
The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage
(aka gay marriage)
across the U.S. in its ruling of The Obergefell v. Hodges case from
Kentucky,
Michigan, Ohio, & Tennessee.
Part 40: 2015-JUN-26:
Disagreements among the High Court Justices:
Justice Scalia's minority opinion (Cont'd) .
Looking back at historical redefinitions of marriage.
We use the term "gay marriage."to represent the marriage of two persons of
the same sex.
We prefer "Same-sex marriage," a more inclusive term that
includes spouses with a bisexual sexual orientation, but it would make this web
site harder
to find.
"LGBT" refers to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender persons
and transsexuals.
"LGB" refers to lesbians, gays, and bisexuals.


Excerpts from Justice Scalia's minority opinion (Cont'd):

Looking back upon past marriage redefinitions in the U.S. from the perspective of history:
- At the conclusion of the civil war in the mid 1960's (a.k.a. the War Between the States and the War of Northern Agression) slaves were freed from slavey and able to freely choose to marry persons that they loved for the first time. Previously, they were considered property and could only marry with he approval of their owners.
- In the early 20th century, a few states that had banned profoundly deaf couples from marrying repealed their laws and attained marriage equality for such couples.
-
A half century ago, In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court issued their ruling in Loving v. Virginia. It repealed all of the anti-miscegenation laws in 16 contiguous states which form the southeast quadrant of the United States, from Virginia to Texas to Florida. This legalized interracial marriage across the country. At the time, about 72% of American adults were opposed to
interracial marriage and 48% felt that marrying a person of another race should
be prosecuted as a criminal act. IMHO, this was a brave act by the Court.
-
Now, on 2015-JUN-26, the U.S. Supreme Court issued their ruling in Obergefell v, Hodges. It repealed all of the gay marriage bans in 13 states in the South and Mid-west, and in four territories in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This legalized gay marriage across the country. At the time, about 35% of American adults were still opposed to
same-sex marriage. This number has been in decline for decades; this trend is expected to continue.
There was heavy opposition to these changes at the time. However, today, a half-century or more has passed, and the first three are almost universally regarded as beneficial changes to the definition marriage and to the wellbeing of Americans. Only time will tell whether the fourth change to the definition of marriage will receive the same level of support. A few weeks after the High Courts ruling in Obergefell, the tenth anniversary of the legalization of gay marriage in Canada will occurr. Canadians are now overwhelmingly in favor of marriage equality to the point where the terms "same-sex marriage" and "gay marriage" are essentially defunct. Mariages by same-sex couples have been routine for a decade, and are referred to simply as "marriages." 

References used:The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
-
"Supreme Court of the United States: Obergefell et al. v. Hodges..." Supreme Court, 2015-APR-26, Page 10 of section titled "Roberts, C.J., dissenting," at: http://www.supremecourt.gov/
- Ibid, Page 5.
-
Charles C. Camosy, "Does the Catholic Church support the use of a surrogate mother to have a child?," Busted Halo, 2012, at: http://bustedhalo.com/
- Op Cit, "Supreme Court." Page 6 and 7.
- Op Cit, "Supreme Court." Page 6 of section titled "Scalia J., dissenting"
- Ibid Page 5
- Ibid Page 6
How you may have arrived here:
 Copyright © 2015 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.
First posted: 2015-JUN-27
Latest update: 2015-JUL-05
Author: B.A. Robinson

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