What are the justifications state legislatures have used to pass laws legalizing same-sex marriage - Thesis Example

?…………………………………………………………………….….59 Vermont………………………………………………………………………………………..…59 California……………………………………………………………………………………….…59 In Re Marriage Cases…………………………………………………………….…..59 Prop. 8 and Strauss Case…………………………………………………………..66 Perry v.

Schwarzenegger…………………………………………………………..67 Perry v. Brown……………………………………………………………………….…73 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………..73 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………….80 Cases and Statutes…………………………………………………………………………………86 Abstract This dissertation will focus on an analysis of states where same-sex marriage has been legalized.

The bulk of the analysis in this regard will be court decisions, as courts provide much more evidence and argument for their positions than do legislatures. The conclusion is that courts use different standards of review for same-sex marriage, which indicates a clear split between jurisdictions on the matter. Another conclusion is that courts, in making their decisions regarding same-sex marriage cases, tend to reach in order to get to the desired conclusion. This seems to hold for both courts ruling against same-sex marriage and courts ruling for same-sex marriage.

The conclusion is that the courts that rule on. The researcher states that same-sex marriage has been a source of controversy in the modern era. Same-sex marriage implicates gay rights, as this is the basis for the success that homosexuals have had in recent years. The modern thought regarding homosexuals may be traced to 1977, which was a watershed year for the homosexual rights movement, according to Fejes. It was during this year that homosexuals began to be positively portrayed. States were also eliminating sodomy laws, and more states began offering protections to gays and lesbians.

Also during the 1970s, the same-sex couples began nascent efforts to marry – in 1970, the first gay couple attempted to obtain a marriage license in California. They were denied, as were other couples in Wisconsin and Colorado. During the 1980s, same couples pushed for marriage to a greater extent, as the era of AIDS was ushered in. AIDS affected same sex couples, and encouraged them to pursue marriage, because same-sex couples were increasingly denied the right to make health care decisions for their ailing partner.

The gay marriage debate picked up steam in 1993, as the state Supreme Court of Hawaii ruled that the state’s refusal to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples was an unconstitutional form of sex discrimination that would need to be justified by a compelling state interest. However, this move by Hawaii produced a major backlash, in the form of the Defense of Marriage Act, which was passed by the federal government in 1993 in response to Hawaii’s decision.