Social Problems: Community, Policy, and Social Action
Same-Sex Marriage UPDATE
Same-Sex Marriage Now Legal In All 50 States
On June 26, 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled by a 5-4 vote that the U.S. Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage. Instructors and students should note that the 5e of Social Problems: Community, Policy and Social Action was released before the June 2015 ruling. On pages 134-135, the 37 states that legalized same-sex marriage before the court’s decision are listed.
With this ruling, same-sex couples are permitted to legally marry in every state. “Under the Constitution, same-sex couples seek in marriage the same legal treatment as opposite-sex couples, and it would disparage their choices and diminish their personhood to deny them this right,” wrote Justice Anthony M. Kennedy (quoted in Barnes 2015) for the majority. According to President Obama, “This decision affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts: When all Americans are treated as equal we are all more free” (Obama 2015).
Same-sex marriage had been the most visible and galvanizing cause in the struggle for gay civil rights (Miller 2015). Several of the 13 states excluded from the list on pages 134-135 did not rush to support same-sex marriage. Some state governors waited for orders from their local federal courts before issuing licenses. All states eventually complied with the law; Louisiana was last. Celeste Autin and Alesia LeBoeuf, a couple for 38 years, received Louisiana’s first same-sex marriage license. LeBoeuf said, “It is not so much about being the first one to get the license as it is just getting the license and having the opportunity to marry the one you’ve always wanted to be with your whole life” (quoted in Vargas and Calder 2015).
After the ruling, activists pledged their continued commitment to advance LGBT civil rights. GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis stated how “marriage equality is a benchmark, not a finish line and our work to bridge the gap to full acceptance for LGBT people continues” (quoted in Adam 2015).
Employment discrimination has been identified as the next battleground for LGBT rights. Though the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that existing civil rights laws prohibit sexual orientation based employment discrimination, there is no federal law that explicitly prohibits such discrimination. The Equality Act was introduced in the U.S. Congress in July 2015. The bill calls for comprehensive protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity at work and in the context of housing, public accommodations, public education, federal funding, credit and jury service.
What does it mean to me?
- Identify how our culture (defined on page 12) has changed since the court’s ruling. Have our norms, values and beliefs about marriage been altered? If so, then how?
- The basic rights of LGBT individuals are subject to state laws. Does your state prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity? For employment? housing? public accommodations?
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