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“Your sister is a lesbian.” The clock ticked loudly as junior Maddy Reed stared at her mother in disbelief. To Reed, there was no possibility that their extremely conservative, Christian family could include a lesbian.
When her mother made no move to deny it, the truth began to sink in. Reed began to cry, afraid for her sister.
“I was afraid of how people were going to accept it,” Reed said. “I knew that she was my sister no matter what. I was afraid of how people were going to look at her and treat her. But now to me, it’s not a big deal. However, at one point, she did get engaged. I was happy for her because she did seem truly happy, but I was questioning how that was going to work out.”
Reed’s story is repeated on a daily basis across the United States as the battle for marriage equality heads to the Supreme Court. On March 27 the Court heard arguments for and against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a law signed in 1996 by President Bill Clinton that limits federally-recognized marriages to those between a man and a woman and allows states to ignore marriage licenses from other states. Frank Gerard, civics and economics teacher, said DOMA contradicts Article IV of the U.S. Constitution.
“Technically, Article IV would validate any license in any state under the ‘Full Faith and Credit Clause,’ so they have to make two determinations: one, the status of couples for tax purposes, and two, the status of one license in one state recognized in another state,” Gerard said.
The Court also heard arguments for and against California’s Proposition 8, a ballot proposition that overturned the state’s brief legalization of same-sex marriage.
National opinion of same-sex marriage has changed over the years. However, there has been a rush in state governments to pass measures barring same-sex couples from marrying. According to a Gallup poll, 68 percent of Americans opposed same-sex marriage in 1996. That number dropped to 48 percent by 2012. Nine states have legalized same-sex marriage, while 38 states, including North Carolina, have passed measures to legally ban it.
“There’s almost a dichotomy between what is said in the voting booth and what is in the national polls,” Gerard said. “Generally, what is heard in the 40 states or so that have voted it down are traditionalists.”
Junior Kaylee Campen said marriage is a right that should concern only those involved in the relationship.
“If someone is happy with someone, then what’s my point in judging that person for loving that person?” Campen said. “It’s none of my business who they like as long as that person loves the other person. It doesn’t affect me in any way. Marriage is a human right. Same-sex marriage is not any different than a man and a woman getting married. It’s two different people. They may be the same gender, but that doesn’t make them not human.”
President Clinton, who signed DOMA into law during his presidency in 1996, recently said he regrets his decision.
“Reading those words today, I know now that, even worse than providing an excuse for discrimination, the law is itself discriminatory. It should be overturned,” Clinton wrote for The Washington Post
According to www.hrc.org, there are 1,138 rights that heterosexual wedded couples have that unmarried same-sex couples do not, including social security benefits, hospital visitation rights, certain tax provisions and employer-provided health care coverage.
“When the government says that I don’t have certain rights that other people do, that’s a problem,” Julianna Stout, biology teacher, said. “The Constitution and our amendments are supposed to be making us fair, all equal, under the eyes of the law, and if the Court says that I don’t have those rights, then I’m not equal. That’s not right. The right to hold the hand of the person that you love as they’re dying is not a privilege. It should be a right.”
Americans are divided in their views on same-sex marriage.
“I’m a very religious person, and same-sex marriage is against my beliefs,” junior Maddy Reed said. “The Bible says that it’s sinful. I don’t think it should be legal at all, but the states have a right to decide what they want to allow in their area. I don’t think being gay makes anyone a bad person. In the Bible, every sin is the same.”
The Supreme Court is expected to announce its decisions in the DOMA and Proposition 8 cases in June before the court adjourns for the summer.
