Abstract

The battle over same-sex marriage is raging in the United States today. Homosexuals in this country have been calling for the right to marry or form civil unions since the 1960's, but the current same-sex debate only really emerged in the United States over the past 20 years. The national debate began in 1993 in Hawaii. The evolution of the gay marriage debate in the U.S. has many different histories with multiple beginning points. The fight for marriage equality in the U.S. has evolved on a state-by-state level, with early activity focused on Hawaii.



Table of Contents

Abstracti

Introduction1

Discussion1

Public Opinion1

Proponents of Same-Sex Marriage5

Opponents of Same-Sex Marriage6

Religion and Homosexuality7

Conclusion8

Works Cited9

Same-Sex Marriage

Introduction

The battle over same-sex marriage is raging in the United States today. Homosexuals in this country have been calling for the right to marry or form civil unions since the 1960's, but the current same-sex debate only really emerged in the United States over the past 20 years. The national debate began in 1993 in Hawaii. That year the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that an existing state law banning same-sex marriage in the state was discriminatory, and the court threatened to rule it unconstitutional unless the state could provide a compelling reason for discriminating against gay and lesbian couples. The people of Hawaii responded in 1998 with the passage of a constitutional amendment giving the state legislature the power to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples, which resulted in the state's current law banning same-sex marriage.

Discussion

Considering the important role that popular referendum has played in the same-sex marriage debate in America, it seems that public opinion on the issue is the driving force behind the legalizing or banning of same-sex marriage in this country.

Public Opinion

Current public opinion polling on same-sex marriage confirms that the majority of Americans oppose same-sex marriage. Since 1996, the Pew Research Center has polled annually on the issue and each year opponents of legalizing same-sex marriage have consistently outnumbered supporters. The Pew Research Center in its 2009 study "Public Opinion on Gay Marriage" identifies political affiliation, age, and church attendance as linked to opinions about same-sex marriage. In terms of political affiliation, opposition to same-sex marriage is high, 77 percent, among those who describe themselves as Republicans with very few (17 percent) favoring same-sex marriage.

Democrats are more divided on the question, with half (50 percent) in favor and 41 percent opposed. Independents' views on gay marriage seem to mirror those of the national population: as a group independents support gay marriage by the same margin (54 percent to 35 percent) as Americans as a whole. In terms of age, those over the age of 65 oppose gay marriage by a margin of 64 percent to 24 percent, and those under age 30 are near evenly divided on the issue at 43 percent in favor and 45 percent opposed. The largest difference on the question of gay marriage occurred among religious groups. Among those attending religious services at least once a week, 69 percent oppose gay marriage, while of ...