Marriage Equality, Research Paper Example

The Marriage Equality association is a movement that deals with the social unfairness of lawful non-recognition of the marriages of people of the same sex in America. The group does its work through doing outreach and public education, holding visibility and media campaigns. Transgenders, bisexuals, gays and lesbians gain from the societal change that is aimed at being created by the movement. The Marriage Equality Movement fights to have the affiliations of individuals of the same sexual category recognized as being equal to other marriages under the law.

The whole the general public is affected by the change in the society aimed at being created by the movement. This is because heterosexual marriage is a structure of the society and without this kind of marriage, the society will crumble. Marriage equality not only creates a second structure of the society, but it, in fact, smuggles into life two social structures that are radically different. It is general knowledge that the impact of being motherless on children is different from the impact of being fatherless. Thus, people have every cause of expecting that the set of problems of children brought up in female unions are different compared to those of children brought up in motherless unions. These children will not be the same as the children brought up in heterosexual unions. As a result, three diverse classes of children will be created by people (Mohr & Richard 28).

Activists coming from official societal movement organizations and individual activists involve themselves in maintaining the countermovement or status quo. They argue that homosexuality is considered as sin by many religions. Homosexuality would weaken the respect and definition of the marriage institution. It would weaken further the traditional values of the family crucial to our society. It could give a slope that is slippery in marriage’s legality. It brings confusion to children concerning expectations of society and gender roles, and only a woman, and man can pro-create. The lifestyle of gays is not a thing that should be encouraged, because there is an indication by a lot of research that it makes life expectancy low, leads to psychological disorders, and many other problems. The theory of Functionality presumes that a marriage between a woman and man is an important role of the reproduction of human beings, which furthers the society’s development. Their societal equilibrium theory raises a question arises on whether or not a married couple of the same sex would add to the welfare of the social order and balance of the society (Wolfson 18).

In the past few centuries, regimes of state licensing replaced contract and church-based marriages, and these are the side effects of a squalid period of the history of America when governments decided to stop people from diverse races from getting married to each other. Nonetheless, today the country is allowing equality in marriage in some states within America through recognizing all married couples of the same sex under the private pension plan (Mohr & Richard 35).

The government is responding to the countermovement through stating that marriage is a basic freedom right of persons, and due to the reason that it is a basic right, it also includes a dimension of equality: there cannot be an exclusion of a group of people from that fundamental right for a reason which is not overwhelming. Adults have the freedom and right of choosing whom they should marry. They possess this right due to the personal and emotional importance of marriage, and its procreative potential. This right is important for the purposes of Due Process, and it contains a dimension of equality. A group of people cannot be excluded from this right without justification from the state, which is exceedingly strong. From the perspective of a conflict theorist, the debate of same-sex marriage totally gives reinforcement to the second-class lesbians’ and gays’ status (Wolfson 27).

The major support of Marriage Equality in America has in general been libertarians and political liberals. Regionally, gay rights movement’s support has been coming out strongly from the West Coast and the North Coast and in other states, which have a huge urban population. The funding of the Marriage Equality association or movement is by some political organizations like the National Democratic Party with the main funding being done by libertarians and political liberals. Many corporations have also given cash donations, given support to court cases and campaigns, or announced the support of the organizations that are seeking to fight for or protect the rights of same-sex marriages. Labor unions, LGBT organizations, non-profit advocacy, professionals associations, and denominations of religion have also participated in the funding of Marriage Equality (Mohr & Richard 56).

The major rivals of Marriage Equality in America have in general been religious and political conservatives. Conservatives quote a range of passages in the Bible from both the New and Old Testaments as their reason for being opposed to gay rights. Regionally, the gay rights association’s opposition has been strongly coming from the South and in some states whose rural population is large. As the same-sex movement develops, several international and/or national organizations have been opposed to that movement. The opposing organizations include Family Research Council, American Family Association, the Southern Baptist Convention, NARTH, Liberty Counsel, National Organization for Marriage and Alliance for Marriage. The Southern Poverty Law Center has mentioned many of these groups as being anti-gay groups. These groups make use of labeling to harm and humiliate transgenders, bisexuals, gays and lesbians making them the society’s outcasts (Wolfson 30).

The government affects the Marriage Equality association or movement, because the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) passed by the government, will ensure that issues faced by same-sex married couples vanish. These issues include the denial of several rights and benefits enjoyed by married couples of the opposite sex. The benefits enjoyed by couples of the opposite sex include the family and medical leave, social security benefits, immigration law, Health Insurance Continuation of Health Coverage (COBRA), retirement plans, federal tax laws Medicaid, and more. The Marriage Equality Movement has an effect overall because it gives new strategies and strength for its fighting of the rights of transgenders, bisexuals, gays and lesbians. The Marriage Equality Movement is affected by the countermovement because it leads to the creation of a conflict of people’s way of seeing marriage as being a traditional union and there being no transgender, bisexual, gay and lesbian relationships considered as equal in law. This makes it difficult for individuals to agree to marriage equality just as it is for the reason that the countermovement struggles to destroy Marriage Equality’s reputation leading to viewpoints that are divided (Mohr & Richard 60).

The Marriage Equality Movement, a grassroots national organization that is volunteer-driven, was founded in the year 2001, and it officially started its membership in the same year. The movement gained momentum upon the signing into law of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) by President Bill Clinton in September, 1996. The Act stopped the federal regime from giving recognition to marriages of the same-sex and ordered that no state should give recognition to the license of another state’s marriage if the license belongs to a couple of the same sex. The movement was recognized in the year 1997, when two couples of gay people in Vermont instituted a lawsuit to the effect that they be issued with marriage licenses by their state. In 1999, the Supreme Court of the state gave a ruling that ordered Vermont to give couples of the same sex the same rights received by heterosexual couples through marriage (Wolfson 67). This was a landmark because it led to the introduction of legal precedent concerning such unions. The movement was successful approximately four years after, when Massachusetts became the very first state to make gay marriages legal as opposed to just civil unions. Connecticut also gave a ruling favoring rights of marriage for gay people in 2008, and from that time, Massachusetts, New York, along with Vermont have all followed and made changes to their civil union rules to permit GLBT people the right of marrying legally.

Works Cited

Mohr, Richard D, and Richard D. Mohr. The Long Arc of Justice: Lesbian and Gay Marriage, Equality, and Rights. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. Internet resource.

Wolfson, Evan. Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People’s Right to Marry. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007. Print.