The Background

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

In recent years, the topic of how to define marriage has taken up many hours in each state's legislature. Should "marriage" be limited to one man and one woman or should "marriage" be something that any two people can take part in? States have swung both ways in the ongoing debate.

Many states have prohibited same-sex marriage by using “defense of marriage” language. This language defines marriage in their state in a way similar to the language in the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) —“the word 'marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” Twenty-nine states use that language in their state constitutions.

In the United States today, nine states, as well as the District of Columbia, allow same-sex marriages to be performed. These states include Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Maine, Maryland, and Washington. In California, the recognition of same-sex marriages has not yet taken effect.

Although other states limit marriage between a man and a woman, they have expanded legal rights available to same-sex couples. They have put in place civil unions and domestic partnerships in order to do so.

Several states have also expanded the legal rights available to spouses in same-sex relationships while also limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples with civil unions and domestic partnerships.


LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL GLOSSARY OF TERMS

TRANSGENDER GLOSSARY OF TERMS  

OFFENSIVE TERMS TO AVOID IN THE MEDIA

DEFAMATORY LANGUAGE

OBAMA'S MAY 2012 ANNOUNCEMENT

"For me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married." 
-Barack Obama

IN THE MEDIA

Released in 2010, "8: The Mormon Proposition" directed by Reed Cowan and Steven Greenstreet, became an iconic media sensation in the LGBT community. The documentary chastised the Latter-day Saint church for their alleged involvement in California's Proposition 8.

The New York Times review of "8: The Mormon Proposition"

Even in popular shows like Gossip Girl, sexual minorities are represented through characters like Eric van der Woodsen. In this clip, Eric is "outed" by Georgina at the dinner table.

In October of 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was brutally tortured, tied to a fence and left for dead outside the town of Laramie, Wyoming. A month after the murder, the members of Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie and conducted interviews with the people of the town. From these interviews they wrote the play The Laramie Project, which they later made into a film for HBO. The piece has been seen by more than 30 million people around the country. The full movie can be found on YouTube.

And finally, a creative response to the Chick-fil-A "hysteria"...