A Look at Gay Marriage in the United States.
The American government, founded on the ideals of men wishing to escape persecution and tyranny, is a secular institution shaped by the Constitution and it's Amendments. Over the two hundred plus years that America has been a country many infractions, oversights and misinterpretations have occurred which have unfairly inhibited the freedom of the American people. This truth can be seen in the continued refusal by the government as a whole to accept, legalize or recognize same sex marriages, which has led to unrest and dissention among the homosexual community and its supporters. This was an issue that was brought up in Dan Savage's, The Kid.
Same sex marriage, although a recent "hot topic," is neither new, nor an unnatural product of the twentieth century, as many claim. Evidence of social acceptance of gay marriage can be found in Egyptian culture as far back as 2600 B.C., as well as in ancient Rome and medieval Europe. (Eskridge 17) More recent evidence of gay marriages has been found in colonial America, as well as during the twentieth century in East Coast communities such as Boston and Harlem. During both world wars, official marriage certificates could be obtained for gay couples in Harlem on a somewhat legal basis. (Eskridge 39-44) Despite the evidence of these fairly common unions, many of our law makers strongly oppose the legalization of the practice in America, based on the opinion that as heterosexuals they hold a sexual and therefore social superiority to homosexuals.
Homophobia in America surfaced during the 1950s and 60s and was soon met by the protests and resistance movement of the homosexuals. Because of the civil rights movement, which was in full swing, the gay acceptance movement was overshadowed and received diminished media attention. (Eskridge 44) Since the original Civil Rights Movement, the Gay Rights Movement has moved to center stage in American Civil Rights debate.
