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Same Sex Marriage Same sex marriage is considered to be one of the most controversial and debated issue during the last two decades, extending its polemics beyond from societal to political level. The majority of gay and lesbian communities fight for same sex marriage arguing on the basis of their civil rights and ones of heterosexual couples. However, on the other hand same sex marriage is considered as a social deviation from middle class issues, and thus contradiction to just like everyone else conservatism. Moreover, some homosexual communities allege that it would be more important to accomplish domestic partnership rights for everyone and thus annul the unjust and obsolete institution of marriage (Cox, 273).
Being inspired by the activism in the 1960 s that secured political and economic rights for blacks and women, American gays and lesbians mobilized to end what they viewed as the discriminatory practice of granting marriage licenses only to heterosexual couples. As law professor William N. Eskridge Jr. has stated in his book, The Case for Same-Sex Marriage, Marriage is the most important right the state has to offer, in part because being married entails dozens of associated rights, benefits, and obligations under state and federal law (Eskridge, 21). These pertain to such matters as parenthood, property ownership, guardianship, and inheritance. Although Eskridge cites anthropological and ethnographic evidence of same sex unions throughout history, the modern movement to legitimize same sex marriage provoked a profound public and political reaction.
To date, more than half the states in the United States have passed statutes that either have defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman or have explicitly declared same sex marriages to be illegal, whether performed in or out of state. This position was buttressed by the so-called Defense of Marriage Act passed by Congress in 1996, which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman and declared that a state is free to reject the legitimacy of same sex marriages performed elsewhere (Eskridge, 23). In 1971, Richard John Baker and James Michael McConnell began the first litigation process of same sex marriage in Minnesota. Along with supporting their constitutional and civil rights, they indicated recent anti-miscegenation acts in support of their plea, however, they were rejected by the court.
In 1973, case, Jones v. Hallahan, was considered to be the first lesbian case taken place across the United States. However, the particular last was lost on the basis of falling outside the definition of marriage, which gave a precedent to other failures in courts on the same grounds. In 1975, as a reaction on small victories obtained in several states, the Arizona legislature enacted an emergency bill defining marriage as only being possible between a man and a woman, thus setting up a precedent for other state legislatures (Coolidge, 427). From the 1970 s through the mid- 1980 s the increase of radical lesbian-feminism, connected with AIDS concerns, prevailed in and create political climate within the lesbian and gay communities. Early radical lesbian-feminist movement claimed against the institution of marriage in general, and thus many lesbians refocus their attention on lesbian and gay marriage rights.
Sociologists indicate that during that period, growing public interest of the AIDS epidemic dominated political energy in society and marriage issue polemics became secondary (Becker, 413). Ten years later, the American Civil Liberties Union proclaimed its high interest in elimination of legal barriers, which prevent same sex marriages. In 1989, the San Francisco Bar Association along with many journalists accused the states of sex discrimination. The same year, a study conducted by Time magazine indicated 69 percent disapproval and 23 percent approval of the legalization of same sex marriages (Macionis, 301). Two years later, Newsweek survey revealed 58 percent against, however 35 percent for on the same issue (Macionis, 302). In 1999, Vermont's Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples were entitled to the same legal benefits as heterosexual ones.
The following year, the Vermont legislature while guaranteeing such benefits to gay and lesbian couples, established the special legal category of civil union, not marriage, to describe their relationship. In a number of states, local governments and employers had already been allowing same-sex couples to register as domestic partnerships to obtain a limited number of rights. Court case Bar v. Lewin was considered to act as an accelerator for the process of same sax marriage in 1991.
In 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in favor of lesbian and gay communities for the first time in US legal history. However, being afraid of Hawaiian tendencies in society, state officials worked to change the constitutional mandate, and thus the passage of Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 was considered to be the major blow to the gay and lesbian marriage rights. In particular, the act permitted states to ignore out-of-state same sex marriages simultaneously contradicting to constitutional law. Outside the United States, however, efforts to legitimize same sex marriage have met with more success. In 2001, the Netherlands became the first nation in the world to provide civil marriage ceremonies for homosexual couples.
In 2003, Belgium followed suit. In 2002 and 2003, courts in three Canadian provinces ruled that the denial of marriage to same sex couples constituted a violation of Canadas Charter of Rights. The Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts made a similar ruling at the end of 2003. In particular, the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2003 declared that the one man, one woman definition of marriage was legally invalid and asserted that marriage must henceforth be redefined in common law as the voluntary union for life of two persons to the exclusion of all others (Katz, 108). In response, Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced the federal government would not challenge the courts decision, but it would propose legislation protecting the right of churches and religious organizations to sanctify marriage as they define it (Katz, 112). As of this writing, the federal government has submitted a draft of this bill to Canadas Supreme Court for a ruling on its constitutionality.
Besides altering the fundamental heterosexual definition of marriage in North America, a positive ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada would reject the traditional notion that marriage is primarily for reproductive purposes. Historically, elderly couples beyond childbearing age have married, and younger couples capable of producing offspring have elected not to do so, but the generalized validation of marriage between partners biologically incapable of jointly producing children would represent a radical departure from the origins of marriage as the social and religious sanctioning of procreation. To be sure, parenthood could be achieved by same-sex couples through the use of a surrogate mother, in gay marriage, the artificial insemination of one or both females, in lesbian marriage, as well as adoption. The validation of same sex marriage would have the effect of increasing the occurrence and popularity of all three procedures. Many homosexual couples will look upon the prospect of marriage as an enduring affirmation of their mutual commitment and love. On the other hand, many members of the gay and lesbian community view marriage not as an opportunity they have long been unjustly denied but as an inducement to abandon their creative counter cultural lifestyle in exchange for membership in the dull and monogamous conformity of mainstream society.
The legalization of same sex marriages could set a precedent for other, even more radical unions. Though these may seem like low-probability scenarios, they offer futurists a useful exercise in exploring the potential implications of a radical trajectory (Lee, 174). The appearance of marriage between same sex couples indicated one of the major cultural and social changes of the twentieth century not only in the United States, but across the globe. Both within the lesbian and gay communities and the heterosexual societies, the heated dilemma as to what constitutes marriage continues to sharpen, and actually depends on the moral majority's opinion. Bibliography Eskridge W. N.
Jr. The Case for Same-Sex Marriage, Boston Books, 1999 Macionis J. J. Society: The Basics. McGraw-Hill: New York, 1997 Becker M.
Family Law in the Secular State and Restrictions on Same-Sex Marriage: Two Are Better Than One. University of Illinois Law Review, 12: 2001 Cox B. The Little Project: From Alternative Families to Domestic Partnerships to Same-Sex Marriage. Wisconsin Womens Law Journal, 15: 2000 Katz P. The Case for Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage. Journal of Law & Policy, 8: 2003 Coolidge D. , Duncan, W.
Reaffirming Marriage: A Presidential Priority. Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, 24: 2001 Lee P. , George, R. What Sex Can Be: Self- Alienation, Illusion, or One-Flesh Union American Journal of Jurisprudence, 42: 1997
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Research essay sample on Supreme Court Ruled One Man And One Woman
