by Irene Gilbert

For decades, gay marriage has been controversial. Homosexuality wasn’t seen as mainstream or acceptable until the 1980s, and it wasn’t until 2004 that same-gender couples were allowed to marry each other– in Massachusetts alone. In 2013, ten out of the 50 states have passed amendments allowing gay marriage. The Supreme Court is currently debating two different pieces of legislation concerning this issue. The first, Proposition 8, was a ballot proposition in California that specifically defined marriage in the state as “between a man and a woman,” despite California’s previous legalization of gay marriage. The second piece, the Defense of Marriage Act, also defined marriage as strictly heterosexual, as well as refusing benefits to homosexual couples. I am here to argue that it is the responsibility of the Supreme Court to make the decision regarding both pieces of legislation, as opposed to that of the states.
Gay marriage is a difficult issue to defend, because it forces me to reconcile the part of me that believes in gay marriage fundamentally with my belief in state’s rights. As a straight ally and member of the GTSA, my personal investment in the issue often takes center stage. However, right now the issue on trial is whether or not the right to enforce gay marriage belongs with the federal or the state governments.
But as our country stands, the federal government has a responsibility to its people to enforce civil rights, and I believe that includes gay marriage. The government simply cannot allow one demographic to get married whilst denying an equally capable demographic the same right. Moreover, alternatives to marriage such as civil unions and domestic partnerships do not get the same benefits– this means health care, insurance, pensions, and any of the other rights granted to married couples. To deny marriage but offer civil unions is to uphold the damaging idea of “separate but equal” that the Supreme Court struck down with Brown v. Board of Education.
Living in brookline, it is easy to forget that only 53% of the country supports gay marriage. This is a slim majority, and if it were put to a referendum in many states, it would probably not pass, much like it didn’t in California in 2008. Though I agree with state’s rights, I believe the federal government and the Supreme Court have an ultimate responsibility to prevent them from denying civil rights to its people.
If DOMA were to be overturned, it would mean that states that didn’t allow gay marriage would be forced to recognize such unions if they occurred in one of the states where it is legalized, which would mean, in theory, that same-gender married couples could live wherever they want and have their marriage be considered legal. It would also mean that marriage was not strictly heterosexual, which would open it up for the states to, one-by-one, change their own state constitutions to include gay marriage.
Proposition 8, if it were overturned, would be difficult because it means the federal government would be refusing to accept a state’s democratic choice. 52% of Californians voted in favor of Prop 8, meaning it won, fair and square. Its message upsets me deeply but I cannot contest it. However, I believe that Prop 8 and DOMA are discriminatory and hateful, and need to be overturned in order to uphold equality in this country.
Much of the opposition to gay marriage comes from members of the religious community who believe that marriage should be defined by the Bible. I grew up a practicing Episcopalian, but I think this argument is ridiculous, least of all because the Bible was written thousands of years ago and is full of irrelevant teachings. Instead, I disagree with this because of separation of church and state, which is one of the most important vestiges of our government. To say that the government shouldn’t legalize gay marriage because of one religious denomination is unjust and goes against what our country stands for.
For me this issue is not about politics. I cannot believe, that in 2013, there are still people who believe that two consenting adults cannot make the decision to marry each other, when any heterosexual couple can get married and divorced within a day. This has nothing to do with heterosexual marriage– if straight people are concerned about same-gender couples ruining marriage for everyone, they should just try not to marry gay people. When it comes down to it, this is about a community being treated as equal under the eyes of the law. This is about one person being able to visit their husband or wife in the hospital, which is, believe it or not, a right denied to gay couples in most states. This is about LGBT youth feeling like their country will accept them. This is about acceptance, equality, and most of all, love– and who is our government to define that?

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