The Debate Over Same Sex Marriage - 1682 Words

The largely debated topic of same-sex relationships have been on the forefront of all U.S. citizen’s minds, including and more specifically of those in the branches of legislature. More states today have begun passing laws that accept and recognize marriage for this population. This minority group, in some opinions, has been at a disadvantage when it comes to marriage equality. Previous studies have explored this great debate in the United States beginning in the 1970s. The Minnesota Post published a case where University of Minnesota students, Richard John â€Å"Jack† Baker and James Michael McConnell, applied for a marriage license in Hennepin County Minnesota. The application was denied because the applicants both were men. Baker and†¦show more content†¦Previous research, done by Rostosky et. al., provides information regarding the APA’s attempts, in 2004, to highlight how such inequalities can negatively impact a persons mental health. These effort s were to address the discrimination that was a result of the lack of equality for all people (Rostosky, 2009). After efforts began in 2004, they continued and strengthened with more research being done in the past few years regarding same-sex marriage. The current underdeveloped pieces from research is how same-sex marriage would affect a family dynamic, with adding children into the picture, and with how such individuals work with their own immediate family. Information regarding how children would be affected by being raised with same-sex parents was becoming negatively viewed and used as a tactic for the government. They proposed that heterosexual parents provide better living conditions for children and suggested to all people that it should continue in such manner (Goldberg Kuvalanka, 2012). Looking at previous researchers work on the effects of same-sex marriage, much of the focus was on the effects that the marriage had on society, and family life. Research on same-sex marr iage in the United States could not be conducted until after the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts in 2004 (Schecter, Tracy, Page, Luong, 2008). Meezan and Rauch (2005) were able to