Texas judge still fightg to ny weddg ceremoni to gay upl | The Texas Tribune

Contents:

• WHY GAY MARRIAGE IS SO CONTROVERSIAL AMERI
• GAY MARRIAGE NTROVERSY FOC ON CHILDREN
• GAY MARRIAGE
• IS GAY MARRIAGE A MORAL ISSUE OR A CIVIL LIBERTI ISSUE? - PT. 1
• TEXAS JUDGE WHO DON’T WANT TO PERFORM GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONI HOP WEB SIGNER’S SUPREME COURT SE HELPS HER FIGHT

WHY GAY MARRIAGE IS SO CONTROVERSIAL AMERI

While there is generally no nsens for or agast gay marriage other Wtern natns, the issue has far more polil importance Ameri, where is the object of an exceptnally tense a few U.

Stat are among the world's trailblazg jurisdictns regnizg gay marriage and gay rights, whereas the lears of var other stat would endorse the crimalizatn of homosexualy altogether, as is now the se much of the Third, after the Supreme Court held 2003 that nsensual sex between men uld not be crimalized, many social nservativ were appalled. "Many Amerins do not want persons who openly engage homosexual nduct as partners their bs, as sutmasters for their children, as teachers their children's schools, or as boarrs their home, " he other words, bis gay marriage, the unrlyg qutn of homosexualy is much more ntroversial Ameri than most other Wtern natns. Sixty percent of Amerins felt that homosexualy should be accepted by society, a far lower proportn than the people of Spa (91 percent), Germany (87 percent), France (86 percent), and Bra (81 percent).

Moreover, until "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) was recently repealed, Ameri stood alone the Wt ntug to ban gays om the ary, a policy characteristic of Third World, thorarian, and Islamist natns. That not only explas why women's reproductive rights like abortn and ntraceptn are exceptnally ntroversial nservative Ameri, but also why gay rights e such clash over gay rights is an extensn of the nflict between tradnal patriarchy and the more egalarian genr system of morn tim.

GAY MARRIAGE NTROVERSY FOC ON CHILDREN

Yet, the extraordary weight of Christian fundamentalism nservative Ameri exacerbat ncerns about sexual qutn of gay rights illtrat the great polarizatn between ntemporary liberal Ameri and nservative Ameri.

Lbian and gay muni, and the femist muni wh which they have historilly overlapped, have long celebrated the valu of sexual diversy over the sexual nformy reprented by marriage and the ethil importance of sexual straight-talkg rather than the double-standards so equently observed marriage’s vicy. It is large part bee of femist and gay novatns livg that marriage today is creasgly unrstood not as a relig but a social relatn; characterised not by male domatn but equaly and mutualy between the sex; valued not terms of s ntractual basis but terms of s ongog ntributn to a person’s sense of well-beg; and mataed not until ath-do--part but for as long as both parti fd satisfactn . Now this ragtag bunch might not seem as worthy of social protectn and prtige as the lovg, rg, long-term gay and lbian upl that are the shy new poster boys and girls for same-sex marriage.

GAY MARRIAGE

Supporters of same-sex marriage ntend that gay and lbian upl should be treated no differently than their heterosexual unterparts and that they should be able to marry like anyone else. They pot out, for stance, that homosexual upl who have been together for years often fd themselv whout the basic rights and privileg that are currently enjoyed by heterosexual upl who legally marry — om the sharg of health and pensn benefs to hospal visatn rights.

IS GAY MARRIAGE A MORAL ISSUE OR A CIVIL LIBERTI ISSUE? - PT. 1

Allowg gay and lbian upl to wed, they argue, will radilly refe marriage and further weaken at a time when the stutn is already ep trouble due to high divorce rat and the signifint number of out-of-wedlock births. The Catholic Church and evangelil Christian groups have played a leadg role public opposn to gay marriage, while male Prottant church and other relig groups wrtle wh whether to orda gay clergy and perform same-sex marriage ceremoni. Ined, the ordatn and marriage of gay persons has been a growg wedge between the socially liberal and nservative wgs of the Epispal and Prbyterian church, leadg some nservative ngregatns and even whole dc to break away om their natnal church.

However, a 2006 Pew survey found that sizable majori of whe male Prottants (66%), Catholics (63%) and those whout a relig affiliatn (78%) favor allowg homosexual upl to enter to civil unns that grant most of the legal rights of marriage whout the tle. Gay Amerins have been llg for the right to marry, or at least to create more formalized relatnships, sce the 1960s, but same-sex marriage has only emerged as a natnal issue the last 15 years. The spark that started the bate me om Hawaii 1993 when the state’s Supreme Court led that an existg law banng same-sex marriage would be unnstutnal unls the state ernment uld show that had a pellg reason for discrimatg agast gay and lbian upl.

TEXAS JUDGE WHO DON’T WANT TO PERFORM GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONI HOP WEB SIGNER’S SUPREME COURT SE HELPS HER FIGHT

Even though this cisn did not immediately lead to the legalizatn of gay marriage the state (the se was sent back to a lower urt for further nsiratn), did spark a natnwi backlash. Although the bate over gay marriage for a while seemed to fa om the public eye, the issue was sudnly and dramatilly tapulted back to the headl November 2003 when the hight state urt Massachetts led that the state’s nstutn guaranteed gay and lbian upl the right to marry.

To beg wh, all the marriage licens issued to gay upl outsi of Massachetts were later nullified sce none of the mayors and other officials volved had the thory to grant marriage licens to same-sex upl. His lg is beg appealed to the Supreme Court, which will hear oral arguments next Jefey Sutton's words have done ltle to quell the war of statistics and amic studi that has raged for years over the relative child-rearg skills of gay and straight of briefs submted to the urt ce sr of scientific studi on the subject. Those upl are three tim as likely to be raisg adopted or foster children: about 58, 000 are beg raised by about 27, 000 gay or lbian the lawsus that toppled gay-marriage bans om Alabama to Alaska were filed mostly by adults, judg have paid close attentn to the well-beg of children, both currently and if their parents eventually were allowed to marry.

"To the extent that children are better off fai which the parents are married, they are better off whether they are raised by their blogil parents or by adoptive parents, " Posner wrote last September for a unanimo three-judge of the s om Michigan, Oh, Kentucky and Tennsee that are nsolidated before the Supreme Court volve gay or lbian upl raisg children. Although some out for children gay hoeholds may be worse, he says, the sexual orientatn of the parents isn't the root median annual hoehold e of same-sex upl raisg mor children is more than 10% lower than for parable married heterosexual upl, Gat' brief to the Supreme Court says.