The Controversy Of Laramie, Wyoming

In Andrew J. Cherlin’s essay “American Marriage In Transition”, he discusses how marriage in America is evolving from the universal marriage. Cherlin’s definition of the universal marriage in his essay is the man is the breadwinner of the household and the woman is the homemaker. In the 20th century according to Cherlin, the meaning of marriage has been altered such as the changing division of labor, childbearing outside of marriage, cohabitation, gay marriage and the result of long- term cultural and material trends (1154). During the first transition of marriage, Cherlin discusses how in America, Europe, and Canada the only socially accepted way to have sexual relations with a person and to have children is to be married (1154). The second change in marriage occurred in 2000, where the median age of marriage in the United States for men is 27 and women is 25 (1155). Many young adults stayed single during this time and focused on their education and starting their careers. During the second change, the role of law increasingly changed, especially in the role of law in divorce (1155). It is proven in today’s research marriage has a different definition than what it did back in the 1950’s. Today marriage can be defined as getting married to the same gender or getting remarried to someone who already has kids. The roles in a marriage are evolving to be a little more flexible and negotiable. However, women still do a lot of the basic household chores and taking care of the

For centuries same sex marriage has been a dispute, especially in Texas because of how powerfully Texas believes in the bible and how extremely “old fashioned” it is. The debate has been over LGBT equality, just like the black civil rights movement and the women’s movement in the 1960’s. Due to the traditional and common law, Texas does not allow same sex marriage. Actually, the state banned same sex marriage a decade ago or more. The issue was during the 2004 presidential election when Missouri and Louisiana voters approved same sex marriage and eleven states placed amendments. Everyone held their word and continued to protect the laws of Texas. The constitutional amendments that banned same sex marriage well-defined marriage as a union between

Historically, the conservative values conveyed by many Texans have shown disapproval for change and differences. Amongst the list of social and political views conservatives have disapproved of in the past would be civil rights, women’s rights, and gay rights. All three are issues of which are still under conflict and disapproval. With this said, gay rights are the most recent issue that has shaken the traditionalist views upheld in Texas. To state the opposition of gay rights, conservatives in general do not support the relationships shared between homosexuals. They deem it as unnatural or immoral and therefore, it is seen as wrong in their eyes. In addition to the conservative claims as homosexuality being unnatural, the traditional culture does not take too kindly to change, which is exactly what began as soon as the Court’s ruling was made. In conclusion, it is the traditional political culture such as the conservative ideology shared by many and the opposition to change that has affected Texas in

Moses Kaufman is the producer of the successful play “The Laramie Project” after a horrific incident that occurred in Laramie. Members of the artistic group of Kaufman 's, traveled to Laramie to find out more about the horrific incidence. The main aim of the whole project was to find the emotions, reactions, and reflections that the people of Laramie manifested concerning the beating and subsequent death of a twenty-three-year-old college student (Gale, 2016). A lot of questions were raised concerning the death as people had different point of views. Some thought it was a hate crime, others thought it was just a brutal assault or a form of robbery. Four hundred interviews were conducted so as to come up with the reasons behind the brutal murder straight from the town folks. The main issue was how homosexuality was defined in the crime. The Laramie Project, questioned the rights of the LGBT+ group. For example, why were Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgenders discriminated by the community and the society as a whole even though their rights were constitutional?

In The Laramie Project, a character name Cathy Connolly claims that gay the people in Laramie feel the oppression from society, and are

Laramie, Wyoming is a town really liked to keep to themselves, meaning they liked for private matters to remain private, therefore meaning they did not want all of the public attention for Matthew’s murder. Also, this town seems to have a sense of exclusion when it comes to change because tradition is a major component to this town, so breaking traditions causes some tension in the town. Also, breaking traditions seems to make people feel very uncomfortable, which is evident because many of the characters are repeatedly seen stalling or saying “um” in between thoughts in the interviews because they felt very awkward speaking about this sort of thing. There had always been gay people in Laramie, but most of them were in the closet, so people

