Why should gay and lesbian marriage be legal
Same-Sex Relations, Marriage Still Supported by Most in U.S.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- More than two in three Americans continue to believe that marriage between same-sex couples should be legal (69%), and nearly as many say gay or female homosexual relations are morally acceptable (64%). Both readings possess been consistently above the 50% mark since the early 2010s and above 60% since 2017.
The recent halt in the long-term upward trend in both indicators of public endorse for the LGBTQ+ people reflects Democrats’ and independents’ support leveling off, while Republicans’ has dipped slightly.
Same-Sex Marriage Support Near Document High
The latest 69% of Americans who support legal same-sex marriage, from Gallup’s May 1-23 Values and Beliefs poll, is statistically similar to the log high of 71% recorded in 2022 and 2023. When Gallup first polled about same-sex marriage in 1996, 27% of Americans thought such unions should be legal, and 68% said they should not.
By 2004, 42% were in favor, and in 2011, support crossed the majority level for the first time. After registering slightly lower in two subsequent measures, public support for legal recognition of same-se
The Journey to Marriage Equality in the Combined States
The road to nationwide marriage equality was a long one, spanning decades of United States history and culminating in victory in June 2015. Throughout the long battle for marriage equality, HRC was at the forefront.
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From gathering supporters in small towns across the country to rallying in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, we gave our all to make certain every person, regardless of whom they love, is recognized equally under the law.
A Growing Call for Equality
Efforts to legalize queer marriage began to pop up across the state in the 1990s, and with it challenges on the state and national levels. Civil unions for same-sex couples existed in many states but created a separate but same standard. At the federal level, couples were denied access to more than 1,100 federal rights and responsibilities associated with the institution, as well as those denied by their given state. The Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law in 1996 and defined marriage by the federal government as between a human and woman, thereby allowing states to deny m
Why should Christians oppose state-sanctioned same-sex marriage?
I imagine this question gives voice to the thought that many Christians have: "Look, I'm with the Bible's training on marriage. I affirm the traditional view that homosexual marriage is sinful. And yet, aren’t there all sorts of things that are sinful? There’s no law against adultery. There’s no law against gossip. There are all sorts of things that we think are worst as Christians but there aren't laws against them."
But we need to be clear about what we are talking about. There are no laws any longer—the Supreme Court struck them down ten or so years ago—against queer behavior. There are no laws against two persons of the same-sex calling their relationship any number of things. There are no laws against people having ceremonies, or ceremonies that happen in churches for any manner of relationships.
What we are talking about is whether or not the government should privilege the relationship of two persons regardless of sex—or the extension of that is three or more or however many persons, regardless of sex—so that that can be called marriage. So to say, "Is gay marriage illegal?" is putting it in a litt
Gay Marriage Is Good for America
By order of its state Supreme Court, California began legally marrying gay couples this week. The first to be wed in San Francisco were Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, pioneering gay-rights activists who have been a couple for more than 50 years.
More ceremonies will follow, at least until November, when gay marriage will go before California’s voters. They should opt to keep it. To understand why, imagine your life without marriage. Interpretation, not merely your being if you didn’t arise to get married. What I am asking you to imagine is experience without even the possibility of marriage.
Re-enter your childhood, but imagine your first crush, first touch, first date and first sexual encounter, all bereft of any hope of marriage as a destination for your feelings. Re-enter your first serious bond, but think about it knowing that marrying the person is out of the question.
Imagine that in the law’s eyes you and your spirit mate will never be more than acquaintances. And now add even more strangeness. Imagine coming of age into a whole community, a whole identity, without marriage and the bonds of mutuality and kinship that g
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