First Thing First... The History Behind Marriage Equality
The injustice of marriage equality dates back to the early 1970’s, where one of three cases were brought to the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge the inability to marry. This suggests that people in office oppose marriage equality. This applies to the issue of marriage equality by people in higher power denying same-sex couples the ability to get married. For example, On May 18, 1970, two University of Minnesota students, Richard John 'Jack' Baker and James Michael McConnell applied to Hennepin County District Court clerk Gerald Nelson for a marriage license. He denied the application, because the applicants both were men… Baker v. Nelson has been used in other states as precedent to block efforts at marriage equality." This illustrates how many people were against same-sex marriage.
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There were very few attempts to organize in support of same sex marriage in the early days of the LGBTQ movement. "In the United States, few attempts were made to create advocacy groups supporting gay and lesbian relationships until after World War II…"
I believe it should be acknowledged that the reason that gay marriage wasn’t pursued to start was because there were so many other issues more drastic that had to be dealt with like police arresting gay people, or housing discrimination, job discrimination, etc. So it wasn’t that people didn’t want it at first – but it was instead that the most important issue to fight for at first wasn’t marriage. This led to many to people becoming cognizant of the fact that there were same-sex couples.
I believe it should be acknowledged that the reason that gay marriage wasn’t pursued to start was because there were so many other issues more drastic that had to be dealt with like police arresting gay people, or housing discrimination, job discrimination, etc. So it wasn’t that people didn’t want it at first – but it was instead that the most important issue to fight for at first wasn’t marriage. This led to many to people becoming cognizant of the fact that there were same-sex couples.
As gay students of color, it is the fire within us that finds this unjust to deny someone being with the person they love because of them being from the same-sex.
It was not until the 1980's that securing legal recognition for same-sex relationships became an urgent concern of lesbians and gay men. Decades earlier, such recognition was almost unimaginable. In the 1950's, most states criminalized gay people’s sexual intimacy. "The lesbian and gay liberation movements of the early 1970s did not make marriage a priority — quite the opposite". Activists have fought police raids, job discrimination and families’ rejection of their queer children. Most radical activists scorned the very idea of marriage. But a handful walked into clerks’ offices across the country to request marriage licenses. State officials suddenly realized that their laws failed to limit marriage to a man and a woman; no other arrangement had been imagined. By 1978, 15 states had written this limitation into law. Today, there are 35 states where gay marriage is legal, denying a request to block same-same weddings from proceeding. |
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