Same-Sex Marriage: A Sociological Perspective on US Laws and Society

This presentation offers a sociological analysis of same-sex marriage in the United States, covering its historical evolution, legal frameworks, and societal perceptions. It begins with an overview of key events, including the 2015 Supreme Court decision, and explores the interplay of socioeconomic, religious, and cultural factors. The presentation delves into the evolution of social movements advocating for LGBT rights, the development of anti-discrimination laws, and the role of sociological theories such as functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, and queer theory in understanding the issue. It also addresses the impact of uncertainty on stakeholders, tactics used by activists, and shifts in public opinion. The presentation concludes with a discussion on the potential effects of same-sex marriage on society and provides relevant references. The assignment fulfills the requirements of the course by analyzing the evolution of social movements, the application of sociological theory to understand disparities in political power, analyzing the evolution of anti-discrimination law, and addressing questions reflecting public perception using supporting data or research.

SAME SEX
MARRIAGE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

SAME SEX MARRIAGE IN THE
UNITED STATES: AN OVERVIEW
• Marriage between same sexes or the gay
marriage happens between two people who
belong from the same gender or sex
(Coffman, Coffman & Ericson.)
• The United States had dynamic approach
towards this phenomenon depending on the
changing leaders and their perspectives.
Several Prospects like socioeconomic,
religious and cultural prospects are
associated with the concept of gay marriage.

EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL
MOVEMENTS
• The laws about same sex marriage are made based on gender
orientation, ethnicity and race inside the United
States.Although, it is still believed that the laws and regulations
should be same for every human being(Blackwell et al. 2016.)
• Authority and power happens to be two aspects of society that
are critical. It has been one essential aspect that take care of
crucial decisions in the society mostly.

TIMELINE OF KEY HISTORIC EVENTS
• The United States tend to have a long
history since 1970s when it comes gay
marriage.
• The very first lawsuits had took place
around 1972 when civil rights about
acknowledging the relationship or marriage
between two individuals of same (Mallon,
2017.)
• Later, the United States and its central
power wanted an authority to keep and do
not sanction civil rights of the LGBT
community at the same time.

MILESTONES
• Many people protested but the government
stick to its Christian belief. However, on
2004 marriage between same sex took
place and the situation started to gradually
change.
• The supreme court of Hawaii interfered in
this and very soon the marriage between
same sex were allowed. In the same year,
Massachusetts became the first American
state to legalize gay marriage (Bittner,
2018.)

EVOLUTION OF FEDERAL LEGISLATION
OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS
• The federal government of the United States has always
been against the concept of gay marriage since the start.
• It followed Christianity that prohibited marriage between
same sexes. In the year of 1970, Richard Baker and James
McConnell had applied for marriage license at Minnesota.
• Their application got rejected by clerk Gerald Nelson as
they were from the same sex. Thy again appealed at 1972
but the federal courts left to the state that hoped for
legalization of gay marriage (Kahn & Gorski, 2016.)

FEDERAL ANTI – DISCRIMINATION
LAWS
• Despite implementation of certain policies, the Federal
Law still does not have provisions for protection of
individuals against discrimination.
• In the current context, the discrimination is explicitly on
the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
• However, the protections against such discrimination are
considered under the Equality Act 2019
• Historically, the anti – discrimination laws were attempted
to be incorporated in the Equality Laws 1974, but was a
failure.

SEXUAL DIVERSITY IN THE
COUNTRY AND EMERGENCE
OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
• The issue of sexual diversity became massive concern in the United
States of America.
• The lesbian and Gay people declared their orientation of sex right
even before seeking for an approval from the public.
• They marched and revolted for their rights of equality and
legalization of same sex marriage in the United States (Griggs et
al., 2017)
• Various social movements have evolved since then that have
attempted to promote this diversity.

CURRENT POLITICAL
LANDSCAPE
• In the year of 2013, Supreme Court of the United State took a
decision on striking down the law against federal recognition of same
sex people and significant impacts impetus for the lawsuit and its
progress was made (Ng & Rumens, 2017.) Later on many debates and
marches have been made to legalize the same sex marriage.
• Ad per (Hart-Brinson, 2016) the sociological theory about same sex
marriages prior to June 26, 2015, the supreme court of United States
decided to legalize the act throughout the nation.

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
AND POLITICAL POWERS
• There are theory of social construction, theory of
punctuated equilibrium and theory of multiple system
approach.
• All of these theories have elaborated agenda associated
with authority and power of federal state along with its
implementation of power to stop the same sex marriage.
• It was systemic agenda previously but late on became a
controversial topic among public (Wills et al. 2016.)

