Civil Liberties- Gay Marriage in America

James Downey

Paradise Valley Community College

POS 110: Dr. Robert Hahn

September 19, 2020

 Politicians and typical citizens are consistently debating various topics on civil rights and

civil liberties. One in particular that America has been struggling with, aside from racism, is

same sex marriage. This is also known as gay marriage and even though everybody may not be

directly affiliated with the LGBTQ movement, people need to realize that those who are affiliated

with it have a lot of obstacles to face, especially in America. Not to mention, how can they feel

comfortable being in their own shoes if the leaders of their country do not seem to fully welcome

their sexual orientation. President Barack Obama stated that the ruling was a "victory for

America". In addition, he said "When all Americans are treated as equal, we are all more free”

(BBC News). What Barack Obama meant by this statement is that everybody is essentially

granted more freedom as long as everybody is treated equally. Furthermore, how is it a victory

for America? A victory is defined as defeating an enemy in a battle, game or other form of

competition. That statement essentially means that America is its own enemy in this case.

In regards to people of the LGBTQ community, it was stated that "Their plea is that they

do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope

is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest

institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that

right” (Lantry, NBC News). What this means is that the Constitution should protect the rights of

people who want to be allowed to marry another person of the same sex. Moreover,

homosexuals in our armed services have faced many obstacles. The biggest one being all of

the discrimination they recieve. However, Bill Clinton compromised on a policy called “Don’t

Ask, Don’t Tell”, (DADT), that would force the military to not ask people what their sexual

orientation was. However, “...it barred them (gays & lesbians) from revealing their sexual

orientation under threat of discharge” (O’Connor, 2014, p. 147). There was something

introduced to the United States called the First Amendment Defense Act. Also known as

“FADA”, Mary Emily O’Hara stated that this law would “prohibit the federal government from

taking ‘discriminatory action’ against any business or person that discriminates against LGBTQ
people” (NBC News). In addition, “FADA allows individuals and businesses to sue the federal

government for interfering in their right to discriminate against LGBTQ people and would

mandate the Attorney General defend the businesses” (NBC News). This act basically allows

people who are discriminated against for their sexual orientation to take action and fight back

against those who disagree.

In conclusion, nobody should truly care about somebody else’s sexual orientation unless

it is harming you in some way, which in most cases is not likely. Although the country has made

a lot of progress towards passing more laws relating to the LGBTQ community, unfortunately

the discrimination will never go away completely even though it should have never been there to

begin with. Americans should continue making progress for protecting the rights of all people,

especially those of the LGBTQ community.

 Work Cited

n/a. “US Supreme Court Rules Gay Marriage Is Legal Nationwide.” BBC News, BBC, 27
June 2015, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33290341.

Lantry, Lauren. “Commemorating the SCOTUS Gay Marriage Decision 5 Years Later.”
ABC News, ABC News Network, 26 June 2020, 3:00 pm,
abcnews.go.com/Politics/commemorating-scotus-gay-marriage-decision-years/story?
id=71473138.

O'Hara, Mary Emily. “First Amendment Defense Act Would Be 'Devastating' for LGBTQ
Americans.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 21 Dec. 2016,
www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/first-amendment-defense-act-would-be-devastating-
lgbtq-americans-n698416.

O'Connor, Karen, et al. American Government: Roots and Reform. Pearson, 2016.