The Historical Dimension Of The Legalization Of Same-sex Marriage In The United States

Same-sex marriage is marriage between two people of the same sex, the status of which depends on the recognition of law. Same-sex couples without marriage licenses cannot share the same benefits as people of opposite sex do, except for being inferior to them in name. Therefore, the legalization of same-sex marriage became the most important goal for gay activists since the late 20th century. The United States has gone through a long and complicated process of legalizing same-sex marriage compared to some countries in Northern and Western Europe, and the opinion of Obergefell v. Hodges in June of 2015 finally made same-sex marriage legal in the States. Same-sex marriage is not an issue from nowhere, instead it is rooted somewhere deep in the history related to homosexuality in Western world. To understand the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States not only can help us know about the progress of homosexual people fighting for equality rights as a minority group, but also opens a window for us to see the new features of the American Society in the past years. This study aims at presenting the whole story of the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States and answering a core question, which is that how did the United States get as far as legalizing same-sex marriage.Same-sex marriage is an issue with many dimensions. As a historical study, this paper will focus on the background, process and causes of same-sex marriage in the United States instead of illustrating the details. Firstly, it gives an introduction of the background by looking back on how people in different civilizations of all time deal with same-sex relationships and checking the basic facts related to same-sex marriage in the United States to emphasize the uniqueness of the issue. Secondly, it presents a specific retrospect of the process of legalization of same-sex marriage from both of the aspects of judiciary and legislation chronologically. Thirdly, it offers the root cause and specific reasons of the phenomenon of legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States.The legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States attracts the attention of the world and leads Chinese scholars, gay rights organizations and common people to discuss about the outlook of legalizing same-sex marriage in China. Whether it can be legal or not has a lot to do with specific conditions, but the American side of story will lead us to more rational thoughts about this issue.