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES,
POLITICAL DISPARITY AND
SEXUALITY
• Functionalist ideals of sexuality enforces the regulation of sexual
behavior so that the marital cohesion and family stability are maintained.
• This is often used as a political tool to justify the irrationality of same sex
marriage.
• Conflict theorists on the other hand identifies the conflict between
heterosexual normalcy and homosexual understanding.
• symbolic interactionist theory focuses on the meanings associated with
sexuality and sexual orientation.
• This was also largely utilized as a political toolkit to marginalize the
homosexual communities.
• queer theory devalues the rigid division of people on the basis of males
and females and allows for change, negotiation and sexual freedom

EFFECTS OF UNCERTAINTY TO THE
STAKEHOLDERS
• In the personal, professional and educational contexts, the issues of same
sex marriage shall be mitigated because the society is gradually
becoming global day by day.
• Various countries like the Europe had already legalized this issue of
diversity (Stavrou & Ierodiakonou, 2018.)
• The communities have policymakers those who understand a fact that
marriage between same sex or a sexual orientation of a person towards
the other person belonging from similar gender is not something
unnatural.

TACTICS USED FOR
THE CAUSE
• People belonging from the LGBT community or sexual minorities have
secured civil rights. They should not get alienated from the society
and at the same denied from any access towards health treatment.
• The humanitarian experts tend to believe that these people should
have equal and similar rights (Currier & Cruz, 2017.) All the
discriminatory processes has to be stopped as it has the tendency to
ruin the country’s social reputation.
• Activists over time have taken various personal and public measures
to promote same sex marriage in the United States.

75 PERCENT OF PEOPLE ARE AGAINST
GAY MARRIAGE. WHO ARE THEY?
• The public opinion of the people belonging from United States
has changed and shifted towards the support or acceptance of
gay people and their marriage.
• They demanded of equal rights for lesbians and gays same as
other majority of a society.
• As per the Gallup Paul, percentage of the Americans those who
think that relationship between people belonging from same sex
is a consent of adults which should be legal (Poggione, 2019.)

EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC PERCEPTION
• Since the 2000s, the public opinion regarding same sex
marriage has been on the rise with the numbers at almost
50% by 2011 and nearing 70% by the end of the second
decade.
• A decrease in opposition was also reported in tandem with
only 22% as of 2018.
• According to Silver (2010), the acceptance, from 1988 to the
late 2009, has accelerated at a rate of 1% per year to 1.5%
per year and has been on the rise since then.

IF GAYS ARE ALLOWED TO GET
MARRIED WONT IT DESTROY
THE SOCIAL FABRIC?
• The gay or lesbian people belonging from the LGBT community are
same human beings like the majority who are capable of doing things
same as the majority or even better depending accordingly.
• Yet they face problems for their sexual orientation and choices of living.
in worst cases they get judged based on their sex, race and even
cultural background from where they belong that is not only unfair but
also unethical.
• If they are allowed to married it will not destroy the social fabric (Coe,
Bruce & Ratcliff, 2017.)

• Thus, it is concluded that the
diversity within the society
always should be a welcoming
fact.
• Diversity of the relationship or
marriage between people
belonging from the same sex
and their rights are discussed
in this presentation.
• It gives a detailed
understanding and
contemplates the time and
protests of LGBT community
and gay marriages.

REFERENCESBaunach, D. M. (2012). Changing same-sex marriage attitudes in America from 1988 through 2010. Public Opinion Quarterly, 76(2), 364-378.
Beasley, C. R., Jenkins, R. A., & Valenti, M. (2015). Special section on LGBT resilience across cultures: Introduction. American journal of community
psychology, 55(1-2), 164-166.
Bittner, R. (2018). Queer Christian Voices in YA Literature: A Scholar’s Account of# OwnVoices Positioning in the 21st Century. Research on Diversity
in Youth Literature, 1(1), 5.
Blackwell, L., Hardy, J., Ammari, T., Veinot, T., Lampe, C., & Schoenebeck, S. (2016, May). LGBT parents and social media: Advocacy, privacy, and
disclosure during shifting social movements. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 610-622). ACM.
Boston, N., Duyvendak, J. W., Paternotte, D., & Tremblay, M. (2015). People of color mobilization in LGBT movements in the Netherlands and the United
States. The Ashgate research companion to lesbian and gay activism, 135.
Bump, P., (2019). "Republicans would least like their kids to marry a transgender person. For Democrats? A Republican". Washington Post. Retrieved
Retrieved 2019-10-26
Coe, K., Bruce, R. J., & Ratcliff, C. L. (2017). Presidential communication about marginalized groups: Applying a new analytic framework in the context
of the LGBT community. Journal of Communication, 67(6), 851-873.
Coffman, K. B., Coffman, L. C., & Ericson, K. M. M. (2016). The size of the LGBT population and the magnitude of antigay sentiment are substantially
underestimated. Management Science, 63(10), 3168-3186
Currier, A., & Cruz, J. M. (2017). The politics of pre-emption: mobilisation against LGBT rights in Liberia. Social Movement Studies, 1-15.
Deflem, M. (2017). Gaga Activism: The New Ethics of Pop Culture. In Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame (pp. 145-167). Palgrave Macmillan, New
York.
Fox, S. B. (2016). A Comparative Analysis Between the Histories and Methods of the Pro-Life and LGBT Movements.
Equality Act, (2019). H.R. 5, 116th Congress. www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2019-10-26 from
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5/text/eh.

