This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Texas chapter.
You may have noticed that many of your Facebook friends or Twitter followers have set their default photo as a red square with a bright pink equal sign. This trend is promoting the official symbol of the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered individuals. This symbol is spreading like wildfire via social media to bring attention to the monumental Supreme Court hearings that have been occurring since Tuesday, March 26. These hearings concern whether or not gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in a California case that could transform the law nationwide.
The case that is now being debated within the courts has been going on for nearly a decade. Starting in 2004, several same-sex couples sought marriage licenses in San Francisco and filed a suit to state court. They won a hearing from the California Supreme Court in 2008 that decided denying gays and lesbians the right to marriage was denying them liberty and equality under the state constitution. However, the critics of this decision quickly shut down this ruling with Proposition 8 in November 2008, amending the state constitution and restricting marriage to be between men and women. Another act being reviewed is the Defense of Marriage Act that restricts federal marriage benefits and required interstate marriage recognition to only opposite-sex marriages. Now, both Proposition 8 and DOMA are being further reviewed in what could be considered a landmark case of this century, Hollingworth vs. Perry.
As of the end of the hearings on Wednesday March 28, progress has been made in favor of those supporting same-sex marriage. The majority of the Supreme Court justices indicated they were willing to invalidate part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act if they are able to get past some procedural problems. This act impacts more than 1,100 statutes in terms of relevant tax breaks, Social Security survivor benefits, and, for federal employees, health insurance and leave to care for spouses.
If DOMA is struck down, it is clearly a victory for gay rights advocates. However, this result will not deliver the sweeping, nationwide endorsement of same-sex marriage that some advocates may want. At this point, the major debate is whether or not the Supreme Court decides whether a state’s ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional or not. Numbers have skyrocketed in the past few years of those in favor of same-sex marriage, from 40% in October 2009, to 51% as of December 2012. Such support has also been reflected on the UT campus.
“As far as I can tell, allowing gay marriage wouldn’t harm anyone else and so I have no problem with it, I think it is very sad that Prop 8 passed at all,
especially when you consider that California is one of the most liberal states in the country,” said freshman Michelle Willoughby.
The topic of religion intertwining with politics has also stirred up some powerful opinions.
“I’m a Christian and I really think that government and religion should be separate so there should be no reason for the government to define who can/can’t get married,” explained freshman Kari Yanez.
Katie Washburn, sophomore, agreed. “Regardless of religious beliefs, I think it is birthright in this free country to have equality, and legalizing gay marriage would be a leap forward in achieving this.”
Even though there are conflicting opinions on the issue, there is no question of how significant social media and technology have been in the recognition and understanding of the case.
“I really do think this is a turning point in our history,” said Yanez. “We will look back and be able to remember just how important this debate was.”
Supreme Court photo: http://www.hollywoodreporter.c…
