Monday, January 2, 2012

The New Year celebrates the recognition of same-sex civil unions in two more states

On January 1, 2012, Hawaii and Delaware joined the group of states allowing same-sex civil unions, bringing the listed number to 5 states. In addition, 6 other states and Washington D.C. currently allow same-sex marriage, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. As of 10 AM on Sunday, the new law became effective, uniting several same-sex couples who waited to be the first in Hawaii's history to enter into civil unions. However, the passage of the law was not without after heated discussion. In both Hawaii and Delaware, the language of the law emphasizes that "it is not the legislature's intent to revise the definition or eligibility requirements of marriage." However, groups including the Hawaii Family Forum heavily opposed the law, stating that "civil unions are a desperate and honest attempt to force same-sex 'marriage' on Hawaii." In Delaware, the Delaware Family Policy Council argued along the same lines and expressed their concerns that civil unions "are a springboard to redefining marriage."

That being said, it seems that the states allowing same-sex civil unions but not same-sex marriage are playing somewhat of a political game. Obviously, the nation as a whole is becoming more accepting of LGBT rights as time progresses. As seen by this Gallup poll, we saw for the first time in May of 2011 that the majority of the American population favored legal same-sex marriage: http://www.gallup.com/poll/147662/First-Time-Majority-Americans-Favor-Legal-Gay-Marriage.aspx
Do you think Hawaii and Delaware's passage of the new law will encourage other states to follow suit? Or will our nation soon become entangled in debating the nuanced distinction between same-sex civil unions and same-sex marriage?

7 comments:

Sara Boushakra said...

Finally… progress is being made. Although it was a struggle for the passage of law in Delaware and Hawaii, I believe it will be like this for all states willing to allow same-sex marriage - a long, continuous, heated argument. However it is completely worth it and I think it will definitely encourage other states to do the same and give them the reassurance that is IS the right thing to do and should be done as soon as possible. Today’s generation is becoming more and more aware and accepting of same-sex marriages that is a great help to LGBT couples and promotes more reoccurrences of the topic. Because of this, I think that further disputes with passages of marriage laws will still be present, however just minimized due to the increase of acceptance with same-sex marriage and determination of citizens to fight and stand up for same-sex rights. Hawaii's officially married Bonnie Limotac makes an exceptional point how many people will soon follow in their footsteps - they just needed someone to get the ball rolling for them.

Billy Seeburger said...

I just find it funny that our government doesn't allow same sex marriages. We are supposed to be able to do anything that we want as long as it doesn't hurt others, generally that is. And the government is supposed to be separate from the church, yet the only reasons I can think of that people would say this is not right are: some views of how religon is to be interpreted and people not liking what they themselves don't understand or like.

Serena Tam said...

I think that Hawaii and Delaware's passage of the law is great. It's a positive influence on other states, but probably won't affect their opinions too much as of now. I was just surprised when I read that only 5 states currently allow same-sex civil unions, pretty disappointing.

Jennifer Nguyen said...

I do think that Delaware and Hawaii passing a same sex marriage law will encourage other states to follow suit. Maybe not all states, but a lot will realize that allowing gay marriage in a state will create revenue and will probably benefit the state as a whole. Also, as Sara said, with growing support of same sex marriage, less and less people will be opposed to it which will eventually lead to other states passing a same sex marriage law.

Jennifer Nguyen said...

I do think that Delaware and Hawaii passing a same sex marriage law will encourage other states to follow suit. Maybe not all states, but a lot will realize that allowing gay marriage in a state will create revenue and will probably benefit the state as a whole. Also, as Sara said, with growing support of same sex marriage, less and less people will be opposed to it which will eventually lead to other states passing a same sex marriage law.

Brian Barch said...

I agree with Serena's comment about the numbers being pretty disappointing. But I think it's looking hopeful with the addition of 2 more states. I think that having 2 more states allow civil unions will not really encourage other states to do so, but it will give the states planning to allow civil unions more examples of how it doesn't really hurt anyone to draw form, as well as help divert potential anger from anti-civil-unionists (civil-secessionists?) into a larger group of states, so each state doesn't have to deal with as much anti-union pressure.
Also I think the fact that the number of civil union states is increasing shows that there is a liberalizing trend in this sense, even as other aspects of the nation become more conservative, so many people that currently oppose civil-unions may see this trend and begrudgingly accept it. Or become extremist conservatives. Like we need more of those.

KennyL said...

The recent number of 2 more states allowing same-sex civil unions may seem small, but from a statistical point of view 2 is a significant number. 2 states of of 50 is 4%. A 4% increase in GDP or any other national statistic is significantly huge. If we can maintain this increase, same-sex civil unions will be allowed in the whole nation. It's foolish to believe that the whole nation will change their opinion on marriage in a year or even 10 years, an opinion that has stood since the declaration of this nation. But over time, the opinion of the nation and individual states will change along with social values and opinions.