Comparison 60 Minutes Analysis

In recent years, the debate over same-sex marriage has grown into a nationwide controversy, reverberating into the halls of congress, at the white house, in dozens of state and legislature and courtrooms, and in the rhetoric of election campaigns at both the national and state levels. As the debate rages on, the American religious community remains deeply divided over the issue, and over the morality of homosexuality. The debate has grown from an issue that occasionally arose in a few states to a national and even worldwide controversy.

“Being gay is much more profound than simply a sexual relationship; being gay is part of that person’s core identity, and goes right to the very center of his being. It’s like being black in s society of whites, or a blonde European in a nation of black Asians” (Tamara L. Roleff). Although marriage, cohabitation and parenting styles of homosexual families pose no threats to the heterosexual society; many still believe same-sex marriage goes against its true purpose. “At the national level, American public opinion on the issue remains split (44 percent support legalizing same-sex marriage; 53 percent oppose same-sex marriage in a May 2010 Gallup Poll) even as opposition toward legalizing same-sex marriage is at its lowest point in decades

According to the CBS News Poll, 58% of Americans believe it should be legal for same-sex couples to marry (Polling Report, June 9-13, 2016). Since recent years, the support for same sex-marriage has steadily increased. In fact, according to the Gallup Poll, 61% of Americans believe that same-sex couples should validly be recognized by the law with the same rights as traditional marriages (Gallup Poll, May 4-8, 2016). Over time, the idea of marriage has transformed from the union of a man and woman to the union of two people who love each other regardless of their sexual orientation. In fact, according to the CNN/ORC Poll, 59% of Americans support the ruling of the Supreme Court regarding the legalization of same-sex marriage in all fifty states (Polling Report, June 26-28, 2015). Based on these polls, Americans generally support equal rights for all individuals regardless of their sexual orientation. Therefore, a majority of Americans favor government involvement to ensure equal rights for all individuals regardless of their differences. Therefore, the position of most Americans regarding same-sex marriage supports the idea that Americans are generally reform liberalists in their

Gay marriage is not the only issue that is being discussed throughout America involving the gay community. In a particular study done by USA Today, results showed that when Americans were asked if they think homosexual relationships between consenting adults should be legal, 46% answered yes (“USA Today” 6). However, when asked if they would then favor a law that would allow homosexuals to get married, only 24% were in favor (6). This survey also showed the differences of peoples’ ideas based on if they attended church or not (6). The results showed that 73% of Americans who attend church weekly oppose the legalization of gay marriage and only 38% of those who don’t attend church oppose legalization (6). These results show that for many Americans, marriage is a religious agreement, but for many others, marriage is a right that should be given to all who want to partake in it.

Homosexual marriage is one of the old but controversial issues around the world. Compared to the past, it seems to become a more open debate among people. At the same time, people seem to be more swayable than before, but towards the gay marriage, different voices have still been hovering in the air. Gay people and their supporters have been striving for their rights to get married legally, while others who against gay marriage have never stopped deterring it.

A major victory was won by the LGBT community when the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal on June 26th of 2015 across all of the United States. This ruling effectively states that any state-law restricting marriage to male-female is unconstitutional. This had been a fight since the 1970s when the issues of same-sex marriage first began to gain steam. Over the years, various states have legalised same-sex marriage to certain degrees, however it wasn’t until after 3 decades that the issue was finally acknowledged on a national level. This change furthers the ideology of freedom and equality of the american constitution and will invoke the betterment of

Throughout the years, society has slowly started to embrace gay culture and has begun to accept same-sex marriage in a positive way. It started with the late 1800s and early 1900s where same-sex marriage or gay culture was frowned upon. It then led on to the late 1900s where people began to accept it and fight for those who were treated unreasonably. Later on, it led to the 2000s where majority of the population supported same-sex marriage along with the fact that it was officially legalized in Canada. Views on same-sex marriage have altered in such a drastic way from decades ago to now, but it has definitely changed in an extremely positive manner.

