Gay Marriage - DOMA, 14th Amendment & Supreme Court | HISTORY

Contents:

• GAY MARRIAGE
• WHAT IS THE STATE OF GAY MARRIAGE THE US?
• FERALISM TODAY: GAY MARRIAGE THE STAT
• SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?
• SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE RIGHTS BE A STATE OR FERAL LAW?

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.

WHAT IS THE STATE OF GAY MARRIAGE THE US?

He said, but that uld happen — uld happen that a mister would be forced to marry two gay men, vlatn of his beliefs. 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. Qutns about the legal treatment of gays and lbians soon reached the urts, where they uld be discsed the formal disurse of the law.

Many gay rights advot had helped raise money for Obama’s mpaign hopg he would brg about the equaly they’re searchg for. He had stated that “Our journey is not plete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else unr the law — for if we are tly created equal, then surely the love we m to one another mt be equal as well. It wouldn’t be fair for the feral ernment to hand out the benefs to gay upl New York and ny them to gay upl Pennsylvania simply based on what the state has cid.

So for a gay uple to get the mted “marriage” they are seekg, along wh all of the benefs, their only optn would be to live and work those ne stat. The Uned Stat claims to be a natn of eedom and mocracy, so where’s the eedom if gays are only ee ls than one fifth of the untry?

FERALISM TODAY: GAY MARRIAGE THE STAT

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. They clud Judh Kasen-Wdsor, widow of gay rights activist Edie Wdsor; Matthew Hayn, -owner of Club Q, the LGBTQ club Colorado Sprgs where a gunman last month killed five people a mass shootg; Club Q shootg survivors Jam Slgh and Michael Anrson; and a number of platiffs om s that culmated the landmark civil rights se Obergefell vs.

SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?

Philanthropist and Democratic donor David Boht, who has been an outspoken gay- and transgenr-rights activist and longtime supporter of Bin, told CNN that Tuday’s bill signg uld not e at a more ccial moment. “[Bin] has monstrated his support for s for lbian and gay civil rights, and Tuday’s signg to law is a reaffirmatn of that durg this time when rights are unr asslt, ” Boht said.

It also says the feral ernment do not regnize same sex marriag, blockg same sex spo om receivg the numero feral benefs their heterosexual unterparts are eligible urt will also weigh on Proposn 8, California's voter-passed state referendum that overturned the judicial lg makg same-sex legal the urt cis both s uld be watershed moments for gay rights activists; the cisns will almost certaly effect what role stat n play regnizg same sex 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.

SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE RIGHTS BE A STATE OR FERAL LAW?

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.