Marriage has been a widely debated topic throughout the centuries. The definition of marriage has been defined by presidents, teachers, doctors, religious men, psychologists and philosophers. According to the 2015 revised Merriam-Webster dictionary marriage is defined as “the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law [and] the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage” (“Marriage.”). In the film Love Story the main characters, Oliver and Jenny, fall in love and decide to marry soon afterwards. Oliver is a wealthy Harvard Law School student while Jenny is a poor Radcliffe University student.
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Virginia case that made it illegal for states to ban interracial marriages. Now that interracial couples were given this right, gay couples wanted the same rights. All throughout the United States homosexuals tried to gain this right but everywhere they tried, they would get stumped. In 1972 during Baker v. Nelson marriage rights were denied to gays in Minnesota while in Georgia during the 1986 case of Bowers v. Hardwick homosexual sodomy was banned. On the Pacific coast in Hawaii a state constitutional amendment was passed banning the union between homosexuals (Wolf). To make matters worse for the gay couples in 1996 President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, also known as the DOMA, defined marriage to be between a man and a woman and allowed states to refuse the recognition of same sex marriages (“United…”). This ruling caused more than 1,000 federal laws about marriage to become inapplicable to gay couples. These laws not only took away the dignity and equality of gay families but also denied basic human rights (Boonin). During this time period support of gay marriage was at a mere 27% (Smith, …show more content…
would answer this issue (Cintron). At first the legal movement began to lose and in many cases the state decided to fully ban the marriages from occurring. The interesting point of this is that most states where it was banned came from a ballot vote and not courts and legislatures. There is more of an acceptance of the marriage rights by those in the government, especially democrats, than the average American. The opposition to this comes from religious reasoning in the sense that gay couples undermine what marriage is (Smith, P). One noticeable opposition from religions that is changing is that of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 refers to homosexuality as “A strong tendency ordered towards an intrinsic moral evil” and an “Objective disorder” (Donadio). But according to the New York Times, Pope Francis says that homosexuals should be treated with dignity and that the only problem he sees is that they are making a lobby of it. He was the first pope to speak and say the term “gay”. On a plane ride from Brazil Pope Francis stated that “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” (Donadio). Although opposition is high, slowly states began to pass laws that made the marriage legal starting with New England and moving towards California. The next major milestone in the gay rights movement occurred in June of the year 2013 during the
Virginia case that made it illegal for states to ban interracial marriages. Now that interracial couples were given this right, gay couples wanted the same rights. All throughout the United States homosexuals tried to gain this right but everywhere they tried, they would get stumped. In 1972 during Baker v. Nelson marriage rights were denied to gays in Minnesota while in Georgia during the 1986 case of Bowers v. Hardwick homosexual sodomy was banned. On the Pacific coast in Hawaii a state constitutional amendment was passed banning the union between homosexuals (Wolf). To make matters worse for the gay couples in 1996 President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, also known as the DOMA, defined marriage to be between a man and a woman and allowed states to refuse the recognition of same sex marriages (“United…”). This ruling caused more than 1,000 federal laws about marriage to become inapplicable to gay couples. These laws not only took away the dignity and equality of gay families but also denied basic human rights (Boonin). During this time period support of gay marriage was at a mere 27% (Smith, …show more content…
would answer this issue (Cintron). At first the legal movement began to lose and in many cases the state decided to fully ban the marriages from occurring. The interesting point of this is that most states where it was banned came from a ballot vote and not courts and legislatures. There is more of an acceptance of the marriage rights by those in the government, especially democrats, than the average American. The opposition to this comes from religious reasoning in the sense that gay couples undermine what marriage is (Smith, P). One noticeable opposition from religions that is changing is that of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 refers to homosexuality as “A strong tendency ordered towards an intrinsic moral evil” and an “Objective disorder” (Donadio). But according to the New York Times, Pope Francis says that homosexuals should be treated with dignity and that the only problem he sees is that they are making a lobby of it. He was the first pope to speak and say the term “gay”. On a plane ride from Brazil Pope Francis stated that “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” (Donadio). Although opposition is high, slowly states began to pass laws that made the marriage legal starting with New England and moving towards California. The next major milestone in the gay rights movement occurred in June of the year 2013 during the