Futurist John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends, has studied the change in the public’s perspective on gay marriage. Naisbitt asserts: “In just my lifetime, we have gone from a taboo to even talk about homosexuality, to the sanction by governments of homosexual marriage. Few such large social considerations have ever before been turned over in such a short time” (Naisbitt).

Is our current generation more accepting of gay marriage than previous generations? We thought this would be an interesting topic to study due to the fact that on June 26, 2015 gay marriage was legalized in all 50 states, and since then, there has been a lot of controversy over the ruling. Thus we decided to research the differentiation in attitudes across generations. We conducted a survey asking a multiple of questions about age, sexuality, religious beliefs, and their overall opinion on gay couples. Our research population consisted of college students and the older generations, including the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millennials. Our results yielded what we had expected; the most recent generation, Generation

AFTER GAY MARRIAGE, what will become of marriage itself? Will same-sex matrimony extend marriage's stabilizing effects to homosexuals? Will gay marriage undermine family life? A lot is riding on the answers to these questions. But the media's reflexive labeling of doubts about gay marriage as homophobia has made it almost impossible to debate the social effects of this reform. Now with the Supreme Court's ringing affirmation of sexual liberty in Lawrence v. Texas, that debate is unavoidable.

Over the past several years the homosexual community has made great strides in attempting to justify their right to legally join in matrimony. Society as a whole has come a long way in becoming more tolerant and acknowledging of same sex partners and their choices to form families. Given our first amendment right to freedom of speech, there are plenty of sentiments regarding whether or not laws should be ratified permitting these male or female partners to have the legal right to marry. There are numerous of current trends that provide absolute support to the homosexual community with hopes of increasing the level of tolerance. In addition, the great economic advantages that have come about from same-sex marriages in supporting states, has

Lewis and Gossett’s examination included a survey that asked individuals about their thoughts on homosexuality and whether their thoughts have changed since they were were 18. The people polled belong to the Generation X (those born between1961-1981) cohort. Lewis and Gossett’s goal was to measure whether attitudes have changed on the issue of homosexuality from age 18 to their age in 1985, 1997, and 2006. Their results yielded that there was an 8 percent increase in support of same-sex marriage from the years 1985 to 1997 and an additional 5 percent increase from 1997 to 2003-06, totaling in a 13 percent cumulative increase of support towards same-sex marriage. The data supports that there has been a change in favor of same-sex marriage

Being a gay person in America is not nearly as difficult as it once once. There was a time at one point where homosexuality in the US was treated as taboo as many other social subjects such as criminality. However, times, beliefs, and perspectives have changed in the general populous. In 1996, only 27% of Americans polled by Gallop showed a positive stance on gay marriage, and homosexuality in general. By May of 2015, this percentage was nearly reverse, with only 37% of the population showing a negative stance on homosexuality. Despite the recent support for homosexuals in America, sexual prejudice is still prevalent in some areas of life for gay men and women. Life is still hard for gay people in America for a number of reasons, despite an overall acceptance of gay marriage by adults, and as a gay person myself, I have witnessed this injustice and prejudice on several levels.

The political aspects of whether same-sex couples should be allowed to federal and government recognized marriages are a very complex issue. There are basically two sides to the political argument of whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. On one side are the liberals who feel that marriage is a civil right that should be denied based on the basis of a person's sexual orientation. On the other side you have conservatives who feel that marriage is an institution in which should only constitute one man and one woman. In this report we are going to examine how the issue of same-sex marriages are affecting our current political environment, how politics is affecting the movement for

In 2000, this policy had an approval of 39 percent. In 2010 gay marriage has increased in popularity in all fifty states. The popularity of gay marriage has increased most rapidly in the states where gay rights were already relatively popular in the 1990s, with numbers over 50 percent. The growing mood of acceptance is possibly tied to an increase in the percentage of people who claim to know someone who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual. More than 7 in 10 people, says Wellner (2001), claim they know someone who is gay or lesbian, up from 55 percent in 1998. Over time, as more Americans interact professionally and socially with members of the gay and lesbian community, the acceptance of diverse sexual orientations has begun to increase.