Same Sex Marriage And The State Of Michigan

Marriage is universally understood to be the legal union between a man and a woman. This acknowledgement, however, has recently generated dispute and controversy in certain individuals, primarily homosexuals and supporters of homosexual marriages. This opposition, due to this mainstream view, exists because certain states such as Minnesota deny same-sex marriages.

The petitioners were two men whose same-sex partners had died and fourteen same-sex couples who all brought cases in their respective District Courts challenging either the denial of their right to marry or the right to have their marriage performed elsewhere recognized in their own state. The cases were heard in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, each of which defines marriage as between a woman and a man. In each case, the relevant District Court found in favor of the petitioner. Each of the respondents, who were state officials responsible

Only fifteen states remain with bans against same-sex marriage as of the writing of this essay (ProCon.org). In the state of Washington, gay marriage was legalized on December 9, 2012, by popular vote (La Corte).

#3 Since 1970, there have been numerous amount of lawsuits against cities, counties, and state for the denial of marriage. Throughout history, LGBT citizens have been denied their right to marry clearly due to being the same sex. According to ProCon.org, in 1970 in Minnesota two men, Baker and McConnell,

Since America was founded, heterosexual marriages have been the only legal way to get a marital licence and be considered by the government and the state legally married. However, in 1970 Richard Baker and Michael McConnell applied for a marital licence and were denied because they were both of a male gender. In turn, the couple sued the man who denied their marriage, and it traveled all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and they still lost. This was the first ever record of a homosexual couple fighting the government for the right of same sex marriage. The battle grew and grew, becoming more popular until they came to the Supreme Court for one last appeal. On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that all 50 states must allow a couple of

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

Gay marriage has been one of the most common topic under discussion, arguments and quarrels since couple of years in almost every nation of the world. Looking deep down to the region of United States, same-sex marriage or gay marriage has not been legalized and documented in most of its jurisdictions. However, it is prudent to note that with the beginning of the twenty first century, only a few of US states have legally recognized the gay marriage through court verdicts and legislative proceedings and have lawfully allowed the gay people to get into a relationship (Wolfson 2004).

In 2004, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, the District of Columbia and two Native American tribal jurisdictions have legalized same sex marriages. As the years go on, more and more same sex couples will continue to fight for their right to marry who they choose and more states will eventually allow same sex couples their rights to marry whomever they choose (Koppelman, 2004).

The nation watched the progress of the LGBT rights movement unfold right before its eyes in June 2015 when the Supreme Court decided, in Obergefell v. Hodges, that same-sex marriage bans were in violation of the US Constitution. The road to the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage was a long and arduous one, but worthwhile for thousands of same-sex couples across the United States. With tensions high on both sides, Obergefell v. Hodges addressed long disputed constitutional questions, such as the roles of state and federal governments and the extent of the 14th amendment. In the end, this controversial case reaffirmed marriage as a fundamental right protected by the 14th amendment, which the Supreme Court ruled extends to opposite-sex

Since the Supreme Court’s 1803 decision in Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court has claimed the final word on what the Constitution means, so state provisions that conflict must yield to those interpretations. And a multitude of decisions by the Justices have interpreted the Tenth Amendment to protect the powers that states have traditionally used as part of government that operates closest to the people themselves.

The right to same sex marriage has been involved within the Constitution as part of Amendments V, VIII, and XV. Marriage is both global and central. All across our country, in every region, every social class, every race and ethnicity, every religion or non-religion, people get married. Same sex marriage was a division of social and political. An example of a court case dealing with same sex marriage is Baehr v. Lewin. In 1993, Hawaii’s high court issues first-of-a-kind ruling that a barrier to marriage is discrimination, launching the freedom to marry movement. Three years later in 1996, a full trial took place and was decided that the same-sex couples are entitled to marriage licenses. Later in 1998, Hawaii amends its constitution with regard to marriage by exempting same-sex couples from protection of equality guarantee, giving legislature the power to define marriage as limited to a man and a woman. However, a year later in 1999, Baehr v. Lewin Hawaii’s high court rules that Hawaii’s constitution no longer protects lesbian and gay individuals with regard to their freedom to marry. As in today, some states in the United States did not approve the right for same sex marriage. On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to force same-sex marriage on all 50 states. According to the Supreme Court Justice page, “The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that there is a federal constitutional right to

Egan, P. (2014, March 22). Michigan gay marriages Egan, P. (2014, March 22). Michigan gay marriages could fall into legal limbo.

“States cannot keep same-sex couples from marrying and must recognize their unions, the Supreme Court says in a ruling that for months has been the focus of speculation. The decision was 5-4.” (Chappell, 2015)

In 2008 the real battle began for amending the state constitution on same-sex marriage rights. In the minds of professionals a lot of things went wrong with the proposition 8 campaign. One of the biggest problems that the campaign came across was money. It takes a lot of money to pass a bill or to appose a bill. Proposition 8 was neck and neck for yes and no results. Yes on 8 campaign requested assistants from the Mormon community and minority homophobia. The Yes on 8 campaign was lead by leaders of Protect Marriage, the main group behind the ban.

Same-sex couples should be allowed to publicly celebrate their commitment in the same way as heterosexual couples do. For those who stand against same sex couples right to marry many of them fail to realize that many of these couples have spent their lives with their significant other. Those years range from as little as 5 year to as big as 50 years. Nonetheless, same-sex couples only want the same honor and recognition as heterosexual couples get from society instead of being stun from the world. Not to mention, the denial of sex marriage only stigmatizes the LGBTQ families as inferior. Which in turns, sends out the globalized massage that it is okay to discriminate agonist the members in that community. Thus, on February 3, 2014 the Massachusetts Supreme Court stated,