constitution says nothing about sex or marriage, there is nonetheless a right to consensual sexual activity between adults that government cannot regulate. This was over the vigorous dissent of conservative justices, who said that the Constitution commits such questions of marriage and morality to the states and the democratic process, and that therefore federal courts have no power to impose their own moral judgments. Despite this realization, homosexual couples have been restricted for decades. The “Defense of Marriage Act” was signed into effect in 1996. This act “amends the Federal judicial code to provide that no state, territory, or possession of the United States or Indian tribe shall be required to give effect to any marriage between persons of the same sex under the laws of any other such jurisdiction or to any right or claim arising from such relationship.” This act also sets into play a federal definition of “marriage” and “spouse”; marriage being defined as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife” and spouse being defined as “only a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife”.
Secondly, denying two people the...

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...er. Web. 18 Dec. 2013. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=87ddfadd-bb20-4b0f-8855-3dc32c237fd4%40sessionmgr114&vid=1&hid=119&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=89621143
• Garcia, Monique, and Ray Long. "Lawmakers Affirm Gays' Right to Wed." Chicago Tribune. 06 Nov 2013: 1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Dec 2013. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMO0798-0-5763&artno=0000356535&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Same-sex%20marriage&title=Lawmakers%20Affirm%20Gays%27%20Right%20to%20Wed&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N#citation
• SULLIVAN, ANDREW. "The President Of The United States Shifted The Mainstream In One Interview." Newsweek 159.21 (2012): 22. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 18 Dec. 2013 http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=516b8c19-b57d-4a85-a76a-8c85973c761a%40sessionmgr110&vid=1&hid=119&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=75292760

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