Gay Couple in Wedding Announciments
Daniel and Steven are a gay couple who have been together for 17 years. They are the first same-sex couple to be featured in The New York Times wedding announcements in September of 2002. The happy couple talked about how big of a deal this was in 2002 and how in a few years it would just be ‘no big deal.’ The couple had met through an ad in a Washington newspaper. This couple has to struggle with every day life things just as a “normal” couple does. These gentleman had a medical emergency but could not give his partner his power of attorney because their marriage was not accepted in their state. Here is a direct quote from Daniel and Steven, “We have a civil union, which on paper, should afford us all the rights and benefits of marriage within the state, but it’s being denied in the state. There are all of these examples. So a couple of weeks ago, I had emergency same-day surgery. Nothing life threatening. I needed to have my tonsils removed. I had a bad throat infection. And what did we do? We went home, not so I could freak out and plan and call anyone, so I could get a copy of my health care proxy, my power of attorney. I don’t know that some medical practitioner won’t try to find my parents to make a decision when Steven’s right there because he’s not regarded as my spouse and that just feels so incredibly unfair.”
This situation is completely unfair. This couple is just like every other couple. The state if they choose to not “accept” their marriage then they can at least respect the couple enough to allow them to have a say in life or death, medical, or family matters etc… There are other ways for same sex married couples to have the same privilege’s as a straight married couple. No that sounds harsh and unfair and every couple should have the same right, but that’s sadly not how the world works just yet.
I believe that Daniel and Steven are a lovely couple. Yes some people may struggle with how they chose to live their lives, but at the end of the day it is their life and they should be able to live it as they please. You can’t help who you love but you can control how you love them! People are still so caught up in this black or white world that they can’t move passed it and see beyond that. They might be ‘gay’ but it doesn’t change if they are a good person or not and they definitely shouldn’t be treated any less because of who they are choosing to love.
“Marriage Protection Amendment.” Family in Society: Essential Primary Sources, edited by K. Lee Lerner, et al., Gale, 2006, pp. 67-70. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link-gale-com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/apps/doc/CX2688300039/OVIC?u=ucinc_main&sid=OVIC&xid=25c93821. Accessed 11 Mar. 2020.
During the 1980s and 1990s, federal courts began examining state statutes dealing with homosexuality. There were laws passed the help them from employment disgrimanitation. There were also 3 cases in Hawaii of same sex people trying to get married and was denied and it was sent to the supreme court. The ruling was that “U.S. law requires states to recognize legal marriages performed in other states; such a ruling would implicitly legalize same-sex marriage throughout the United States.” In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act.
People took action and made cases that were valid. These cases were so strong that they were sent to the supreme court. Laws were made Bills were passed. The people who were fighting for their rights were not giving up without a fight. There were legislative decesions made about gay marriage. People were fighting with laws and “haters” for a long long time, but they did not give up.
This article was unbiased. The writer simply just wrote about the facts. I believe that these people have every right to fight for themselves. If they don’t do it nobody will and they will never get anywhere with is issue. This same sex marriage is a real issue and all they want is to have the same rights as a straight couple. This article discusses how many different hoops were jumped through to get some type of equality.
ENGLISH HWK 