Marriage is a milestone in every person’s life. Everybody wants their marriage to be protected by the law and have legal rights to marry a person they love. Spouses want to enjoy all benefits of the marriage, which would allow them to get social security, raise children and share possession. To empower the commitment and protect their families, people should be given a civil right of marriage. Nowadays, it is officially stated that marriage is a right protected by the Constitution. However, there were restrictions for gay people, and the question about legalizing gay marriage is still a controversial question. To my mind, gay people should be given all the benefits, which are available for heterosexual couples.
However, for many years, marriage for same-sex couples was limited, and they had to start a movement for the prohibition of marriage on a civil level. Until 2015, gay people had not been allowed to marry within all states. The movement for the legalization of gay marriage started in 1969, when the first attempt of gay people to marry was performed by the Metropolitan Community Church, but it failed to be legally recognized (revelandriot.com 1). A year later, two gay students from Minnesota wanted applied for a marriage license, but their request was denied (revelandriot.com N.p.). Since that time up until 1990s, the movement kept quiet. In 1996, Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which banned the same-sex marriage (revelandriot.com 1). Nevertheless, many states started to allow gay marriage despite the DOMA, and in 2014, there were 17 states where marriage equality was achieved (revelandriot.com 1). The final agreement was reached on June 26, 2015, when same-sex couples were given the constitutional right to marry under the Fourteenth Amendment. Therefore, it was proven that marriage is a civil right for everyone no matter of which sexual orientation you are, and if you want to marry the person you love, no obstacles can stand in your way.
Moreover, there was one more time when marriage rights were quite limited. In 1881, the government of Alabama State banned marriage between a black man and a white woman, and it was decided that the banning does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, which stated citizenship rights (civilliberty.about.com 2). Later, a few attempts were made to ban interracial marriage within all states, but they all failed. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court decides that laws, which ban interracial sex, violate the Fourteenth Amendment (civilliberty.about.com 4). Finally, in 1967 interracial marriage has been legalized throughout the US. Since then, interracial marriage has been protected by the law and became a legal right for everyone.
In conclusion, we should admit that marriage has not always been a civil right for everybody. The way to legalization of interracial or gay marriage took a long time and was quite hard. Despite all issues and problems, they are in the past, and nowadays marriage is officially a civil right protected by the Constitution. All citizens now can be sure that they are allowed to marry their loved ones, create a family and be happy with who they are and whom they love. Every married couple is able to share the social benefits of marriage and have no doubt, that spouses can defend their rights in the court. According to the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, any person can be deprived of the protection of their legal rights (civilliberty.com 1) Therefore, now we can definitely say that all obstacles were overcame, and marriage now is a right protected by the Constitution for everyone, regardless their race or orientation.
Works cited
Head, Tom. “Is Marriage a Civil Right?” civilliberty.about.com. Web. N.d.
N.p. “Marriage Equality” revelandriot.com. Web. 2014
Guillen, Lina. “Marriage Rights and Benefits” nolo.com. Web. 11 May 2016
