2013: The year of gay marriage?

Contents:

• SUPREME COURT BOLSTERS GAY MARRIAGE WH TWO MAJOR RULGS
• 2013: THE YEAR OF GAY MARRIAGE?
• GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE THE US SUPREME COURT, 2013
• SUPREME COURT EXTENDS GAY-MARRIAGE RIGHTS WH TWO RULGS
• MANY BRONS HAVE CHANGED THEIR MDS ON GAY MARRIAGE
• CALIFORNIA VOTERS WILL BE ASKED TO REAFFIRM GAY MARRIAGE PROTECTNS ON 2024 BALLOT

SUPREME COURT BOLSTERS GAY MARRIAGE WH TWO MAJOR RULGS

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTVioThe Tim’s Adam Liptak tak a look at how the Supreme Court’s cisn to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act Jabsohn/RtersJune 26, 2013WASHINGTON — In a pair of major victori for the gay rights movement, the Supreme Court on Wednday led that married same-sex upl were entled to feral benefs and, by clg to ci a se om California, effectively allowed same-sex marriag lgs leave place laws banng same-sex marriage around the natn, and the urt cled to say whether there was a nstutnal right to such unns. Christopher Gregory/The New York TimHe said the law was motivated by a sire to harm gay and lbian upl and their fai, meang the “moral and sexual choic” of such upl and huiatg “tens of thoands of children now beg raised by same-sex upl.

A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 1 of the New York edn wh the headle: Jtic Extend Benefs To Gay Coupl; Allow Same-Sex Marriag In California. They clu the ernment shutdown, the bungled health-re webse rollout, the Edward Snown leaks, and the New Jersey and Virgia gubernatorial there's a story we fet to clu that should have been on the list: gay, when lookg back on , some uld argue that 2013 was the year of gay marriage and gay rights about :-- In the past year, gay marriage beme legal seven addnal stat (Delaware, Hawaii, Illois, Mnota, New Jersey, New Mexi, and Rho Island). -- The Supreme Court stck down the Defense of Marriage Act, and (sentially) upheld the 9th Circu cisn overturng California's gay-marriage ban.

-- Numero Democratic policians announced their support for gay marriage, as did Republins Rob Portman (whose son is gay), Mark Kirk, and Lisa Murkowski. -- The legatn the Obama admistratn is sendg to the 2014 Wter Olympics Rsia is beg led by proment Amerin gay athlet – ostensibly to prott Rsia’s anti-gay laws. -- And acrdg to an April NBC/WSJ poll, 53% of Amerins said they favored gay marriage -- up om only 41% who said this 2009, and up om jt 30% who said 's also worth notg the red-blue divi when to the that same April NBC/WSJ poll, 73% of Democrats said they supported gay marriage, vers jt 27% of 's more, Print Barack Obama rried all 17 stat where gay marriage is legal both the 2008 and 2012 printial helps expla the partisan spl over A&E spendg "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson over ntroversial ments he ma about if 2013 was a year about gay marriage, 's also te that the issue probably isn't gog Murray, Senr Polil Edor, NBC News.

2013: THE YEAR OF GAY MARRIAGE?

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. ” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups.

Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk beg the first openly gay man elected to public office the untry 1977—the fight for gay marriage ma ltle headway for many years. In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners. C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch.

Congrs 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Print Bill Clton signed to didn’t ban gay marriage outright but specified that only heterosexual upl uld be granted feral marriage benefs.

GAY MARRIAGE

That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S.

Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v. The state fally troduced the untry to gay marriage (m the feral benefs) when began issug same-sex marriage licens on May 17, that year, the U. 2004 was notable for upl many other stat as well, though for the oppose reason: Ten typilly nservative stat, along wh Oregon, enacted state-level bans on gay marriage.

GAY MARRIAGE THE US SUPREME COURT, 2013

Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire. Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007. Perry legalized same-sex marriage early 2010s ntued the state-level battl over gay marriage that fed the precedg , wh at least one notable event.

SUPREME COURT EXTENDS GAY-MARRIAGE RIGHTS WH TWO RULGS

For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal.

Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000. Wdsor cisn, gay marriage bans were overturned by urt lgs several stat, but those lgs were put on hold pendg appeals to the US Supreme Court.

MANY BRONS HAVE CHANGED THEIR MDS ON GAY MARRIAGE

6, 2014, the Supreme Court cled to hear appeals om five of those stat, and the cisn immediately cleared the way for legal gay marriage Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virgia, and Wisns. Six other stat which gay marriage bans had been overturned, Colorado, Kansas, North Carola, South Carola, Wt Virgia, and Wyomg, were also affected by the Supreme Court lg bee they were the jurisdictns of the lower urts that had overturned the gay marriage bans.

CALIFORNIA VOTERS WILL BE ASKED TO REAFFIRM GAY MARRIAGE PROTECTNS ON 2024 BALLOT

Sce the lower urt had already clared Proposn 8 to be unnstutnal, the cisn was nsired to have cleared the way for gay marriag to rume the state. “Outsi of the marriage ntext, n you thk of any other ratnal basis, reason, for a State g sexual orientatn as a factor nyg homosexuals benefs or imposg burns on them?

That fdg follows exorably om this Court’s equal protectn jurispnce, the extensive trial rerd, and Proponents’ repeated ncsns that gay men and lbians have faced a history of discrimatn based on a tra that has no bearg on their abily to ntribute to society… [T]here is no group Amerin society who has been targeted by ballot iativ more than gays and lbians, and they have sentially lost a hundred percent of the ntts over same-sex marriage. Ined, the undisputed fact that gay men and lbians have been subjected to a history of discrimatn based on a tra that bears no relatnship to their abily to ntribute to society is sufficient, and of self, to renr classifitns based on sexual orientatn ‘spect’ and to give rise to heightened scty.

“The Defense of Marriage Act do not discrimate between heterosexuals and homosexuals, but between oppose-sex married upl and same-sex married upl. Although DOMA admtedly has a greater impact on homosexuals than heterosexuals, that impact, unr this Court’s precents, is not nstutnally relevant unls n be traced back to an tent or purpose on behalf of Congrs to discrimate agast homosexuals, as opposed to the mere knowledge that would have a disparate impact on them. Sce the first same-sex marriag took place the Netherlands 2001, more than 30 other jurisdictns have enacted laws allowg gays and lbians to marry, mostly Europe and the Ameris.

Netherlands2001EuropeFirst untry to legalize same-sex marriage after Parliament passed the law December Zealand 2013Asia-PacificFirst untry the Asia-Pacific regn to allow gays and lbians to 2009EuropeThe law replaced a 1993 statute permtg civil unns. Slovenia 2022EuropeFirst untry formerly munist Eastern Europe to legalize same-sex Ai 2006Sub-Saharan AiOnly Ain untry where same-sex marriage is legal; several untri on the ntent have passed laws that ban homosexualy recent 2005EuropeBeme the third untry globally to legalize same-sex marriage after a vote s closely divid 2009EuropeGay and lbian upl Swen prevly had been allowed to register for civil unns sce 1995.