Consequences of Gay Marriages Already Here, Article Review Example

Opinion Based Analysis of the Challenges of the Constitutionality of Proposition 8

This article, Consequences of Gay Marriages Already Here redefines the definition of traditional marriage. Charles LiMandri, author, is general counsel for the National Organization for Marriage – California.  Efforts to legalize gay marriage in California have given gay couples the highest protection under the law where any actions against such marriages can automatically be termed as discrimination or infringements of civil rights. Gay rights have already taken precedent over religious rights as seen in New Jersey last year when a United Methodist Church was selected as a place for a double lesbian wedding. The Methodist Church stated that it reserved the right to use the church for activities in keeping with its religious beliefs. When the lesbian couples complained to the state of New Jersey, their rights were honoured over the rights of the church.

In connection with Consequences of Gay Marriages Already Here the article it’s About Treating Every Couple the same is about expressing the equal right of gay couples to those of bi-gendered couples with respect to marriage rights. Harry Mathis, author, is a retired Navy captain and former nuclear submarine commander. He and his lovely wife Mary have lived in the San Diego area for nearly 38 years. He goes beyond the political expressions and legislative rights of gay couples and expresses personal views from a father and mother’s perspective of the struggles as well as happy times associated with having a family member, especially a daughter who has chosen to have a long-term gay relationship that has led to a gay marriage. He further proposes that support of ‘Proposition 8’ would deny fundamental basic human rights to his daughter and deny her happiness.

Mathis states that his daughter is an ordinary person with a 16 year old relationship with a lesbian partner who married three years ago in San Francisco and Proposition 8 would take away her fundamental rights that have already been given to her.  His daughter is very happy and stable, pays taxes, goes to work and takes care of two beautiful grandchildren with her gay partner of marriage. Though he and his wife have been married in a common traditional marriage of man and lady, they make no distinction between the love they show for their gay daughter and their daughter that is in a tradition marriage with a male husband. Mathis further expresses his feelings that every couple shall be treated the same under the eyes of the law without the application of discrimination applied due to sexual gender based decisions. He is aware of the frustration his daughter has faced through scrutinization over the years and urges people to vote against Proposition 8 to afford gay couples the same rights as other couples.

Proof that gay rights are being made public but being portrayed in the school systems as well. Just a week ago, California school aged children were privy to their teacher being married to her lesbian partner while on a school field trip. Connecticut Supreme Court legalized gay marriage around the same time hence holding influence on California’s decisions. Though there is great activism towards gay marriage legislation, not all people are in agreeance In Massachusetts, a parent of a child learned that a teacher had been reading a story of two ‘princes marrying, kissing and becoming two Kings’. Upon hearing this, the parent opposed the reading of the material to the child. The parents’ filed suit yet, the courts ruled that parents have no right to be consulted, no right to opt out, and no voice in opposing school curriculum that introduces gay marriage in a state where it is legal.

Recent Case Law Defending Gay Rights to Marriage

“January 11, 2010, is the start date that U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has chosen for a federal lawsuit that challenges California’s gay marriage ban Proposition 8, saying that the case in question was “a matter of huge importance for the state” and recognizing that a case dealing with gay marriage had “broader interests” that went beyond state legislation alone.”.  Plaintiffs to the case are claiming that Proposition 8’s passing is unconstitutional to the fundamental rights of gay marriages. “A federal challenge to Proposition 8 risks a lot, and if the conservative Supreme Court were to find in favour of upholding Proposition 8, the damage to the gay rights movement could be substantial (if there is a legitimate interest substantiated by the Supreme Court, not only gay marriage but gay adoption and other such rights”. The case [1]Marriage Cases already has established that language inserted into the California Constitution by Proposition 8 discriminates against same-sex couples and equal protection under the law. In contrast, Iowa Supreme Court, in affirming the constitutional right of gays and lesbians to marry, recently recognized the importance of this promise of equality, stating: “If gay and lesbian people must submit to different treatment without an exceedingly persuasive justification, they are deprived of the benefits of the principle of equal protection upon which the rule of law is founded.”

Opinion and Conclusion Based Analysis

It is in my opinion that gay rights with regards to civil unions and marriages should be strictly adhered to based on constitutionality rights as afforded by the United States Amendments especially the Bill of Rights freedom of expression and anti-discrimination laws. The government is attempting to deny a person with discretion of his/her inalienable rights to free will and free choice. It is the same as telling a person because they are of a certain colour they cannot sit on a bus or they are not credible to fulfill a role in a workplace environment. That is pure discrimination and that goes way back to the Civil Rights that were fought for years by people such as Martin Luther King and other political activists. To deny people these rights would seem to be undoing these advances that our country has made. What about the progress that Representative Teddy Kennedy has made throughout the years in efforts for the working classes of America to ensure that they are treated fairly? This is of the same nature! Gays are put into a certain stereotype and they should not be. We need to undo that stereotype and allow them to have same rights to marriage just as others do. The main reasons they are not afforded these same rights are because of traditional aspects to civil union and marriages and laws permitting only the union of man and woman. This goes back to the Roman Catholic Church. This is laid down in legislation through statute and case law and it is very difficult to overturn this because of political influence over government. Some states are more liberal in allowing the rights that gays deserve but some are not. It is not surprising that the Southern states have not made advances towards allowing the gay marriages because they tend to express more traditional views toward subjects as such. It is again my opinion that the gay community needs to continue to be very proactive to enforce their rights through marches and campaigns to enforce their rights. It is the only way that they will ever see proper justice afforded to them. This may take decades to see justice throughout all of the United States but again Rome was not built in a day and anything worth fighting for is not achieved with minimal effort, now is it?

[1] Marriage Cases (2008) 43 Cal.4th 757 [76 Cal.Rptr.3d 683, 183 P.3d 384