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The Supreme Court and Gay Marriage In Jonny Dymond’s article, “Gay Marriage: Supreme Court Justices Criticise DOMA,” Dymond discusses the new attempts by the Supreme Court to make a final decision on whether or not they should legalize gay marriage or overturn the ban on gay marriage that has been in place in California since 2008. This article opens with the pronouncement that many members of the United States Supreme Court find the law that marriage should only be between a man and a woman to be a strong opposition to the freedom found within our Constitution.

As a result of their beliefs, as well as the many testimonies from couples of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered community (LGBT), judges and citizens alike are looking to overturn the Defense Against Marriage Act, which would allow gay couples to have the same federal benefits as their heterosexual counterparts. On March 27, 2013, the members of the Supreme Court gathered to hear the testimonies, fears, and concerns that both opposers and proponents of gay marriage had. Those that oppose gay marriage, specifically those that allowed California’s Proposition 8, which would ban gay marriage and overturn the marriages that had been conducted previously, made their side of the argument known that marriage is a union that has always been available only to men and women.

Though they could find no consequences of people within the LGBT community becoming legally married, they continued to argue that to allow them the chance to marry would go against the very definition of marriage. The proponents for gay marriage, a large following that consists of homosexuals and heterosexuals alike, simply believe that under the freedom that America stands for they should be allowed to marry someone they love. After the first day of hearing testimonies, members of the Court also had their say about their own stances in regard to gay marriage.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is “seen as the swing vote between liberal and conservative justices” (Dymond, par. 8), is less concerned about the marriage debate itself and more concerned about whether or not the federal government had the authority to legalize and then ban gay marriage in California. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg believes that there should be two separate types of marriage, a full marriage for heterosexual couples and what is referred to as the skim-milk marriage for homosexuals.

There were other members, though, we were not as neutral. Elena Kagan found that the Defense Against Marriage Act was written and enforced out of wrongly-placed fear and dislike toward the LGBT community. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was in disbelief that the federal government thought that they had any right to concern themselves with what should or should not constitute the definition of marriage. These statements are backed up by President Barack Obama’s open support of the gay community and open dislike for the Defense Against Marriage Act, finding the act to infringe upon the constitutional rights of Americans.

Though there are two sides to the argument, each side consists of numerous other arguments from a personal perspective. Despite the rather harsh nature of this debate surrounding taboo love, the final decision rests in the hands of the members of the Supreme Court. They will continue hearing testimonies for weeks to come, and will most likely have a decision, even if it is a stalemate answer, at the beginning of June of this year.Works CitedDymond, Jonny. "Gay Marriage: Supreme Court Justices Criticise DOMA.

" BBC - News - US & Canada. N.p., 27 Mar. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2013. .