The group of people who tolerated homosexuality was neutral about the matter. These people neither accepted nor rejected homosexual individuals. They simply acknowledged homosexuals for who they are without personal judgment. Marge Murray who lived in Laramie all her life was clearly neutral and tolerant of gays. Murray believed, “Laramie is live and let live” (28). Her mindset was to not interfere with the homosexuals in any way and just mind her own business. In Murray’s opinion, Laramie is the kind of town where everyone keeps to themselves and does not stick their noses where it does not belong. The basic idea live and let live in essence means you live your life and let everybody else live theirs. It can be conclude that if gays left

Marriage in ancient civilizations and until the twentieth century was an arraignment made between two families to gain a political and social benefits. One reason divorce and infidelity were prohibited was to ensure families could not lose those benefits. Instead of developing a different system to join two people together,

Wow! A small town Laramie, Wyoming aka the ‘gem city of the plains’with a population of approximately 26,687 people becomes infamous overnight in the fall of 1998. Relax, not that black Gold was discovered!! It is all for the wrong reasons owing to the brutal beating of Mathew Shepard, a gay college student. This set a vigilant nationwide debate on hate crimes and homophobia. Barely a month after this crime, Moises Kaufman, leading the Tectonic Theater project in the company of other actors toured Laramie with a goal to create a play which really dint focus on the murder of Mathew, but staged around the community where such a crime could happen, and how many citizens reacted to the crime, resulting to the Laramie project (Kaufman et al., 2014).

Same-sex marriage continues to be a very high debated issue in our society without a firm foundation to base our beliefs on, leaving most of us trying to find answers still. Now that the Supreme Court of the united states has rules that the constitution guarantees a right to same sex marriage’ What was known as “marriage”, the union of a man and a woman only, is starting to diverge. The Oxford Dictionary of English definition of marriage reads “the formal union of a man and a woman, typically as recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife”(381). The function of a dictionary is to give us an unbiased definition of what words mean. The words “husband” and “wife” show that marriage is a close union between a man and a woman. But people have decided to define the word how they seem to fit better their ideals, therefore altering the definition altogether. As it may be obvious, we can not look at a dictionary to find a strong belief; let me continue with the search of a strong bases and a firm foundation to which we can hold our beliefs.

The congressmen of Mississippi represent their constituents whether it be indirectly or directly. A majority of Mississippians claim to be of the christian faith, which as whole generally does not believe in same-sex marriage. When the SCOTUS ruled to legalize same-sex marriage many people felt that it was not their issue to rule on but rather the states’. This being the case, states that did not currently allow same-sex marriage were forced to begin issuing marriage licenses. This change of law begun to affect the constituents as usually there was a consensus against same-sex marriage. For people who oppose same-sex marriage whether it be religious or moral, we must respect that belief. The idea that as a country we disavow First Amendment rights in favor to be more inclusive is provoking. The bill clearly states what is and what is not discrimination, and the belief that marriage is between one man and one woman should not be considered bigotry if you choose to follow your

Marriage is a union that has been around for as long as humans have walked the earth. The human race depends upon the union of its members, and as such, the subject of marriage has been an issue that receives more intense scrutiny and attention than many would likely believe. In today's day and age, with humanity continuing to move in a modern direction, many argue that marriage is a union that should be entered into freely and should be based exclusively on the love between two people. However, I argue that arranged marriage, which has taken place throughout the ages and throughout the world, is a union that offers its observers a marriage based in support, longevity and love, and is an institution that should not be frowned upon.

The institution of marriage has been in place for millenniums, and is one of the largest universal social institutions in all of humanity (Marriage, n.d.). Marriage is thought

In 1993 the United States government came to realize that the gay marriages were being conducted and as a result they came up with measures to rule out the act. This was supported by the 1996 defense of marriage act in which the homosexuals were denied the traditional benefits related to marriages. In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court brought forth life in the gay supports by ruling out that gays also had rights to marriage. A survey conducted showed that majority were against gay marriages in which twenty seven states passed the constitution on complete gay marriage ban and only ten had the grant (Time Magazine 2003).

In this paper I will discuss marriage and its legal, social, and symbolic benefits. I will discuss the major arguments for the legal recognition of same-sex marriage and will mention the newest policy of same-sex marriage in the State of Oklahoma. I will give a historical analysis of marriage and family policy in the United States and summarize the information I found on freedomtomarry.org. I will conclude with my analysis of legal marriage for committed same-sex couples.