The American Culture: Same-Sex Marriage

With everyone’s blog this week talking about different cultures, traditions, etc., I tried to find a topic that is unique and is a social problem in the United States.

In the United States, same-sex marriage has been legalized in only six states. Although many states don’t perform marriages for same sex couples, they do however recognize their marriages. The government of the United States doesn’t recognize the marriages of same-sex couples and is prohibited from doing so by the Defense of Marriage Act. In the United States, four states have legalized same-sex marriage as a result of a court ruling, while three others have done so through a vote in their state legislatures.

Today, in Massachussets, Iowa, Vermont, and Connecticut, currently perform marriages for same sex couples. Same-sex marriages were going to begin on September 11, 2009, in Maine, but fell through due to a veto. A vote on the issue will be on the ballot now for November. In New Hampshire, same-sex marriages will become legal and performed beginning on January 1, 2010. In California, same-sex marriages were only performed between June, 2008 and November, 2008. Any marriages that were performed during this time period are still recognized today. The state of California now feels that it violated the constitution by performing same-sex marriages. Also, in Washington, D.C. and New York, even though same-sex marriages are not performed, they do however recognize those marriages which occurred in other states and foreign countries.