courts have denied legal benefits to gay and lesbian couples based
primarily on the fact the no legal license existed to attest to their
unions (Link, 1996, p. 31), even though, "The time gays and lesbians
have spent creating our relationships from scratch has taught us
something about love" (Homer, 505).
Queer America has fought long and hard to
gain any ground in a
nation built on the foundations of "liberty and justice for all"
and
has found little of either through the necessary channels. President
Bill Clinton flip-flopped on gays in the military while Supreme Court
cases such as Bowers V. Hardwick in 1984 have further dignified
the prejudices Americans hold against homosexuals. In a society,
in a nation, built so firmly on the notions of "life, liberty, and
the
pursuit of happiness" how is this possible. It's time Americans,
black and white, Christian and Muslim, woke up and smelled the
coffee.
Ponder as to where our nation would be if
not for the struggle of
African Americans who desired to sit in font of the bus, like Mrs.
Rosa Parks? What if women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan
B. Anthony had not wanted to vote? What sort of equality is there in
a nation that prevents and discourages a person from exercising
their natural God given right to be who and what they are? Buy
denying gays and lesbians the fundamental right of marriage, states
not only promote prejudice but create it with "hate" legislation
that
ultimately will lend to grievous crimes against the America's gay
society. Hasn't the AIDS epidemic opened anyone's eyes to what
ignorance and hatred can do? Once considered a "GAY" problem,
AIDS now infects more heterosexuals than gays. America had better
change with the times or those nations around the globe which extend
the benefits of marriage to gays and lesbians may see an influx of
American gays and American currency.
Resources: Kozuma, Scott K. (1994, Summer). Baehr v. Lewin and
Same-Sex Marriage: The Continued Struggle For Social, Political,
and Human Legitimacy. Willamette Law Review. pp. 891-916...Link,
David. January 1996. Gay Rites. Reason....Homer, Steven K.
(1994, Summer). Against Marriage. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil
Liberties Law Review. pp. 505-530...Liebman, Marvin. Gay
Marriage: Beginning of a Long Struggle That Needs Us All.
OutNOW!...Findlin, Barbara. May/June 1995. Is Marriage The
Answer?. Ms...Baehr v. Lewin, 15689 Supreme Court of Hawaii
(1993>...OutNOW!. (http://www.outnow.com/)
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