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Emily Evenson

03/03/11

Into To Psychology; Thursday 6-9

Psychology In The Real World

There has long been a debate on the constitutional and moral rights of gay

marriage and what it would mean for this country. Many people believe that it is against

the constitutional rights to discriminate against the LGBT community. Where as there are

many for it, there are also many against it- believing that it is against their moral and

religious rights to allow same-sex marriages. I will be comparing two articles- one from

Time magazine and one from the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, both about

gay marriage and what this country should do.

The article that I chose from Time magazine does differ from the Hardvard

Journal of Law article. The article from Time magazine, Obama Changes Course on

Defense of Marriage Act by Michael A. Lindenberger is referring to a recent event, in

which President Barak Obama declared that he was reversing course on gay marriage and

that the government would no longer stand behind the gay marriage ban. It also spoke

about how while many stand behind this decision, some do not, and believe it to be a

complete violation of their morals and religious rights. The article Gay Sex and
Marriage, The Reciprocal Disadvantage Problem, and the Crisis in Liberal

Constitutional Theory by Louis Michael Seidman, is explaining why U.S. Chief Justice

Antonin Gregory Scalia is wrong to think that the case for gay rights is outside

constitutional argument, and Seidman goes further by discussing why the belief is still

held.

Where as the popular magazine article didn’t offer any solutions, it did tell what

was happening in our country. It does state that even just two years ago, announcing

something so drastic as Obama did by changing the government’s position on same-sex

marriage, it would have seemed unthinkable. It is possible that a solution is not needed,

and many would venture to say that Obama doing this is the solution, and the problem

was that the LGBT community was having their constitutional rights taken away by not

allowing them marriage.

The research study as well, agrees that it is unconstitutional to withhold rights

from the LGBT community. He states that they are being unfair to innocent gay and

lesbian citizens who want nothing more than to get on with their private lives. He thinks

that Justice Scalia and people like Pat Robertson, John Finnis or Pope Benedict XVI will

not be won over by any debates that go against their own moral grounds. He doesn’t

believe they will be wavered, but America will, something which Obama proved that we

are a changing, growing country by announcing this to the United States of America.

Both articles state that constitutional discrimination is wrong.

Both articles state that there should be changes in policies and laws. Times are
changing. With Obama’s announcement, there are already two ongoing federal lawsuits

that will be effected. DOMA is being scrutinized and will hopefully no longer allow

certain states from not recognizing a gay marriage. California’s Prop 8 is also going to be

be effected, it was a ban on gay marriage in the state of California, but a federal judge

agreed that the ban was violating the U.S. Constitution, and it is now tied up in appeals,

but with any luck, President Obama’s new announcement will change that and people

will become more accepting of others and allow them to be married. Many cases through

the years about gay marriage have been found unconstitutional, which is why there was

recently a repeal of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the military which required gay

service members not to reveal their sexual orientation, and this law is no longer in effect

in the United States of America, because it was deemed unconstitutional, just like the ban

on gay marriage is being deemed unconstitutional now.

I believe that President Obama is taking a huge step in the right direction. He is

showing the American people what it really means to be united. We are one country, in

which everyone deserves to have the same rights. There was once a time where African

American’s did not have the rights that the European American’s did, and now as we

look back, we see it as barbaric, senseless, and heartless. One day, I believe that we will

look back and see how we treated the LGBT community as barbaric, senseless, and

heartless. The American people need to stand up for what is right, and that includes the

same rights for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, race or creed. We need to
stand strong as a country, and treat each other with respect, the same way we teach our

children to do in Elementary school.

In conclusion, both of the articles that I chose agreed on the fact that banning gay

marriage was unconstitutional. President Obama is doing what he can to correct this

issue, and hopefully, and the Harvard article agrees, everyone else will agree one day,

including those people who are so against it now. One day everyone can live in harmony

and we will accept each other, regardless of the things that we can’t change about

ourselves, or our neighbors.

Works Cited
LindenBerger, Michael A. "Obama Changes Course on Gay Marriage" TIME. 24 Feb.
2011. Web. 3 Mar. 2011.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2055213,00.html.

Seidman, Louis M. "Gay Sex and Marriage, The Reciprocal Disadvantage Problem, and
the Crisis in Liberal Constitutional Theory." Harvard Journal of Law & Public
Policy 31.1 (2008): 135-50.

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