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    Marriage Equality Amendment

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    Felicity Wilkinson
    The proposed amendment would establish marriage equality by prohibiting any law restricting two consenting unmarried adults from getting married regardless of gender and requiring all states to recognize such marriages performed elsewhere. While some argue this could lead to allowing polygamous or child marriages, the amendment specifies it applies only to two consenting adults. However, passing a federal marriage amendment may be difficult due to social conservatives hoping the Supreme Court will overturn same-sex marriage legalization.

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    Marriage Equality Amendment

    Uploaded by

    Felicity Wilkinson
    92 views4 pages
    The proposed amendment would establish marriage equality by prohibiting any law restricting two consenting unmarried adults from getting married regardless of gender and requiring all states to recognize such marriages performed elsewhere. While some argue this could lead to allowing polygamous or child marriages, the amendment specifies it applies only to two consenting adults. However, passing a federal marriage amendment may be difficult due to social conservatives hoping the Supreme Court will overturn same-sex marriage legalization.

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    Amendment proposal

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    The proposed amendment would establish marriage equality by prohibiting any law restricting two consenting unmarried adults from getting married regardless of gender and requiring all states to recognize such marriages performed elsewhere. While some argue this could lead to allowing polygamous or child marriages, the amendment specifies it applies only to two consenting adults. However, passing a federal marriage amendment may be difficult due to social conservatives hoping the Supreme Court will overturn same-sex marriage legalization.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    92 views4 pages

    Marriage Equality Amendment

    Uploaded by

    Felicity Wilkinson
    The proposed amendment would establish marriage equality by prohibiting any law restricting two consenting unmarried adults from getting married regardless of gender and requiring all states to recognize such marriages performed elsewhere. While some argue this could lead to allowing polygamous or child marriages, the amendment specifies it applies only to two consenting adults. However, passing a federal marriage amendment may be difficult due to social conservatives hoping the Supreme Court will overturn same-sex marriage legalization.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    Marriage Equality Amendment

    Felicity Wilkinson

    My proposed amendment reads:

    Neither Congress nor any legislative body shall make any law restricting two

    consenting, unmarried adults from getting married and each state must recognize

    such marriages legally performed in other states.

    I believe in equality, marital or otherwise. Two people loving each other and being able

    to get married does not affect myself and others. Just let them do what they want. It is important

    to members of the LGBTQA community in our country to be able to get married to whom they

    love. Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision which legalized “gay

    marriage” nationwide, was decided in a narrow 5-4 decision. We are literally one U.S. Supreme

    Court Justice away from overturning that decision, upturning LGBTQA lives across the nation.

    And the Supreme Court’s ideology has already shifted since that decision.

    A consequence regarding states rights, is the idea that the people should be able to decide

    on a state by state basis. A response (by the Court in Obergefell) says: “fundamental rights may

    not be submitted to a vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.” Basically what this

    means is that marriage is a fundamental right and states can not vote to limit that right.

    Passing this amendment could cause an uproar among social conservatives about

    marriage equality in general. They would bring up age restrictions, marrying anything other than

    humans, etc. regarding marriage laws and equality. Another potential consequence is that

    passing a law at the federal level regarding an institution that is traditionally regulated by the

    states would likely cause complaints. However, Congress has legislated marriage in the past:
    The Defense of Marriage Act. It was a federal law (before being deemed unconstitutional) that

    allowed states to refuse marriage between people of the same-sex. It defined marriage as the

    union between one man and one woman and resulted in same-sex marriages not being

    recognized for the purposes of federal tax law and other benefits. The law was deemed

    unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court because it was a “deprivation of the liberty of the

    person protected by the Fifth Amendment,” (Wikipedia)​.

    As a society, we have decided that families are beneficial to society and promote family

    unity. Family units generally increase security (financial and otherwise), encourage procreation,

    and lead to stability. Society rewards family units through celebrating unions, providing more

    favorable tax rates when filing jointly, etc. Traditionally, society has determined that a proper

    family unit is one man, one woman, and their children (and perhaps a family pet or two). There

    have been relatively few studies showing how two men or two women change the societal

    benefit, at all. A 2010 study in the journal ​Pediatrics​, however, found that lesbian parents may

    be better suited than other combinations of genders.

    I think that this amendment would pass because gay marriage is already legalized

    nationally and has been for four years. The world has not ended and society has not collapsed

    into chaos or perversion. However, some people might argue that, if we want marriage equality,

    it is only fair to let people marry animals or let minors marry people over 18 years of age, or let

    more than two people get married, etc. (the slippery slope argument). Some might say that “this

    extension of Obergefell to the entire LGBTQA community is evidence that the slippery slope

    exists. This is exactly what we worried would happen.” My amendment is not proposing

    marriage equality in general. It is proposing marriage for two consenting adults. This would,
    however, change the Oregon law allowing two 17 year olds to get married with parental consent

    because the amendment says “Two Consenting Adults.”

    Another counterpoint is that the Constitutional Amendment is unnecessary since it is

    already legal nationwide. Constitutional amendments should be reserved for rights and

    procedure. While reserving Constitutional amendments is important, we also remember that

    Loving vs. Virginia found a right to marry. Loving v. Virginia was a decision of the U.S

    Supreme Court that abolished all state laws banning interracial marriage as violations of the

    Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S.

    Constitution. This is an amendment to protect that right.

    The primary reason that this amendment could fail is because there are many social

    conservatives that are banking on a new U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges.

    So many, in fact, that it may be difficult to get 38 states to ratify the amendment. Once this

    amendment passes, it would difficult to override it (via another amendment). So instead, social

    conservatives are hoping to repeal the legalization of gay marriage via the new

    conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court.

    In Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme court listed four reasons why the fundamental

    right to marry applies to same-sex couples. First, “the right to personal choice regarding

    marriage is inherent in the concept of individual autonomy.” Second, “the right to marry is

    fundamental because it supports a two-person union unlike any other in its importance to the

    committed individuals.” Third, the fundamental right to marry “safeguards children and families

    and this draws meaning from related rights of child rearing, procreation, and education,” as

    same-sex couples also have children and families, they too are worthy of this safeguard. Finally,
    “marriage is a keystone of our social order and there is no difference between same- and

    opposite-sex couples with respect to this principle.” Preventing same-sex couples from getting

    married makes them different in society’s eyes and denies them the benefits of marriage for no

    good reason.

    Justice Kennedy wrote in closing for the Court:

    No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of

    love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two

    people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners

    in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past

    death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the

    idea of marriage. 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.

    Justice Kennedy’s closing remarks in Obergefell v. Hodges is as applicable here as it was when

    he wrote it. Marriage is an important value in people’s lives. With this amendment, we can

    ensure that two consenting and unmarried adults are able to have this honor of marriage and

    equality.

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