This is the last paper that I had time to write at Ashley Hall. Mind you they didn't like it too much....
Many Americans have heard of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) since it has been the subject of many public debates. View points range from those that support DOMA at the expense of homosexual rights, to those that protest DOMA in favor of protective gay rights. These conflicting views are the result of a more personal issue: morals. While both sides have won battles, the war for homosexual rights is far from over. DOMA, and other local laws like it, are unconstitutional because they discriminate against homosexual Americans.
There are many different positions on the issue of gay civil rights movement that vary from very positive to very negative. Eskridge has this to say, "Perhaps the best reason is the most conservative: same-sex marriage would lessen alienation between gay and straight America and allow lesbian and gay couples to embrace family values" (n. pag.). The general public, however, has a different view. According to a TIME/CNN poll sixty-nine percent of Americans think that gay marriages should not be made legal, and seventy-five percent think that gays and lesbians should not be able to adopt children (Isaacson n. pag.). Bob Barr believes that homosexuals will "...force their misguided views on innocent children..." and use the adoption process to help them gain political ground. Barr also believes that "Forcing a state to give children in its care to homosexual parents is nothing more than a frontal attack on the traditional American family unit" (Barr Calls n. pag.). At the 1996 Republican convention "...the red menace [communism] was no longer in play, so the lavender menace [homosexuality] took its place" (Republicans n. pag.). Despite all of the controversy surrounding this issue, activists still maintain their position and continue trying to gain support.
The gay rights movement can be compared to other civil rights movements, because they all have one thing in common. Discrimination throughout the ages can easily be broken down in to an 'us' verses 'them' pattern: white verses minorities, democracy verses communism, and so on (Republicans n. pag.). In addition to the "very public comings-out that get documented in the media, there's been a quieter movement, that of neighbors and co-workers and siblings and grandmothers, telling the people around them that they are gay" (Republicans n. pag.). Michelangelo Signorile said in an article in Out magazine that activists aim: "to fight for same-sex marriage...and then, once granted, redefine the institution of marriage completely, to demand the right to marry not as a way of adhering to society's moral codes but rather to debunk a myth and radically alter an archaic institution that as it now stands keeps us down. The most subversive action lesbians and gay men can undertake -- and one that would perhaps benefit all of society -- is to transform the notion of 'family' entirely" (qtd. in Knight n. pag.). As activists continue to make progress toward equal rights and as the movement grows, so does the number of legal battles surrounding the movement.
Other nations are ahead of the United States in deciding on gay rights issues. According to Drexel, "In 1989, Denmark became the first nation to allow civil marriage between homosexuals" (362-363). In the United States, "no federal law has been enacted to include sexual orientation as a protected civil right" (Knight n. pag.). There are nine states that have adopted, and other states still in the process of adopting, legislation to stop their courts from letting same-sex marriages have full faith and credit. The last time such a large number of states declined to recognize marriage from other states was when the Southern states refused to give full faith and credit to different-race marriages (Eskridge n. pag.). It is this comparison between same-sex relationships and inter-racial relationships that gives activists some hope for the future. They hope that the acceptance of inter-racial relationships will lead to the eventual acceptance of same-sex relationships.
Currently, there are many ideas on how to make legalized gay marriages easier to accept by the general public. Out of America's 91 million households, 2.6 million are unmarried couples of the opposite sex, and 1.6 million are unmarried couples of the same sex (Isaacson n. pag.). Isaacson recognizes that "...the spread of AIDS has raised the importance for gays of medical, bereavement-leave polices, pension rules, hospital visitation rights, and laws giving family members the authority to make medical decisions and arrangements" (n. pag.). Only six cities offer bereavement leave, and only three cities offer health benefits for domestic partners (Isaacson n. pag.). Domestic partner benefits don't only effect homosexual Americans, only forty percent of those that would qualify as domestic partners are gay (Isaacson n. pag.). In addition to domestic partner polices; the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) has been suggested by Sen. Ted Kennedy, a democrat from Massachusetts (Knight n. pag.). The ENDA would have required all the United States employers, with fifteen or more employees, to add 'sexual orientation' to nondiscrimination policies (Knight n. pag.). In September 1996, however, the ENDA was defeated fifty to forty-nine (Knight n. pag.). In addition to the ENDA's defeat, activists have also had other legal downfalls to attempt to counter-act.
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is considered by many activists to be the greatest set back to the gay movement. Proposed in September 1996, DOMA has been the subject of many conversations (Knight n. pag.). Bob Dole and Bob Barr consider same-sex marriages to be 'immoral' (Eskridge n. pag.). Dole and Barr also argue that allowing same-sex marriages would destroy the 'traditional family', although "only 27% of U.S. households consist of two parents with children, down from 40% in 1970" (Isaacson n. pag.). Eskridge believes that "If the sponsors of DOMA really wanted to defend marriage, they would seek to negate full faith and credit for Nevada divorces (a legal threat to marriage currently in place), not for Hawaii same-sex marriages (a future scenario that poses only a hypothetical threat)" (n. pag.). Despite this fact, DOMA was passed and signed.
The constitution states that all men are created equal. DOMA, as well as other laws, go against this. According to these laws, homosexual Americans are less human than their heterosexual neighbors. Not only does this discriminate, but it also goes against the constitutional rights of homosexual Americans. The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, now we must learn to live by what we preach.
"Barr Calls Homosexual Adoption Attack on Traditional Families". Capitol Hill Press Releases. 17 Dec. 1997. Electronic Library. Online. 12 Feb. 1998.
Drexel, John. The Facts On File: Encyclopedia of the 20th Century. New York: Facts On File, 1991.
Eskridge, William. The New Republic. 17 Jun. 1996. Electronic Library. Online. 11 Feb. 1998.
Isaacson, Walter. Ethics: Should Gays Have Marriage Rights? On two coasts, the growing debate produces two different answers. 20 Nov. 1989. Electronic Library. Online. 11 Feb. 1998.
Knight, Robert H. "The Homosexual Surge" The World & I. 1 Apr. 1997. Electronic Library. Online. 11 Feb. 1998.
"Republicans Largely Silent on Gay and Lesbian Americans." All Things Considered. Natl. Public Radio. 16 Aug. 1996. Electronic Library. Online. 12 Feb. 1998.
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