Should same-sex couples have the right to marry?

[jason allen]

The debate over same-sex marriage has played out in the nation’s courts, state legislatures and the halls of Congress. In 1996 Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman and stating that no state or the federal government is required to recognize a same-sex marriage made legal in another state. Similar laws have been passed in 41 states. More recently at least half a dozen states, through legislation and court ruling, have granted marriage rights to same-sex couples, or adopted domestic partnership laws that grant legal protection to gay and lesbian couples

At issue is whether measures that deny same-sex couples the right to marry are constitutional. Proponents say that denying same-sex couples the right to marry is a discriminatory practice that denies same-sex couples the equal protection of the law and the same benefits of marriage that opposite-sex couples enjoy. Opponents of same-sex marriage say that marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman and that states have an interest in upholding traditional marriages as the best way to bring up children in our society.