Marriage. It is traditionally defined by many as the social institution of bringing together a man and woman in special forms of dependence for the purpose of maintaining families. The presence of same-sex marriage has been an undesired topic by many, but has recently gained a larger presence in modern society through protests, marches, and the legalization of same-sex marriage in all fifty states. However, some question if same-sex rights are indeed civil rights due to definitions and literature; I believe the question could be simply answered as, “yes.”
The civil rights movement for same-sex individuals goes back many decades. These rights include but are not limited to: employment, housing and public accommodation. In some states these rights are allowed to be legally discriminated against. To be exact, in twenty-two states there are laws for non-discrimination. This means that before same-sex marriage was legalized in every state of the United States, it was legal for homosexuals to marry but also for a workplace to fire someone for being homosexual in certain states. There are already non-discrimination laws today that “include things like race, age, religion and disability.” (Brown) The ultimate priority right now and in the future is to add sexual orientation to that list of groups. Without guaranteeing that civil right to homosexuals it seems that we are just suppressing another large group that wants to make it farther in this world. There is much history to the movement of same-sex individuals. It seems that it all really began on May 18, 1970. On this day two students from the University of Minnesota applied for a marriage license and were denied because they were both men. After going to the state’s supreme court and the United State’s Supreme Court, they were again denied their right to marriage (Gay Marriage). The court case rulings of Baker-McConnell have been used in many other cases, and the ruling had included the idea of marriage being connected back to the book of Genesis in the Bible. Then, seventeen years later on October 10th, 1987 in Washington, D.C. there was a mass marriage of more than two-thousand individuals. However, in 1996 President Clinton signs the “Defense of Marriage Act”. This law defines marriage as being between one man and one woman, and ended up affecting more than a thousand laws determining who is eligible for federal benefits, rights, and privileges. By making a federal law that actually makes it difficult to render who is eligible for what federal benefits, it should be seen that the system is entirely too complicated and is attempting to make it more difficult for same-sex marriage and lesbian-gay-bi-transexual (LGBT) rights to come about and cause change. There are reasons that people stand to be against the idea of same-sex marriage and those reasons could be for what the traditional idea of marriage means, and of course, the Bible. People turn towards religion in times of need, and some take the text very seriously. In Timothy 1:10 it states, “for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality" (The English Standard Version, Tim. 1.10) Bible verses like these simply show that people stand by the Bible in order to bring an argument that love should be between man and woman and where marriage is the uniting of man and woman. Even though everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, times are changing. With time, words and their definitions change as well. The English language develops, making more words as each day goes on and creating new definitions for those words to abide by. So, if the word marriage which is currently defined as, “a social institution that unites a man and woman” was changed to define it as, “a social institution that unites a man or woman, or a couple of the same-sex.” …show more content…
Even though it is a topic that is undesired by approximately less than half of the population, it has gained a larger presence in society through protests, marches, and the legalization of same-sex marriage in all fifty states. After much expression, analysis, and reasoning one could finally realize that questioning whether or not same-sex rights are technically civil rights due to various definitions and literature can be simply worded with the answer of,
The civil rights movement for same-sex individuals goes back many decades. These rights include but are not limited to: employment, housing and public accommodation. In some states these rights are allowed to be legally discriminated against. To be exact, in twenty-two states there are laws for non-discrimination. This means that before same-sex marriage was legalized in every state of the United States, it was legal for homosexuals to marry but also for a workplace to fire someone for being homosexual in certain states. There are already non-discrimination laws today that “include things like race, age, religion and disability.” (Brown) The ultimate priority right now and in the future is to add sexual orientation to that list of groups. Without guaranteeing that civil right to homosexuals it seems that we are just suppressing another large group that wants to make it farther in this world. There is much history to the movement of same-sex individuals. It seems that it all really began on May 18, 1970. On this day two students from the University of Minnesota applied for a marriage license and were denied because they were both men. After going to the state’s supreme court and the United State’s Supreme Court, they were again denied their right to marriage (Gay Marriage). The court case rulings of Baker-McConnell have been used in many other cases, and the ruling had included the idea of marriage being connected back to the book of Genesis in the Bible. Then, seventeen years later on October 10th, 1987 in Washington, D.C. there was a mass marriage of more than two-thousand individuals. However, in 1996 President Clinton signs the “Defense of Marriage Act”. This law defines marriage as being between one man and one woman, and ended up affecting more than a thousand laws determining who is eligible for federal benefits, rights, and privileges. By making a federal law that actually makes it difficult to render who is eligible for what federal benefits, it should be seen that the system is entirely too complicated and is attempting to make it more difficult for same-sex marriage and lesbian-gay-bi-transexual (LGBT) rights to come about and cause change. There are reasons that people stand to be against the idea of same-sex marriage and those reasons could be for what the traditional idea of marriage means, and of course, the Bible. People turn towards religion in times of need, and some take the text very seriously. In Timothy 1:10 it states, “for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality" (The English Standard Version, Tim. 1.10) Bible verses like these simply show that people stand by the Bible in order to bring an argument that love should be between man and woman and where marriage is the uniting of man and woman. Even though everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, times are changing. With time, words and their definitions change as well. The English language develops, making more words as each day goes on and creating new definitions for those words to abide by. So, if the word marriage which is currently defined as, “a social institution that unites a man and woman” was changed to define it as, “a social institution that unites a man or woman, or a couple of the same-sex.” …show more content…
Even though it is a topic that is undesired by approximately less than half of the population, it has gained a larger presence in society through protests, marches, and the legalization of same-sex marriage in all fifty states. After much expression, analysis, and reasoning one could finally realize that questioning whether or not same-sex rights are technically civil rights due to various definitions and literature can be simply worded with the answer of,