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the legality of gay marriage
same sex marriage and the issues that surround it
the legality of gay marriage
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Laws Violate Gay Rights
When I was in third grade, I learned that there are certain "inalienable rights"-- the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- all of which the United States government is committed to protecting for every human. Last week, I learned this government feels that these human rights are limited to some people, based on how they choose to practice sex. In two separate legislations last week, the United States Senate sanctioned discrimination against homosexual Americans.
The issue recently surfaced in Hawaii when the state denied marriage privileges to a lesbian couple. In May 1993, the State Supreme Court ruled in a 3-1 decision that the state's exclusion of same-sex marriage was sexual discrimination and thus unconstitutional unless there was "compelling evidence" for it. In 1995, a governor's commission recommended the state grant marital rights to homosexuals.
The "full faith and credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution says that states must accord reciprocity to laws (and contracts) of other states. Thus a couple could get married in Hawaii, move to another state and demand that the state recognize their marriage contract unless laws in the new state conflict directly with laws in the former state.
This led the House to pass the Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA) this July with the Senate concurring on Sept. 10. Social Security, Veter-an's and other federal benefits such as married tax status will simply be denied to Americans who do not conform to a sexual pattern preferred by others in society. I don't know where in the Constitution Congress is permitted to legislate the morality that a man must marry a woman. Furthermore, DoMA permits states to...
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... other may make some people uncomfortable. But their union does not infringe on anyone else's life, liberty or pursuit of happiness, and they have a claim to pursue their human rights and marry each other.
What has Congress to gain by passing this restrictive law? It is only election-year politics to woo the radical right.
The United States government is unfairly discriminating against a portion of the United States population and we should not stand for this public "gay bashing."
Discrimination is still legal because the measure failed 50-49. Senator Pryor (D-Ark.) was attending his son's cancer surgery; otherwise, he would have supported the bill. Vice President Al Gore had promised to break the tie in support of the bill, but the motion failed.
Now it is legally OK to not hire someone based on his or her sexual preference.
The ruling of Baehr vs. Lewin was a victory for gay rights activists, hope for other states searching for the same freedom, and disappointment for opponents of same-sex marriage. Yet this victory was short lived (until complete legalization in November 13, 2013) since the state appealed the lower court’s decis...
The United States is an example for diversity and tolerance in the world. There are laws, policies and protection for a person’s rights. However, even with this in place many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) are still discriminated against. LGBT Today faces discrimination with housing, jobs, relationships, insurance, medical care, adopting, religion and social prejudice. The rights of homosexual persons are not equal to a person who is heterosexual. A person who is homosexual are told that they cannot have the same as others because of their sexual orientation Many times we like to think of the United states of American as a place that has move in to a higher level of progression, unfortunately this is not the case as we continue to only give the same right to all equally.
The government is downplaying the injustices placed upon same-sex couples by affording them a union that resembles marriage. America claims to be a place of constant evolution and growth but it still cannot redefine its principles to meet the changing needs of a modern society. Prohibiting same-sex marriage and refusing medical care to individuals is denying citizens of their human rights, which puts us in a position that is far from that utopian dream where all men are created equal.
As a United States citizen who was born in the new millennium, I was brought up with the idea that, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This statement was one of the main sources of fuel for the Civil Rights Movements in the mid 1950’s/60’s in the United States. Minority groups have often been mistreated in the United States culminating in movements much like that of the women’s suffrage movement, civil rights movements and now a movement toward equality for the LGBTQIA. In the last few decades a new minority group, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex and allies, and their struggle to attain their right to the pursuit of happiness. This small makes up roughly 4 percent of the US population. Though many say that gay marriage will weaken the moral foundation of our country, it should be legalized, not only because banning it is unconstitutional, but also because strips people of their human rights
Many conservative politicians and American citizens have opposed same sex marriage on the basis of protecting the sanctity of marriage. President Bush claims that under the Defense of Marriage Act, each state is not required to accept a...
Legal marriage should be for everyone not just heterosexuals. Denying homosexuals the right to marriage affects them greatly in more than one way. Many people do not approve of same-sex marriage because it is against their own religion. The only people that benefit from this are the people that do not accept same-sex marriages. Marriage is supposed to be between a man and a woman according to some and could interfere if they adopt children. Currently there are four states that allow gay marriage. Civil unions and domestic marriage are both ways for others to argue against same-sex marriages but do not replace marriage. Allowing same-sex marriage in all of the states in the United States will not harm anything. Homosexuals are not hurting anyone if they get married.
