Same-Sex Marriage: What is America Afraid of?
By Shannon Geis
Over the past year, the idea of allowing same-sex marriage and civil unions in the United States has been a big issue. In June 2006, Congress made its most recent vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment. This amendment, first introduced in 2002, would create a federal definition of marriage that would allow it only to exist between a man and a woman. The first version of the bill introduced by Rep. Marilyn Musgrave in 2002 would have prohibited states and local governments from passing laws granting civil unions and domestic partnerships, or any other similar laws. However, the second version of this amendment created in 2004 would allow civil unions. It didn’t pass during the vote taken by the Senate last June, failing to get the 60 votes required for cloture.
In October, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that New Jersey must allow some sort of union for same-sex couples. The New Jersey legislature passed a bill in December allowing for same-sex civil unions. Governor Jon Corzine has yet to sign the bill into law, although he has stated that he plans to do so. This action would bring the total states allowing some sort of same-sex union up to five, including California, Vermont, and Connecticut, which also allow civil unions.
The fifth state allowing some type of same-sex union is Massachusetts, which currently is the only state allowing same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage has been permitted in Massachusetts since 2003, after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry. However, recently there has been a move to create an amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage. In the first week of January 2007, the divided legislature voted to advance the proposed amendment. If the legislature votes to advance it yet again, it will go on the statewide ballot in 2008.
With all of the controversy surrounding this issue in the United States, it might be surprising to some that a large majority of European countries have approved legislation allowing civil unions or same-sex marriages in recent years. The long list of countries allowing civil unions includes France, Denmark (which was the first to allow such unions in 1989), Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic and Slovenia, which just passed laws in the last year. Many of these countries have had these laws in place for over ten years without many problems. There are also several countries in Europe that allow same-sex marriages including the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain.
In fact, in North America, eight provinces and one territory of Canada extended marriage to include same-sex couples between 2003 and 2005. Then in 2005, Canada passed Bill C-38, which extended same-sex marriage throughout the entire country.
The actions of the United States seem quite contradictory to the actions of the majority of developed countries in the past years. While most of Europe is passing legislation allowing some type of civil union, 26 states in the United States have passed bans against civil unions and same-sex marriage, and the only state currently allowing same-sex marriages is considering an amendment to ban same-sex marriages altogether.
An important question to consider is why the United States is so reluctant to move toward same-sex marriages while so much of Europe and Canada seem to have no problems making the transition. One of the most significant arguments used to oppose this issue in the United States is based on religious beliefs which are against homosexuality, which in turn are against same-sex marriage – although it should be noted that these same religious codes are prevalent in Europe and Canada. However, there has been such an enormous focus on the separation of church and state in recent years; promoters of same-sex marriage say that perhaps this argument should be used when considering whether or not to allow same-sex marriage. Public policy should be based on what is best for the public, they say, not on a certain collection of religious beliefs.
This seems to be more of an equal rights issue than anything else. In fact, equal rights are an often-used defense for same-sex marriage. Promoters claim that citizens who wish to marry members of the same sex should be allowed the same rights as those who wish to marry members of the opposite sex. Many of the supporters of same-sex marriage also oppose civil unions because civil unions are a way of granting gay couples certain rights but keeping it separate from marriage. This approach seems somewhat reminiscent of the “separate but equal” ways of the south before the Civil Rights Movement.
Overall, it seems that a serious look needs to be taken at how same-sex marriages are viewed in the United States and why, since it can’t simply be that Americans are more homophobic than the rest of the world.
Sources
“Civil Union.” Accessed: January 6, 2007. http://en.allexperts.com/e/c/ci/civil_union.htm
“Federal Marriage Amendment” Wikipedia Article. Accessed: January 8, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Federal_Marriage_Amendment
Johnson, Ramone. “What You Need To Know About Civil Unions in New Jersey.” About: Gay Life. Accessed: January 6, 2007. http://gaylife.about.co/od/samesexmarriage/a/newjersey.htm
Powell, Michael and Robin Shulman. “Mass. Gay Marriage Law Contested.” WashingtonPost.com. Posted: January 3, 2007.
“Same-Sex Marriage.” Accessed: January 6, 2007. http://en.allexperts.com/e/s/sa/same-sex_marriage.htm
