Homosexual Rights
Overview
• Homosexuality has been a taboo
subject
• Millions of gay and lesbian
Americans are not only open
about sexuality, they are
campaigning for new laws
Overview
• Want same rights as
heterosexuals- want right to
marry
• Episcopalian church now has
openly gay clergy
• Half of Americans now say in
surveys that homosexuality
should be considered an
acceptable alternative lifestylecompared to 1 in 3 people 20
years ago
Overview
• Surveys show Americans have
mixed feelings about how far the
government should go in giving
rights to gays/lesbians
• Emotionally charged issue, many
Americans still view it as
objectionable
Overview
• 2-10% of Americans are
homosexual
• Many Americans lie or refuse to
answer survey questions about
sexuality, so we do not know
accurate percentage
• 1969- New York City police raided
a popular gay bar- the Stonewall
Inn, for allegedly selling liquor
without a license. This caused
two days of rioting, started the
gay awareness movement
• 1978- shooting death of San
Francisco official Harvey Milk,
openly gay man elected to office
in a large city
• Killer received 5 year sentence
AIDS
• 1981- small group of gay men in
San Francisco started getting sick
and dying
• Identified it as Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
• Virus destroys body’s immune
system
AIDS
• Spread through exchange of
bodily fluid
• Federal government slow to
respond
• 1985: study showed that more
than half of Americans believed
government would research AIDS
more if it didn’t primarily affect
gay men
AIDS
• ActUp and Human Rights
Campaign- wanted public
attention and government action
• “silence is death”
• AIDS spreading, not limited to
gay men- could spread through
heterosexual sex and drug users
sharing needles
Civil Rights
• Matter of equality- Homosexuals
felt they should have the same
rights and protections as
heterosexuals
Rights
• Protection against discrimination
in employment, housing, and
immigration
• Expansion of hate crime laws to
include sexual orientation
• Domestic partner benefits similar
to those granted to married
couples
Rights
• Right to marry or have their
relationships recognized in “civil
unions”
• The ability to serve in the military
without hiding their sexuality
Rights
• For many Americans, issue hinges
on the question of whether
homosexuality is a choice or an
innate characteristic with which
people are born
Rights
• Advocates of gay rights say
sexual orientation, like race or
disability, can’t be changed, and
therefore they should be
protected like any other minority
group
Rights
• Opponents of gay rights- many
have religious roots. Most major
religions oppose homosexuality as
a violation of the law of God
Rights
• Opponents of gay rights also
worry that children who interact
with openly gay adults- teachers
or Boy Scout leaders, will view
these adults as role models and
make that same sexual choice
Rights
• 2003: US Supreme Court ruled
that gays and lesbians have a
right to sexual privacy and are
“entitled to respect for their
private lives.”
Partner and benefits
• 1989: Denmark became the first
nation to grant legal rights to gay
couples, calling the unions
“domestic partnerships”
Partner and benefits
• 1999: Netherlands allowed full
fledged same-sex marriages
• Many Americans oppose granting
legal recognition of same-sex
couples, saying it would make a
shift in definition of marriage
Partner and benefits
• Marriage between man and a
woman sanctifies the creation of
new life and establishes the
cohesive family (opponents)
• Supporters: marriage is a
fundamental right under
Constitution and denying its
benefits to homosexuals is
discrimination
Partner and benefits
• U.S. Constitution: states are
required to offer “full faith and
credit” to legal actions in other
states, including marriage
• Some legal experts argue there is
an exception if states believe an
out of state decision violates their
own public policy
Partner and benefits
• For example: if some state or
foreign country allowed bigamy or
underage marriages, other states
could refuse to recognize it
• Congress passed the Defense of
Marriage Act in 1996 allowing
states to refuse to recognize
same sex marriage
Defense of Marriage Act 1996
• President Bill Clinton
• “marriage” is a union between
one man and one woman
• All federal laws about marriage
apply exclusively to opposite sex
couples
• Civil Unions- state benefits to
same sex couples
• State tax benefits, family health
plans, co-parenting privileges,
guardianship and decision making
authority for medically
incapacitated partner, protection
under divorce and separation laws
• Government Accountability Office
lists 1,138 federal laws that
pertain to married couples
• Taxes: couples in a civil union
may file a joint state tax return,
but must file federal tax returns
as single persons- this may be
advantageous to some couples,
but not for others
• Married couples can transfer
assets and wealth without
incurring tax penalties
• Health insurance: if a private
employer’s health plans are
subject to state insurance laws,
benefits must be extended to
same sex spouse in a state that
allows same sex marriage
• Social Security survivor benefits:
survivor may have a right to
Social Security payments based
on the earnings of the married
couple, rather than only the
survivor’s earnings- Same sex
couples are not eligible for such
benefits
• Immigration (a partner who is a
foreign national can’t become an
American by entering into a civil
union with someone)
• Veterans and military benefits:
right to pensions, compensation
for service related deaths,
medical care, housing and right to
burial in veterans cemeteries
Civil Unions vs Marriage
• Right to federal benefits-
States that allow some type of
same sex union are able to grant
only state rights
• Defense of Marriage Act prohibits
same sex couples from receiving
federal marriage rights and
benefits
• Portability: civil unions are not
recognized by all states, such
agreements are not always valid
when couples cross state lines
• Terminology: “Marriage” is a
term that conveys societal and
cultural meaning- important to
both gay rights activists and those
who don’t believe gays should
marry
Partner and benefits
• Children: gay couples/gay
individuals hoping to adopt can
face legal and societal hurdles
• Most states do not routinely deny
custody or visitation based on
sexual orientation
• Focus on the Family: “Marriage is
important because it’s a timehonored enduring social
institution that serves women,
men and children.”
