Gay Marriage

[lvstephanie]

I believe that gay couples should have the same rights, benefits, and privileges as heterosexual couples.  I was actually pretty unhappy about the Supreme Court decision.  I feel SCOTUS didn't take it far enough - they should have come out and declared same sex marriage a constitutional right.

This is what I'm mostly afraid of... No, not that homosexuals will get the same rights, benefits, and privileges as heterosexuals (for the most part, I agree with you here). Rather that same sex marriage should be made a constitutional right.

What I see all too often when talking about same sex marriage is that people tend to confuse the issue thinking that laws describing marriage as being between 2 heterosexual people is the same as laws that describe with whom another person can associate with (and love, and have sex with, etc.). These are 2 separate issues. The legal term of "marriage" is found within family law and is legislated in the states (and even in smaller jurisdictions like counties or cities). Matters of freedom of association, on the other hand, is a true civil right that is protected under the 1st Amendment.

I agree with SCOTUS overturning the Protection of Marriage Act in that that particular federal law was in essence going against some state laws that allowed same sex marriages. At the federal level, the laws should really be more encompassing of state rights. If a state defines a legal driver as being above the age of 15, the federal government shouldn't make some law that defines a legal driver as being above 16 years of age. Likewise since states make the laws defining what a "marriage" is, the federal government shouldn't make a law that limits those laws in any way, such as how the Protection of Marriage Act tried to redefine marriage at the federal level.

However I also feel that the federal government should not be dictating to the states what is best handled within the states. If Utah wants to define marriage as only between a man and a woman, they should be allowed to make that definition in their law. Some other state, like my home state of Minnesota, may define their version of marriage as including same sex couples. If a same-sex couple wants to get married, then they could do so by tying the knot in MN. And then the federal government would go with whether a couple received a valid marriage license for those cases within the federal prevue (eg income taxes, federal worker benefits, etc.)

As for how I feel about how states should define marriage, I think unless there is a valid reason for disallowing same sex marriages (perhaps some state having a sparse population wants marriage benefits as a way to encourage population growth), states really should allow it. Even though there is a difference between what most people think of as "marriage" (as being a bond between two loving individuals) and the legal definition of "marriage" (which has nothing to do with subjective things like "love"), many don't see this distinction for what it is and so the fear is that the government is trying to control people's lives and telling people who they can and cannot love.