Legality Of Same Sex Marriages! Essays - LGBT History, Free Essays

Legality Of Same Sex Marriages! Essays - LGBT History, Free Essays Legality Of Same Sex Marriages! INTRODUCTION The proposed legalization of same sex marriage is one of the most significant issues in contemporary American family law. Presently, it is one of the most vigorously advocated reforms discussed in law reviews, one of the most provocative issues. It could be one of the most revolutionary policy decisions in the history of American family law. The potential consequences, positive or negative, for children, parents, same-sex couples, families, social, structure public health, and the status of women are enormous. Given the importance of the issue, the value of comprehensive debate may be obvious. Marriage is much more than a commitment to love one another. Aside from societal and religious conventions, marriage entails legally imposed financial responsibility and legally authorized financial benefits. Marriage instantly provides a automatic legal succession of a deceased spouse's property, as well as pension and law, as well as promise in the eyes of the Lord, and their as well as to enjoy its benefits, should the law prohibit their request merely because they are of the same gender? I intend to prove that because of Article IV of the United States Constitution. there is no reason why the federal government nor any state government should restrict marriage to a predefined homosexual relationship? Marriage laws have changed throughout the years. In Western law, wives are now equal rather than subordinate partners; interracial marriage is now widely accepted, both in the statue and in society; and marital failure itself, rather than the fault of one partner, may be grounds in some states for a divorce. Societal changes have been felt in marriages over the past twenty-five years as divorce rates have increased. Proposals to legalize same-sex marriages or to enact broad domestic partnership laws are currently being promoted by gay and lesbian activists, especially in Europe and North America. The trend in western European nations during the past decade has been to some same-sex couples. For example, with in the past six years, three Scandinavian countries have enacted domestic partnership laws allowing same-sex couples in which at least one partner is a citizen of the specified country. Therefore allowing that homosexual marriages are given. In the Netherlands, the Parliament is considered domestic partnership status for same-sex couples, all the major political parties favor recognizing same-sex relations, and more than a dozen towns have already done so. Finland provides governmental social benefits to same-sex partners. Belgium allows gay prisoners the right to have a conjugal visits from same-sex partners. An overwhelming majority of European nations have granted partial legal status to homosexual relationships. In the United States, efforts to legalize same-sex domestic partnership have had some, limited success. The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. reported that by mid- 1995, thirty-six municipalities, eight countries, three states, five state agencies, and two federal agencies extended some benefits to, or registered for official purposes, same-sex partnerships. In 1994, the California legislature passed a domestic partnership bill that provided official state registration of same-sex couples and provided limited marital rights and privileges relating to hospital visitation, willis and estates, and powers of attorney. While California's Governor Wilson eventually vetoed the bill, its passage by the legislature represented a notable political achievement for advocates of the same-sex marriage have won a major judicial victory that could lead to the judicial legalization of the same-sex marriage or to legislation authorizing same-sex domestic partnership in that state. In 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court, in Baehr vs. Lewin, vacated a state circuit court judgment dismissing same-sex discrimination under the state constitution's Equal Protection Clause and Equal Rights Amendment. The above case began in 1991 when three same-sex couples who had been denied marriage licenses by the Hawaii Department of Health brought suit in state court against the director of the department. Hawaii law required couples wishing to marry to obtain a marriage license. While the marriage license law did not explicitly prohibit same-sex marriage at the time, it used terms of gender that the Hawaii marriage license law is unconstitutional, as it prohibits same-sex marriage and allows state officials to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples in account of the heterosexuality requirement. Baehr and her attorney sought their objectives entirely through state law, not only by filing