Term paper on Acceptance Of Homosexual Marriage

Acceptance Of Homosexual Marriage Essays

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29 Nov. 1999

Same Sex Marriage, Acceptance in the United States

Marriage is much more than merely a commitment to love one another. Marriage entitles financial responsibility, as well as authorized financial benefits. It is the institution that provides automatic legal protection for the spouse, including medical visitation, inheritance of a deceased spouse's property, as well as pension and other rights. Society has become accustom to what they believe is “normal” by their traditions and religious beliefs. Many people believe that same-sex marriage is not “normal.” The simple fact is that banning same-sex marriage is discrimination. Marriage is the basic human right that should not be denied to anyone. Marriage among minorities has come a long way in becoming accepted as “normal” in the eyes of society. Interracial marriage was prohibited, and unacceptable in the United States, until the Supreme Court ruled such bans unconstitutional in 1967. There is no reason that the federal government, or anyone for that matter, should restrict marriage to a predefined heterosexual relationship. Because it is the right of the homosexual legally, socially, and economically, matrimony between lesbian and gay couples should be accepted in the United States.

Because our country has been founded on the Constitution, in which all men are created equal; we cannot deny the basic human and legal right of marriage to a class of individuals due to their sexual preference. Banning same-sex marriage has already been declared a violation of the constitution in the state of Hawaii. The case began in 1991 when three same-sex couples who had been denied marriage licenses, by the Hawaii Department of Health, brought a lawsuit to the state court against the director of the department. Hawaii law required couples wishing to marry

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to obtain a marriage license. New York Times reporter David Dunlap notes that while the marriage license did not explicitly prohibit same sex marriage at that time, it used terms of gender that clearly indicated that only heterosexual couples could marry.... In 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that a refusal to grant marriage licenses violated the state constitution (18). Even though the court found that the state of Hawaii’s constitution had discriminated against homosexuals, which should legalize marriage nationally, presently there have been no same-sex marriage license that have been issued anywhere in the United States.

Conversely, an Online US News columnist acknowledges that one state court should not dictate marriage laws for the entire nation:

If gay marriages become legal in Hawaii, other states may have to recognize them, as well,

because the U.S. Constitution requires each state to grant “full faith and credit” to the acts

of other states. But, he argues, many states do not want to recognize same-sex unions, and

should not be forced to do so by a few judges in Hawaii. The bill [allowing other states to

ban same sex-unions] introduced in congress would preserve the right of the other 49

states to determine their marriage laws.(“Pros and Cons of Legalizing Same-Sex

Marriage”)

Although some may believe it would be unfair for Hawaii to begin the process of recognizing same-sex marriage licenses, Article IV, Section One of the United States Constitution avers, “Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records and proceedings of every other state”(Madison et al.). Therefore, regardless of whether or not certain individuals believe it is fair for one state to begin the process of same-sex marriage, the law is the law.

Similarly, lawyers specializing in the constitutional and civil rights laws said the legislation could be fought in two ways: either by arguing that same-sex marriages must be allowed to “full faith and credit” clause requiring states to recognize the laws of other states (Roane 7). The

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case is very similar to the ban of interracial marriage, which was declared unconstitutional just a few decades ago by the Supreme Court. Interracial marriage was struck down as a violation of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees all persons the equal protection of the laws.

Even though marriage should not be denied legally to gay and lesbian couples, matrimony between same-sex couples should be accepted socially. Andrew Sulivan, a former editor for the New Republic magazine comments;

Homosexuals are in many ways your sons and daughters, your mothers and fathers, your

uncles and aunts, people in your families, human beings. Homosexual marriage is really

the case for heterosexual marriage. We grow up; we fall in love; and if we’re really lucky,

we want to marry the person we love and live with them in fidelity, and monogamy, and

commitment for the rest of our lives. It’s a day that all of us, from the moment we grow

up, look forward to. But for one group of Americans, it is denied. The question is not,

why would we want to marry? Why would any human being want to marry? The

question really is: why would anyone want to deny this basic human thing to a group of

people in our society who wish no one any harm, but wish to affirm the values of

commitment and fidelity that every other American takes for granted. (1)

Homosexual couples are not asking for anything more than the opportunity, the chance, the free will of marrying whom they wish as heterosexuals do. This is an act that is better for the well being of that individual, this is their pursuit of happiness. What would happen if homosexuals tried to make themselves “normal” in the eyes of society? There would be homosexuals living a lie, forcing themselves into a marriage of the opposite sex, to satisfy society. What would happen when the spouse found out that their husband or wife was actually gay? The...

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Works Cited
Cox, Barbara “A Personal Essay on Same-Sex Marriage”. National Journal of Sexually Oriented
Law 1.1:(28 pars.)
Dunlap, David. “Some States Trying To Stop Gay Marriages Before They Start”. Wall Street
Journal 15 March 1995, Late Ed.:18
Hetter, Katia. “The New Civil Rights Battle”. U.S. News and World Report 3 June 1996:28-31
Madison, James, et al. The United States Constitution. Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, 4 March 1789
“Pros and Cons of Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage.” Online U.S. News 16 Sept. 1996: (10
pars.). WWW.USNEWS.COM. On-line. America Online. 24 Nov. 1999
Roane, Kit. “Gay Couples and the Law, At Odds Over the Right to Marry”. New York Times
2 Feb 1997, late ed. eastern ed., sec. 13NJ: 7 You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 12 Feb, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/33745/acceptance-of-homosexual-marriage>

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