Why the battle for gay marriage was won so easily - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• GAY MARRIAGE
• TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE
• WHY SCOTUS HEARG GAY MARRIAGE S IS SUCH A BIG AL
• WHY THE BATTLE FOR GAY MARRIAGE WAS WON SO EASILY

GAY MARRIAGE

From strikg down a Texas law that crimalised "sodomy" to legalisg gay marriage across the natn, the directn of US jurispnce seemed was before Jtice Anthony Kennedy, the thor of several of those landmark cisns, retired and Donald Tmp, wh two appotments, gave the urt a cidly more nservative bent. There was some ncern among LGBT advot that the newly posed urt would e this year's two high-profile gay and transgenr rights s to take the natn a different ncerns proved unfound. While the urt is tablishg a long history of cisns expandg gay rights, this is the first time spoke directly about the legal protectns for transgenr dividuals.

The fai and iends of lbian and gay upl who are nied marriage rights may also experience negative physil and mental health nsequenc siar to those experienced by their loved on. The vast majory of scientific studi that have directly pared lbian and gay parents wh heterosexual parents have nsistently shown that the same-sex upl are as f and pable parents as heterosexual upl, and that their children are jt as psychologilly healthy and well adjted.

TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE

For stance, 45% of adults the Silent Generatn (those born between 1928 and 1945) favor allowg gays and lbians to wed, pared wh 74% of Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996). 4As wh the general public, Amerins who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (LGBT) are most likely to ce love as a very important reason for gettg married. Sce then, several other European untri – cludg England and Wal, France, Ireland, all of Sndavia, Spa and, most recently, Atria, Germany and Malta – have legalized gay marriage.

(RNS) — If the wily teemed Eugene Peterson were still pastorg today and a gay uple his church who were “Christians of good fah” asked him to pri at their weddg, would he do ?

Matthew V, thor of “God and the Gay Christian” and foundg executive director of The Reformatn Project, agre that for nservative Christians there never has been a middle ground on LGBT cln. Ghee poted to one project he was workg on that he was told was shot down by publishers bee LifeWay would never rry given his support of gay marriage and LGBT Christians. Pl, there are only about five vers the Bible that mentn homosexualy, Lawrence said, pared wh hundreds of passag about “re for the poor, jtice for all persons, welg the stranger” and other topics that don’t mand the same energy and fancial support.

WHY SCOTUS HEARG GAY MARRIAGE S IS SUCH A BIG AL

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.

WHY THE BATTLE FOR GAY MARRIAGE WAS WON SO EASILY

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. 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.