Should Gay Marriage Be Legal? 6 Pros and Cons

Contents:

• WISNS'S HIGH COURT UPHOLDS GAY-MARRIAGE BAN
• SAME-SEX UPL CHALLENGE WISNS'S GAY-MARRIAGE BAN
• GAY MARRIAGE LEGAL IN WISNS AFTER SCOTUS MOVE
• WISNS GAY MARRIAGE APPROVED BY U.S. JUDGE
• SUPREME COURT LEGALIZ GAY MARRIAGE WISNS
• GAY MARRIAGE
• STATE-BY-STATE HISTORY OF BANNG AND LEGALIZG GAY MARRIAGE
• SUPREME COURT LEGALIZ GAY MARRIAGE NATNWI
• SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?

WISNS'S HIGH COURT UPHOLDS GAY-MARRIAGE BAN

MILWAUKEE (Rters) - Four same-sex upl on Monday asked a feral judge Wisns to overturn the state’s nstutnal ban on gay marriage, the latt a seri of urt challeng aimed at makg same-sex marriage legal around the Uned Stat. REUTERS/Stephen LamThe upl sug Wisns said an amendment to the state nstutn banng gay marriage and civil unns, approved by Wisns voters 2006, unnstutnally blocks them om feral protectns afford upl other lawsu follows high-profile U.

SAME-SEX UPL CHALLENGE WISNS'S GAY-MARRIAGE BAN

Supreme Court lgs on gay marriage last year that paved the way for gay marriage to rume California and stck down the Defense of Marriage Act, a feral law that nied feral benefs to legally married same-sex Supreme Court’s lg on the Defense of Marriage Act was ced by feral judg overturng bans Utah and Oklahoma, whose lgs are on appeal. “The state’s nstutnal marriage ban sends a msage that lbians, gay men and their children are viewed as send-class cizens, ” the ACLU said a lawsu nam Wisns Governor Stt Walker, a Republin, and other state and lol officials as fendants their official pacy. Seventeen stat pl the District of Columbia now regnize same-sex marriage, cludg eight stat where beme legal marriage is legal neighborg Mnota and Iowa and legislatn makg gay marriage legal Illois tak effect on June 1, though some marriag have been performed Illois on an emergency stat ban gay upl om marryg by state nstutnal amendment, statute or both.

In Indiana, where gay marriage is banned by statute, lawmakers are nsirg puttg a proposed state nstutnal amendment banng same-sex marriage before voters November. WASHINGTON (AP/WCCO) — The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for an immediate expansn of same-sex marriage by unexpectedly and tersely turng away appeals om five stat seekg to prohib gay and lbian unns.

GAY MARRIAGE LEGAL IN WISNS AFTER SCOTUS MOVE

Judg the Ccnati-based 6th Circu who are weighg pro-gay marriage lgs Kentucky, Michigan, Oh and Tennsee, appeared more likely to le favor of state bans than did the 9th Circu judg San Francis, who are nsirg Idaho and Nevada rtrictns on marriage.

'I feel good about my state a way I haven't before': gay newlywedSame-sex upl began gettg married Wisns on Friday shortly after a feral judge stck down the state's gay marriage ban spe nfn over the effect of the Madison and Milwkee began issug marriage licens to same-sex upl shortly after 5 p. "- Andrew Warner, mister and newlywedIn Milwkee, Jose Fernando Gutierrez and Matthew Schreck married outsi the unty clerk's office what was possibly the first gay marriage the state. "It fely matters to to have nfince that our relatnship will be rpected, " Williams uld be falized next weekIn her lg, Crabb clared the gay marriage ban unnstutnal.

Attorney Larry Dupuis, who reprented the upl who sued, said the ACLU would rpond to Crabb next week, and he expected her to then issue an orr for the state to allow amend the Wisns Constutn 2006 to outlaw gay marriage or anythg substantially siar.

WISNS GAY MARRIAGE APPROVED BY U.S. JUDGE

'This se is about liberty': judge's lgGay rights activists have won 15 nsecutive lower urt s sce a landmark Supreme Court lg last summer, wh Wisns beg the latt. "My plan is to issue marriage licens to everyone — same-sex, oppose-sex — immediately, " Milwkee County Clerk Joseph Czarnezki office and others had extend their hours June so that upl uld marry before Judge Barbara Crabb's cisn legalizg gay marriage was put on hold. "There's very ltle chance that this uld be overturned, unls we have a circu urt say somewhere that gay marriage isn't legal, and the Supreme Court cis to hear that se, " he said, addg, "I thk people n take their time and rt assured that this will be the law throughout the untry.

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.

SUPREME COURT LEGALIZ GAY MARRIAGE WISNS

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.

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

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.

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. Progrsive members of the Legislature, like those of here Dane County, support gay marriage bee is simply a matter of fairns and equaly.

STATE-BY-STATE HISTORY OF BANNG AND LEGALIZG GAY MARRIAGE

Comparg that evolutn to society's views of gays and lbians, Kennedy noted that for years, "a tthful claratn by same-sex upl of what was their hearts had to rema unspoken. Together, they volve a dozen upl who challenged same-sex marriage bans Oh, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennsee — the only stat wh bans on marriage between gay and lbian upl that had been staed by a feral appeals urt.

Before Friday's lg, gay marriage had already been ma legal 37 stat and the District of Columbia — by eher legislative or voter actn or by feral urts that overturned state' bans. As NPR's Na Totenberg reported when the Supreme Court heard the current se back April, nservative jtic had poted qutns for the attorneys: "Jtice Slia asked whether misters would be able to refe to marry two gay men. The urt noted the change thkg, statg: "Well to the 20th century, many Stat nmned same-sex timacy as immoral, and homosexualy was treated as an illns.

SUPREME COURT LEGALIZ GAY MARRIAGE NATNWI

3, 2015, the Alabama Supreme Court orred the state’s 68 probate judg to stop issug marriage licens to same-sex upl, spe an earlier feral urt lg that stck down the state’s gay marriage ban, and the US Supreme Court’s cisn to allow same-sex marriag to proceed the state. The Supreme Court effectively halted gay marriag om takg place, however, by notg that while Judge Piazza’s lg had stck down both the nstutnal amendment and the state law, had not affected an addnal state law prohibg unty clerks om issug same-sex marriage licens. On May 15, 2014, Judge Piazza expand his lg to strike down the addnal law and any other measur that ma gay marriage illegal, but on May 16, 2014 the State Supreme Court spend that lg, haltg all gay marriag wh the state.

SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?

6, 2014, a three-judge panel of the Sixth US Circu Court of Appeals overturned Judge Heyburn’s lg 2-1, th upholdg the state’s gay marriage ban. 16, 2015, Frankl County Circu Judge Thomas Wgate led the state’s gay marriage ban unnstutnal, but put his lg on hold, pendg the Supreme Court’s cisn.

6, 2014, a three-judge panel of the Sixth US Circu Court of Appeals overturned Judge Friedman’s lg 2-1, th upholdg the state’s gay marriage ban. 2, 2015, US District Judge Joseph Bataillon clared Nebraska’s gay marriage ban unnstutnal, scribg as an “unabashedly genr-specific gement of the equal rights of s cizens. 12, 2015, US District Judge Karen Schreier led South Dakota’s gay marriage ban unnstutnal, statg that “Platiffs have a fundamental right to marry… South Dakota law priv them of that right solely bee they are same-sex upl and whout sufficient jtifitn.