Gay Mariage In The US

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 g

The 9th Amendment, stating that “cruel and unusual punishment [shall not be] inflicted” upon any U.S. citizen is a second common argument of gay rights activists. Just as the Jim Crow Laws of the South were directed at the African Americans as punishment for their skin color, denying homosexuals of the right of marriage, the State is, in a way, enforcing laws to punish citizens for their sexual orientation. By doing just that, this democratic country is regressing to the semi-noble rule of a certain class defined as the legislative body.

Although it has never ruled in favor of same sex marriage, many U.S. Supreme Court rulings on the subject can be seen leaning heavily toward it. One such example is the ruling in Zablocki v. Redhail, which the majority opinion is quoted as stating “This Court has long recognized the freedom of personal choice in matters of marriage and family life is one of the liberties protected by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.” (qtd. in Sullivan 98) The Due Process Clause states, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The conclusion should be made that denying same sex couples of marriage and all its privileges does not provide for “equal protection,” nor the other rights guaranteed to them by law. This lean towards same sex marriages suggests that the Supreme Court, which is composed of some of the brightest minds in America, is starting to realize the ramifications of their refusal to legalize the practice. The length of time it will take them to admit their mistake is something that remains to be seen..

In 1996 President Clinton signed into the law the “Defense of Marriage Act. The act defined marriage as being between two people of the opposite sex, as well as making it legal for one state to deny a marriage certificate of another state if it is between two people of the same sex (Sullivan 201). This piece of legislation ‘legally’ discriminates against the estimated ten percent of the American population. Al

Some topics in this essay:
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