Post on 30-Dec-2015
What is Marriage??• Merriam-Webster: “the
state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law”
• Federal government: Union between a man and a women
What were the Stonewall Riots?
• Violent confrontations between the police and gay New Yorkers in the summer of 1969.
• They are sometimes called “The Stonewall Rebellion,” or simply “Stonewall.”
• They are viewed today as the birth of the modern gay rights movement.
Before Stonewall• In many cities, it was illegal to be homosexual• Police regularly raided gay restaurants and
sometimes arrested everyone present for “indecency”
• A restaurant could have its licenses revoked for knowingly serving food to three or more homosexuals
After Stonewall• Unannounced police raids
of gay establishments • Gay Americans began to
recognize that activism, not silence, would protect them from harassment and discrimination.
• The GLF (Gay Liberation Front) was formed immediately after Stonewall and chapters opened in many major U.S. cities.
Accepted Forms of Same-Sex Unions
1. Domestic partnerships:– Washington, Oregon,
Maine, California, Maryland, and Washington, DC
– personal relationship between two individuals who share a common domestic life but are not married
– new form of union for (but not limited to) homosexual couples
Accepted Forms of Same-Sex Unions2. Civil Unions – Vermont, California, Oregon,
Hawaii, and New Jersey– Established to obtain specific,
but not all, rights of heterosexual marriage
– civil unions are not recognized, and therefore neither are the benefits that come with them, outside the state where issued– Opposed by some because it echoes the “separate but equal” mentality
Accepted Forms of Same-Sex Unions
3. Same-Sex Marriage– legal in 5 US states:– Massachusetts (2004),
Connecticut (2008), Iowa (2009), Vermont (2009), and New Hampshire (2009)
– legally recognized marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender