Gay Marriage and its Legality

supreme-courtOn December 7, 2012, the Supreme Court came into the arena of gay rights when it agreed to review two cases regarding this issue. The first case focused on the the Defense of Marriage Act, otherwise known as DOMA. This federal law prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages as an institution. The second case focused on Proposition 8, a ballot initiative approved by the voters of California that called for the state constitution to be amended to include a clause about banning gay marriage. The caseĀ focused onĀ the appeal of this ban.

The fight toward gay’s rights has been a long winded journey filled with progress and disappointments. The idea of gay marriage being a valid institution of marriage has been met with conflict in the courthouse for over 20 years, and in the minds of Americans far before that. The issue of gay marriage has occurred all over the country is state courts, including Hawaii, California, Maryland, and New Jersey but so far, one of the most significant cases occurred in the state court of Massachusetts. In this case, the judge ruled that the constitution for the state of Massachusetts gave gays and lesbians the right to marry.

gay_rights_sign_by_The_EnablerWhile these states were able to settle their cases, the DOMA case and Proposition 8 case were taken to the federal courts where the country was brought in to decide upon this imperative issue. The purpose of having these cases over the issue of gay marriage is to settle the age-old question of: Is the Constitution accepting of gay marriage and will it be recognized to the same degree as a different sex marriage? While the first case in this article, DOMA, involved the dispute over the discrimination against of a minority, the gay and lesbian minority, the second case focuses on Proposition 8, which involves a state decision to prevent gay and lesbian couples from having to the right to marry in California. Out of the two cases, Proposition 8 may bring about more attention towards the issue of whether or not the Constitution will be amended or interpreted in a way that would allow for the legality of same sex marriage.

After trying both cases, the DOMA case has been moved for a review in March 2013 and will be decided by June 2013. One of the reasons that this review is needed is because, unlike Proposition 8, which particularly deals with California itself, DOMA deals with the entire country and therefore a proper protocol must be established so all of the states must practice this law the same way. Regardless, there have been several strides made in the area of gay rights. States like New York, Connecticut, and Vermont would not allow gay couples living together to be recognized as a married couple under the federal law. The progress with gay rights has been a dramatic one considering the fact that there was once a time where gays were not even allowed to come out of the closet without fear of being ridiculed by their peers. We should embrace this change for the chance of a more enlightened future.