The concept of same-sex civil unions have throughout the history of society, but have always come attached with a stigma and a hugely divided audience of interest. In 1970, the first same-sex couple applied for a marriage license in Hennepin, Minnesota and were denied. The couple decided to try a different county and were granted their license. This led to the Supreme Court case Baker v. Nelson, which ended up being eventually dismissed under the grounds of “a want of a substantial federal question”. However, several other cases involving same-sex marriage in the US have led to Supreme Court cases deciphering and interpreting our constitutional rights. From Baker v. Vermont to Perry v. Brown, the Supreme Court has interpreted a handful of legal disputes questioning ...
...e Law suggested that Hawaii change its laws about same-sex marriages. They felt that gays and lesbians should be given the right to marry. Some were against this saying that heterosexual marriages were for the sole purpose of procreation; however there are many heterosexuals who choose not to have children. Should these heterosexuals not be able to be legally married either? The court decision on the marriages of gays and lesbians has had such a significant effect for Hawaii. Hawaii adopted a body of legislation granting equal rights to same-gender couples and their families (Hawaii). They did not allow them all the same rights and benefits as heterosexuals, but did grant most of them. Another state which changed some of its laws surrounding same-sex marriages is Vermont. In 1999, Vermont's Supreme Court ruled that the state legislature must either equalize benefits
“On June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage is a right protected by the US Constitution in all 50 states. Same-sex marriage was already legal in 37 states. US public opinion had shifted significantly over the years, from 27% approval of gay marriage in 1996 to 60% in 2015” (Silver).
The first state that allowed same sex marriage did so as a result of court decision. The order of the states that started to allow same sex marriage is as follows, Massachusetts in 2004, Connecticut in 2008, Iowa in 2009, Vermont and New Hampshire in 2009, New York in 2011, Maryland and Washington in 2012 and Maine 2012. Gay Marriage disputes started in 1993 when the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that laws’ denying same sex couples the right to marry violated state constitutional equal protection rights unless the state could show a compelling reason for such discrimination. Since then many states have taken the route to define marriage as a relationship between a man...
America is a country known for its freedom, yet people are told who they can and cannot marry. According to Kim Richards a case in Hawaii in 1993 where judges said the state’s constitution required a good reason not to give gay’s equal marriage rights. Congress was pushed to pass the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prevented homosexuals who were allowed to marry from receiving the usual benefits of marriage, like taxes and retirement. In response states have made their stand on domestic partnerships and civil unions. DOMA was passed out of fear that a lawsuit filed in Hawaii would make them allow same sex marriage. The congress did not want to allow same sex couples the same benefits heterosexual couples receive while legally married (4-6). Opponents of DOMA claims it violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment and the Full Faith and Credit Clause. By 2002, thirty-six states banned same-sex marriage or recognizing of same-sex marriage formed in other states (Richards 4-6). Benjamin Wittes says the uproar began in 1991 when Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, and liberals became upset claiming it was a contradiction to our free country (46-48). Dayton says Massachusetts was the first state to sign the bill to allow marriage equality in their state. While republican opponents win the legislative fight with twenty-one states denying marriage equality while just ten have granted the rights to homosexual couples. Polls have shown the majority of America, even including one of our most liberal states, California, remains against gay marriage. After the bill passing in Massachusetts in 2003, thirteen states passed anti-gay-marriage initiatives. Gay right activists are in hopes that states will not follow (...
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), honors the marriage of a man and a women,it excluded the category of same sex couples, many politicians have
On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court came to the conclusion that marriage is a right protected by the U.S. constitution in all 50 states. Prior to their decision, same sex marriage was legal in 37 states, including Washington D.C. Same sex marriage goes against what the bible says. I feel that homosexuality is unnatural and immoral. Gay marriage is incompatible with the beliefs of several Christian.
The Supreme Court judges ruled that the 14th amendment must prohibit states from banning gay couple right to be wed. The case that made this happen was Obergefell v Hodges, which started in April of 2015. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is one of the judges at the Supreme Court states, “Excluding same-sex couples from marriage thus conflicts with a central premise of the right to marry. Without the recognition, stability, and predictability marriage offers, their children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser…” (“A Constitutional Right”). Also, Justice Antonin Scalia implied, “The law can recognize as marriage whatever sexual attachments and living arrangements it wishes”
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”.