• “And civil unions undermine
marriage by reducing it to a
bundle of rights and benefits.”
• Despite difficulties like divorce,
marriage is “still an institution
that does what we need it to do
for children.”
• Research: children raised by
married biological parents are
better off on average than those
raised by cohabiting biological
parents- other studies show
children raised by both parents
fare better than children raised by
one-
• children raised by homosexual
parents are just as emotionally
and socially healthy as those
raised by heterosexual parents
• The Child Welfare League of
America: “Studies using diverse
samples and methodologies in
the last decade have
persuasively demonstrated that
there are no systematic
differences between gay or
lesbian and non-gay or lesbian
parents in emotional health,
parenting skills, and attitudes
toward parenting”
Public Viewpoint
• Vast majority of Americans say
gays should have equal rights in
terms of job opportunities
• Support declines when
elementary school teachers or
clergy are mentioned
Public Viewpoint
• More than half say gay partners
should receive domestic partner
benefits like inheritance rights,
health insurance, and Social
Security
Perspective 1 (Liberal View)
• Protect and extend equal rights of
all our citizens
• Feels its shameful that we allow
gays and lesbians to be denied
the same basic rights as every
other citizen
• Routinely denied employment and
housing
• Unable to obtain official
recognition of their life partners,
victims of hate crimes
• Civil Rights Movement has shown
us that it is often necessary and
right for the federal government
to step in and protect groups
(women, disabled, AfricanAmericans, etc)
• Government protection and
assurance of equality under the
law must extend to gays and
lesbians as well
• All citizens should enjoy full
human rights- that is what
American government is all about
What should be done?
• Prohibit discrimination against
gays and lesbians in employment
or housing
• Broaden hate crime legislation
• Employee benefits to domestic
partners
• Right to marry, adopt, and
receive benefits
• Serve openly in military
Perspective 2
• Let states and communities
choose solutions that work for
them
• Our nation is diverse
• Communities hold different values
and opinions on dozens of issues,
including homosexuality, diversity
should be respected
• Communities must be free to
make their own choices because
solutions really only work if they
come from grassroots and reflect
the values and norms of most
people
• Local policy on gay and lesbian
issues has evolved over the years
based on changing comfort levels,
without government interference
• Some places offer protection for
gays while others have imposed
bans on same-sex behavior
• Those who disagree with local
decisions can seem remedies by
moving elsewhere
• Federal government should
follow, not lead
What should be done?
• Government should let
communities decide, based on
their own norms and values,
whether to allow same sex
marriages or civil unions
• Communities, states, businesses
should be allowed to decide if
they want to offer domestic
partner benefits
• Communities should decide for
themselves if they need hate
crime laws or whether current
laws are sufficient
• Laws should cover hate crimes
against all minorities, not just
gays and lesbians
• Communities should decide based
on community feelings, whether
to include discussion of gay and
lesbians in sex education
Perspective 3 (Conservative
View)
• Support and protect traditional
institutions and values
• Big difference between tolerating
private behavior between
consenting adults and endorsing
such behavior by granting legal
protections
• Giving domestic partner benefits
and special privileges legitimizes
same sex relationships even
though they can’t create children,
which is the major reason
underlying government’s
traditional protection of marriage
and family
• Same-sex relationships are also
deeply offensive to many
Americans often based on
religious beliefs
• Marriage is not just about love
and commitment, but also about
stability of family
• We are already seeing the social
damage caused by families
weakened by divorce and singleparent households
• Granting new rights and benefits
to gays and lesbians and
inheritance rights would crush
one of the pillars of stable, civil
society
What should be done?
• Enact legislation to strength and
support traditional families- like a
constitutional amendment
defining marriage as a union
between a man and a woman
• Allow employers and landlords to
live by their moral and religious
codes
• Prevent gays and lesbians from
getting any special legal rights or
protections
• Reinstate the ban on gays and
lesbians serving in the military
• Ban adoptions by gay parents
• Prohibit public schools from
having discussions about
homosexuality into curriculum