Gay marriage is a nstutnal right, Supreme Court l

Contents:

• GAY MARRIAGE
• FREQUENTLY ASKED QUTNS ABOUT THE FERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT AND GAY MARRIAGE
• THE CONSTUTNAL ARGUMENT FOR GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE IS NOW A CONSTUTNAL RIGHT THE UNED STAT OF AMERI
• CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR
• GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
• CALIFORNIA VOTERS WILL BE ASKED TO REAFFIRM GAY MARRIAGE PROTECTNS ON 2024 BALLOT

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.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUTNS ABOUT THE FERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT AND GAY MARRIAGE

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.

THE CONSTUTNAL ARGUMENT FOR 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. 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.

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.

GAY MARRIAGE IS NOW A CONSTUTNAL RIGHT THE UNED STAT OF AMERI

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.

CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR

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.

GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

The same dynamic has occurred the natn’s experienc wh the rights of gays and lbians, Kennedy said, referrg to his own opns strikg down a crimal ban on homosexual sodomy, overturng a state effort to bar lol protectns for gays, and validatg a feral law barrg feral benefs for married gay upl. The send sentence go further; would overri any existg lol and state level protectns and benefs for gay and lbian upl, or any other unmarried uple, cludg hospal visatn rights, herance rights, pensn benefs, and health surance among others.

While civil unns are a meangful step toward endg discrimatn agast gay and lbian upl, they fall short of te equaly by settg up a separate tegory of rights and protectns for gay and lbian upl. Gay and lbian upl long-term mted relatnships should not be nied legal rights pensns, health surance, hospal visatns, and herance that other long-term mted upl enjoy. The First Amendment protects the right of people of fah to anize themselv acrdg to their own beliefs and tradns, and no law regnizg marriage of lbian and gay upl will lim the eedom of religns to fe marriage as each se f.

Lawmakers this week said the legislatn is a direct rponse to a suggtn om Supreme Court Jtice Clarence Thomas last month that landmark Supreme Court cisns on same-sex marriage, sex between gay upl and the right to ntraceptn should be revised followg the urt’s reversal of Roe v. In a 2003 se that validated crimal penalti on homosexual sodomy, Jtice Anton Slia's bter dissent argued that the Court was settg the stage for exactly this rult.

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

Hodg, on the legaly of same-sex marriage the Uned Stat, is as breathtakg as is Fourteenth Amendment requir a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to regnize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed is, the lg that gay-marriage advot and opponents have been wag for sce April when the Court took up the se—but really, for years long before that. Remend ReadgThe Court’s opn—thored by Jtice Anthony Kennedy, a Catholic who has long been seen as the possible swg vote on gay marriage, joed by Jtic Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bar Gsburg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, and wh four separate dissents thored and joed by batns of Samuel Alo, John Roberts, Anton Slia, and Clarence Thomas—lists four major reasons for s cisn. ”But then, the cisn tak an tertg turn: The Court seems to flip the oft-ed reasong of same-sex marriage opponents, who claim that gay marriage is harmful to children and fai, and disptive to the longstandg orr of Amerin society.

But more importantly, for those gay upl that do want to have kids—cludg the many upl who adopt or have children g the geic material of one parent—that their unns are ls than marriage unr the law creat a “more difficult and uncerta fay life. ” Like his lleagu the majory, he lv to the history of marriage, even givg a nod to one of the favore arguments of gay-marriage opponents: that legalizg gay marriage is sentially a slippery slope.