Essay on Recognizing Same-Sex Marriage

In the summer of 2015 the U.S supreme court ruled in favor to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 countries in the United States. This all occurred because of the Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) case. This very important case involved “14 same-sex couples and two men whose same-sex partners are deceased” and the couples argued that the “state officials violated [their] 14th amendment by denying them the right to marry or to have marriages lawfully performed in another state given full recognition and also violated their equal protection Clause. The supreme court ruled for this case because in the 14th Amendment it clearly declares that all people should have “equal protection under the law”, regardless of race or ethnicity.

The United States Constitution protects certain liberties in the Bill of Rights and rights deemed “fundamental” that are “traditionally protected by our society.” (Michael H. v. Gerald D.). The liberty at issue in this case is the right to marry, which has been deemed fundamental by this Court in Loving v. Virginia, where we stated that “[t]he freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.” (Loving v. Virginia). The petitioners in the case at bar seek that liberty by marrying someone of the same sex and having their marriages be equal to traditional, opposite-sex couples.

The case Obergefell vs. Hodges reached the United States Supreme Court in 2015 (Oyez). This case dealt with the rights of same-sex marriages and became important case in our nation’s young history and in our society in general. The problem was groups of same-sex couples were being told that their marriage licenses were not being upheld to the same legal standards as those of heterogeneous couples. Therefore same-sex couples in Ohio, Tennessee , Kentucky, and Michigan went and sued these agencies in challenge of their constitutional rights (Oyez).They took their issue to court because they believed that the states were denying them their 14th amendment rights without due process. They couldn’t understand why their marriages license were not

     A debate is raging in America about who people have a right to marry. In response to lesbians and gays asking for the right to marry, many legislators are writing laws to ban same-sex marriage in their respective states. Even President Bush supports a Constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage (prez.bush.marriage/). Opponents of such legislation do not want discrimination passed into law and are protesting at every opportunity. One must understand the reasons that people want to ban same-sex

"Getting the Facts: Same-Sex Marriage." Family Research Institute. Family Research Institute, 2012. Web. 02 Apr. 2012.

The global divide of same-sex marriage remains a controversial and convoluted topic across North America. The civil rights of human beings were put into question against the underlying discriminatory issue of homosexuality within the state in the New York Washington post article, “As Rulings Are Announced, Cheers and Tears Among Waiting Crowd”. Wednesday June 26th, 2013 at 10:00am marked the official ruling that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as a union between man and woman, was unconstitutional. History was made as gay spouses were given the legal right to social security benefits such as, shared health cares plans without tax penalties and gay foreigners married to Americans were given access to

Gay marriage has been a recent controversy for many reasons. Many people (religious conservatives) believe that same-sex marriage is immoral, sinful, and threatens the traditional structure of a family. But gay and lesbian supporters feel marriage is a right that everyone should have, backed by the Due Process and Equal Protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. It has been proven that the outlook on gay marriage has changed drastically based simply on the fact that younger people had supported it and it just took time to gain enough approval from enough of the country to legalize it. Since most of 18-29 year-olds of 2006 supported same-sex marriage, “two-thirds of Americans think that same-sex marriage will eventually be legal in the United

"Gay Marriage in the US Supreme Court, 2015 - Gay Marriage - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

The United States of America has always been ground for controversial issues. Slavery, segregation, and individual rights are just a few of the many topics argued within the United States Supreme Court. Although all topics argued in the Supreme Court are important, one issue has stood out in more recent years. This topic is same-sex marriage. The earliest Supreme Court case regarding same-sex marriage can be dated back to 1972 with Baker v. Nelson. The most recent same-sex, Supreme Court case took place in 2015. This landmark case was Obergefell v. Hodges.

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

America declares itself as the great country of liberty, the great country of opportunities and the great country of equality. As long as an American wants to marry a person of the opposite sex there seems to be no limits to their pursuit of happiness. Even in the progressive, modern year of 2015, the question of whether or not gay couples should be permitted to perform the act of a legal marriage divides the United States of America into two. Although more than half of the states have legalized gay marriage, fourteen states, including Kentucky, reject the idea of homosexual couples as equals to heterosexual couples. The fact is that an exclusion of marriage for gay couples is a limitation of their personal rights and is unequal, unfair,

Same sex- marriage is still the topic of many peoples conversation across the country. Citizens, divided by politic party, are very passionate about how they feel about it. The president didn’t approve of it at first, but now he finally accepts same- sex marriage, the Judicial System uses its power to dictate to the States, forcing them to accept same- sex marriage. Both houses of Congress continue to debate what marriage means.

While seventeen states have already granted couples the right to marry whom they love regardless of gender, the rest of the country continues to forbid same-sex couples to marry (Ahuja) and in doing so, infringe upon one of the most basic freedoms we are allowed. Arguments for same-sex marriage, despite being backed up with hard legal evidence and Supreme Court rulings, continue to face opposition on the grounds of religious beliefs and personal values.

There are 1049 legal reasons why gay couples would want marital status to be recognized by the government. There are also 1049 rights intend for same-sex couples, these rights include: “hospital care choices for yourself and your partner; power of attorney for you and your partner; right to visit your partner in the ICU; rights to retirement plan decisions; rights to survivor benefits from social security, and the list continues.” (TPF Student Action). The US Supreme Court on June 26th, 2015 ruled that the US Constitution grant the right for same-sex couples to marry in all of the 50 states in the US. Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy stated in the majority opinion: "The court now holds that same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry. No longer may this liberty be denied to them."(CNN) There are many conservatives that are completely against the idea of gay marriage and they have stated that “they will fight to have the Supreme Court ruling overturned.” Politicians with a Christian background stated that homosexuality is an “abomination to defend their religious arguments.”(CNN) A rule, the United States set up from the beginning, states that “separation needs to be made between religion and government.” With the controversy of gay marriage, lines begin to get blurred and religion starts to influence the government’s mind.

Marriage is the legal and formal recognition of the union of a man and a woman. This simple definition has been modified several times.In the past, marriage was allowed only through the union of the same race, such as a white male and white female, black male and black female, however, now, it is a battle of allowing the marriage of the same-sex. The fight is not only to help protect rights for same-sex couples, but, also, to interracial couples, who have been experiencing racism and discrimination. This battle for marriage equality for same-sex couples started in the late 90s, yet it is still currently a problem. Although the Supreme Court has given the right to marry to whom they desire, many still disagree. The Constitution plays a