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6. Conclusion The Trouble with Marriage Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening the good influence of society. —President George W. Bush, February 25, 2004, calling for a federal constitutional amendment to define marriage as a one man–one woman union Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. —President Barack Obama, January 21, 2013, in his second inaugural address, arguing that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry legally In the 2000s “the politics of social difference and gay identity” moved to the center stage in mainstream cultural debate (Becker, 2006, p. 219). The intense media coverage surrounding the issue of same-sex marriage, launched by the Lawrence decision in June 2003, fueled America’s “straight panic” (Becker, 2006; Walters, 2001b). Straight America had come head to head with the politics of heterosexual privilege over the issue of same-sex-marriage rights. At the center of this confrontation was the fear that gay marriage would destabilize traditional heterosexual unions. For example, the March 3, 2004, episode of CBS Nightly News (Reiss, 2004, March 3) featured video of a newly married gay couple jubilantly squeezing their three adopted children in a celebratory family embrace. The ominous voice dubbed over the image was that of Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, who warned television audiences: “The wildfire will begin . . . same-sex marriage is likely to spread to all 50 states in the coming years.” 126 chapter six In the eight years since that story aired, Senator Frist’s predication did not come to fruition—not by a long shot. However, the movement toward marriage equality seemed to be shifting, some might argue “inevitably,” as Iowa and several states in the Northeast made moves to legalize same-sex marriages. National public opinion polls have continued to show growing support for same-sex-marriage rights. On June 24, 2011, New York became the sixth, the largest, and the most visible state to grant legal status to samesex nuptials. With a 33 to 29 vote, four members of the Republican majority voted with Senate Democrats to sign the marriage bill into law. Senator Mark Grisanti of Buffalo, who had previously campaigned on an anti–gay marriage platform, told his constituents he had “agonized” over the decision before ultimately supporting the bill: “I apologize for those who feel offended. I cannot deny a person, a human being, a taxpayer, a worker, the people of my district and across this state, the State of New York, and those people who make this the great state that it is the same rights that I have with my wife” (Confessore & Barbaro, 2011). One month later nearly 1,000 gay and lesbian couples rushed to be among the first married in New York State. At the time of this writing, on the heels of the 2012 presidential election, the issue continues to draw controversy, heated political debate, and media headlines. Same-sex-marriage rights were up for public vote in four states in 2012, and in a historic first, voters approved measures that would legalize gay marriage. Three states—Maine, Maryland, and Washington—endorsed same-sex marriage rights, and not through legislation or court rulings as in the past, but this time at the ballot box. As this chapter’s opening epigraph recounts, President Obama pressed for equal marriage rights in his 2013 inaugural address. In referencing the 1969 Stonewall riots, he equated the contemporary gay rights movement to the women’s movement and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Two months later, the U.S. Supreme Court dove into the debate for the first time in ten years, beginning hearings on two significant gay marriage cases. The decisions, released in June of 2013, ruled the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional (United States v. Windsor) and reinstated legal same-sex marriages in California (Hollingsworth v. Perry). In covering the historic decisions ,newsorganizationsaroundthegloberoutinelyfeaturedsame-sexcouples celebrating, oftentimes in a teary embrace, flanked by cheering supporters and pictured with their infants and young children in tow. Nevertheless, while the Supreme Court’s DOMA decision extended federal benefits to those same-sex couples already legally married, it left 29 state-wide bans intact. The Supreme Court stopped short of declaring same-sex marriage a constitutional right, and failed to propose any sort...

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