Gerstmann, E. (2017). Same-sex Marriage and the Constitution. Cambridge University Press.
Griggs, J., Maingi, S., Blinder, V., Denduluri, N., Khorana, A. A., Norton, L., ... & Rowland, J. H. (2017). American Society of Clinical Oncology
position statement: Strategies for reducing cancer health disparities among sexual and gender minority populations. Obstetrical & Gynecological
Survey, 72(10), 598-599.
Hart-Brinson, P. (2016). The social imagination of homosexuality and the rise of same-sex marriage in the United States. Socius, 2,
2378023116630555.
Irby, B. J., Torres, M. S., & Abdelrahman, N. (2018). Dominant Trends in the Evolution of K‐12 Education Policy in the United States. The Wiley
Handbook of Educational Policy, 51.
Hart-Brinson, P. (2016). The social imagination of homosexuality and the rise of same-sex marriage in the United States. Socius, 2,
2378023116630555.
Kahn, M., & Gorski, P. C. (2016). The Gendered and Heterosexist Evolution of the Teacher Exemplar in the United States: Equity
Implications for LGBTQ and Gender Nonconforming Teachers. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 18(2), 15-38.
Kazyak, E., & Stange, M. (2018). Backlash or a Positive Response?: Public Opinion of LGB Issues After Obergefell v. Hodges. Journal
of homosexuality, 65(14), 2028-2052.
Knauer, N. J. (2018). Federalism, marriage equality, and LGBT rights. In Controversies in American Federalism and Public Policy (pp.
93-113). Routledge.
MacCartney, D. (2018). The Global-Local Tension of LGBT Rights. Human Rights Review, 19(1), 121-126.Mallon, G. P. (2017).
Knowledge for practice with LGBT people. In Social Work Practice with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People (pp. 1-18).
Routledge.
Mallon, G. P. (2017). Knowledge for practice with LGBT people. In Social Work Practice with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
People (pp. 1-18). Routledge.
Ng, E., & Rumens, N. (2017). Diversity and inclusion for LGBT workers: Current issues and new horizons for research. Canadian
Journal of Administrative Sciences, 34(2), 109-120.

Poggione, S. (2019). State-Level Public Opinion and Public Policy on LGBT Issues. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics.
Roumpi, D., Giannakis, P., & Delery, J. E. (2019). Adoption of LGBT‐friendly practices: The effect of institutional pressures and
strategic choice. Human Resource Management Journal.
Stavrou, E., & Ierodiakonou, C. (2018). Expanding the work–life balance discourse to LGBT employees: Proposed research
framework and organizational responses. Human Resource Management, 57(6), 1355-1370.
Willis, P., Hafford-Letchfield, T., Smith, A., King, A., & Cronin, A. (2016). Bonds, bridges and ties: applying social capital theory to
LGBT people’s housing concerns later in life. Quality in Ageing and Older Adults.
Silver, N. (2010). Opinion on same-sex marriage appears to shift at accelerated pace. FiveThirtyEight: Politics done right.
Steinmetz, K., (2013). "Why Federal Laws Don't Explicitly Ban Discrimination Against LGBT Americans". Time Magazine. Retrieved
2019-10-26.
Worthen, M. G., Lingiardi, V., & Caristo, C. (2017). The roles of politics, feminism, and religion in attitudes toward LGBT individuals:
A cross-cultural study of college students in the USA, Italy, and Spain. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 14(3), 241-258.
Worthen, M. G., Lingiardi, V., & Caristo, C. (2017). The roles of politics, feminism, and religion in attitudes toward LGBT individuals:
A cross-cultural study of college students in the USA, Italy, and Spain. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 14(3), 241-258.
Killough, A. (May 17, 2019). "Houses passes Equality Act to increase protections for sexual orientation and gender identity". CNN.
Retrieved 2019-10-26

THANK YOU