Gay Marriage
By: Caroline Moran, Lauren Balabon, Emily Duffy
History
 First became major source of debate in 1990
 Baehr vs. Levin
 Reached Supreme Court
 Ruled in favor of same sex marriages in Hawaii
History Cont
 Conservatives voiced their immediate disapproval
 “Faith and credit” clause
 1996 Clinton passed Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
 DOMA stated marriage is between man and women
only
 Faith and credit clause no longer applied to same sex
marriages
History Continued
 In years following DOMA, 35 states passed laws
enforcing DOMA (gay marriage isnt recognized)
 States are allowed to pass laws regarding civil unions
and domestic partnerships
 Civil union > domestic partnership
 November 2003 Massachusettes Goodridge vs.
Department of Public Health (same sex marriage
legalized)
More History
 2004 San Francisco legalized gay marriage
 Later that year, law was reversed by Cali Supreme
Court, making all marriages preformed nullified
History
 In 2004 Bush endorsed a planned amendment stating
that marriage is an institution for heterosexuals
 Amendment would ban gay marriage nationwide
 Bush said it was necessary to “end the confusion” on
the issue
 Amendment didn’t pass
History
 2006, another attempt to amend the constitution and
define marriage as a heterosexual institution
 Didn’t pass again
Current Legislation
 Legal in Massachusetts
 NJ, NY, NM, RI, Washington DC – is not outlawed
 Legality is largely unsettled
PRO
GAY MARRIAGE
PRO
 “Love. Honor. Commitment. Three simple words. They are the words that gay
and lesbian couples feel in their hearts when they make a commitment to
each other. That’s why the Human Rights Campaign believes that same-sex
couples should be able to get married. Our campaign, Americans for Marriage
Equality, is sparking a national conversation about the power of love, fairness
and equality.”
 Denying the fight for two men or two women the right to marry is as cruel and
absurd as it was to deny two straight people of different races to marry.
 The constitution of the United States guarantee everyone the right to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This guarantee alone should be enough
to legalize gay marriage, since it’s hard to feel free (liberty) if you don’t have
the right to marry the person you love (happiness).
 Same sex couples should have the same marriage benefits and public
acknowledgment enjoyed by heterosexual couples and that prohibiting gay
marriage is unconstitutional discrimination.
PRO
 Gay couples are denied significant rights when they are not allowed to
marry, and this results in injustices.
 The arguments against the legalization of same-sex marriage do not merit
the legal support of the state. (It’s the states job to not promote popular
morality or opinion, but the rights of its citizens)
 There is no constitutional basis for denying gay couples marriage, and
every constitutional reason why our government should actively pursue
legalizing gay marriage and to ensure their inalienable right to pursuit of
happiness in which every American is guaranteed.
PRO
 It is no one else's business if two men or two women decided to get married if
they are in love.
 There is no such thing as traditional marriage.
 Gay marriage is protected by the constitution's commitments to liberty and
equality.

Denying same-sex couples the right to marry stigmatizes gay and lesbian
families as inferior and sends the message that its acceptable to discriminate
against them.
 Gay marriages can bring financial gain to state and local governments.
Revenue from gay marriage comes from marriage licenses, higher income
taxes and decreases its cost for the state benefit programs.
 Gay marriage will make it easier for same-sex couples to adopt children.
 Marriage provides both physical and psychological health benefits and recent
research suggests the denying same-sex couples to marry results in harmful
psychological effects.
PRO
 Allowing same-sex couples to marry will give them access to basic rights
such as hospital visitation during an illness, taxation and inheritance
rights, access to family health coverage, and protecting in the event of a
relationship ending.
 Legalizing gay marriage wont harm heterosexual marriages or family
values.
Political Cartoon PRO
CON
 14th amendment conflict
 Equal protection under that law
 Goes against natural-law- unable to procreate [Catholic
catechism, which states, "Homosexual acts...are
contrary to natural law. They close the sexual act to
the gift of life.“]– many against gays even adopting
(discouraging procreation and traditional families)
 Research shows trends in “untraditional” families’ kids being
less successful
 Ex. more likely to commit a crimes, drop out of school, become
violent, become teen parents, use illegal drugs, become mired
in poverty, or have emotional or behavioral problems
(Republican stance)
 Marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a
woman, giving gays the right to marry would violate a
long-standing tradition
 Change the value of marriage- rendering it
increasingly irrelevant to future generations
 Legalizing gay marriage is a slippery-slopepolygamy (multiple wives) and ‘polyamory’ (“group
marriage”) – a variety of relationship contracts
between couples and groups of people
 The nature of homosexuals- more promiscuous and
would have trouble conforming to the monogamous
(having one mate) demands of marriage
 Republican Congress enacted Defense of Marriage Act affirming the right of states not to recognize same-sex
“marriages” licensed in other states
 Democratic Party pledged to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act,
which would subject every state to the redefinition of marriage by a
judge without ever allowing the people to vote on the matter
 (Republicans want to use) Article III, Section 2 power to prevent
activist federal judges from imposing upon the rest of the nation the
judicial activism in Massachusetts and California
 Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA)- passed by Congress in
1996-defined marriage for the first time under federal law
as a union between a man and a woman (law)
 "Traditional marriage is one of the last obstacles to
the complete normalization of homosexuality in
America," Combs argues.