Individual’s opinions shaped and changed gay marriage legalization because without others opinions, the topic would not have reached the federal eye. Many opinions arose throughout the course for marriage equality. The main idea that guided the topic was being for gay marriage. This group believed that everyone should be offered equal marriage rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. They also wanted the same benefits as heterosexual couples, like Social Security. Another opinion was the opposition of gay marriage. These people believed that gay marriage disrupted religious beliefs because the bible stated that only a man and a woman could marry. People against same sex marriage also stated that a couple can only have sex if their intentions are to have a baby, but because same sex couples cannot do this, they are sinful. However, many shifted their opinion as the fight continued. According to a recent polling survey, in the year of 2003, 55% of the majority of American’s believed that same-sex couples should not be recognized under the law. In the same year only 37% of the majority believed that same-sex couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples. In the year of 2013, the public’s belief had changed drastically. Now, 58% of the majority stated that they now supported gay marriage (“ABC News”). In 10 years, more than half of the population had changed their opinion on the topic. As the …show more content…
Furthermore, without people’s opinions shifting, there would have been no pressure on the federal government to change their marriage laws. With people’s opinions, came the need to change federal government laws. However, there was a long process to get even the first state legalization of same-sex marriage.
The beginning of government change began in 1993 when a case in Hawaii was brought forth saying that the state 's refusal of handing out marriage licenses in Hawaii broke the right of equal treatment. Hawaii then began handing out same sex licenses and caught the public 's eye. Since there were still many American’s who disagreed on same-sex marriage, they became frantic that same-sex couples would go to Hawaii to marry. In order to be certain this did not occur, Congress passed an act called The Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. This act stated that same-sex marriage would not have to be recognized in other states if their laws did not approve of it. The act also said that same-sex marriage would not be