In 1996 former President Bill Clinton enacted the "Defense of Marriage Act". This piece of legislation has two jobs: first to ensure that no state shall be required to give effect to the law of any other state with respect to same-sex marriage. Secondly, it defines the words "marriage" and "spouse" for the Federal law (Defense of Marriage Act). In short this act made it so that the States could decide whether they would allow gay marriages or not. Also, it defines marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman as a husband and a wife. A sound was defined as a husband or a wife of the opposite sex.
Several cities and states have adopted the "domestic partner" law. This gives same-sex couples some of the benefits of a husband and wife marriage without actually being married. (So you want to know about gay marriage) In 1999 there was a breakthrough Supreme Court case; Baker v. State of Vermont. This case stated that "the state is constitutionally required to extend to the same-sex couples the common benefits and protections that flow from marriage under Vermont law. (So you want to know about gay marriage) Today there are many people who are fighting to get homosexuals the rights and privileges they deserve. There are campaigns, meetings, marches, etc. and the people participating in these events will not fade, they will only grow. Human Rights Campaign held a survey in America to see their stance on gay rights. 51% of citizens said they support allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions and to receive the same basic legal rights as married couples. 52% opposed amending the Constitution. According to a Gallup Poll, 60% of Americans support giving homosexuals the same rights as a married couple, regarding health care and Social Security benefits. Also, the poll found that Catholics were, surprisingly, split down the middle, 48% for and 48% against equal rights. In addition, in past polls, 90% have shown that they support hospital visitation rights and 66% support inheritance rights (Oppose the Discriminatory "Federal Anti-Marriage Amendment"). Progress is slowly coming around, as of today, there are 30,000 legal homosexual marriages in the world and the number is growing. And shockingly, San Francisco is only third on the list with 3955 marriages. The majority of the marriages took place in Canada. However, the marriages that took place in the United States were held in a few day spans when gay marriage was legal and were later voted void by the Supreme Court (Hanson). Gay marriage supporters are all waiting patiently for gay couples to stand out and go against the grain. (Oppose the Discriminatory "Federal Anti-Marriage Amendment").
1. Intro
2. Unnatural
a. Interracial marriages
3. Gay people in public
a. You do not know people around you.
b. No physical harm
c. Permission
4. Amendment
a. Bush
b. Violations
c. History of amendments
d. What the amendment involves
5. Pro-family
6. Adoption
a. One parent concept
7. Extremists
a. Religious
b. Homophobes
c. Republicans
1. Benefits
8. History
a. Clinton and the "Defense of Marriage Act"
b. Domestic Partner Law
c. Baker v. State of Vermont
9. Progress
a. Statistics
b. Marriages
10. Closing
"Defense of Marriage Act" Lectric Law Library. 1996. 12/09/04 http://www.lectlaw.com/files/leg23.htm. "Gay Rights". Speakout.com 12/09/04 http://speakout.com/activism/gayrights/.
"Hanson". Room 321 12/16/04
"On the Issues". On the Issues. 12/09/04 http://www.issues2000.org/George_W__Bush.htm#Gay_Rights. "Oppose the Discriminatory Federal Anti-Marriage Amendment'". Human Rights Campaign. 12/09/04 http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Federal_Constitutional_Marriage_Amendment&CONTENTID=20767&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm. "So You Wanna Know About Gay Marriage". Soyouwant to
.com. 12/09/04 http://soyouwant to
.com/site/pros_cons/gaymarriage/gaymarriage.html.
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