Gay Marriage:: The Union of two same sex partners. The legal issues surrounding same-sex marriage in the United States are complicated by the nation's federal system of goverment. Traditionally, the federal government did not attempt to establish its own definition of marriage; any marriage recognized by a state was recognized by the federal government, even if that marriage was not recognized by one or more other states (as was the case with interracial marriage before 1987 due to anti-miscegenation laws). With the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, however, a marriage was explicitly defined as a union of one man and one woman for the purposes of federal law. Although I am myself gay, and in a relationship...the subject has never really interested me. I understand that the religious bigots are quite obsessed with keeping official unions between consenting adults, a monopoly of the heterosexual world. Many of them feel quite threatened, despite the fact, that unions between same sex partners have historical precedence in the Middle Ages and even before. At no time did any of them contribute to any decline of civilization. I do believe that all people should enjoy equal standing under the law benefitting from institutions taken for granted by the majority, inheritance, surviving partner benefits, health insurance, etc. I'm really more concerned with the hypocrites among gays who will act like the 'holier than thou' towards the rest of the community, much like high haired stereotypical church women.
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