Review of Chet Meeks’ and Arlene Stein’s Article “Refiguring the Family: Towards a Post-Queer Politics of Gay and Lesbian Marriage” While same-sex relationships have been recognized in countries like Europe, South Africa, Australia, and North America, America banned same-sex marriage one year after a Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples were entitled to equal rights. In Refiguring the Family: Towards a Post-Queer Politics of Gay and Lesbian Marriage, the authors Chet Meeks and Arlene Stein focus not on the resistance to lesbian and gay marriage by the American mainstream, but on the opinions within the lesbian and gay community, since the lesbian and gay communities have been divided in the United States about the issue. Meeks and
Same-sex marriage should be legal. Homosexual marriage should be on the same playing field as heterosexual marriage. Once this feat is mastered then equality will not hold boundaries as it does at the moment. In an interview with Katie Wiley, 37-year-old heterosexual college student and mother, when asked what the benefit of same-sex marriage was, she answered, “The benefit of same-sex marriage is equality. Everyone should be treated the same whether or not they are homosexual or heterosexual.” Pondering her answer makes it clear that not everyone is equal.
He also believes that homosexuality is not wrong. The acknowledgement of homosexuality is no longer debated, but due to the recent laws to recognize gay unions, the question is not if society should accept it, but how far our acceptance can go. Societal acceptance and respect for a person no matter who they are is something our society has strived for, however, legal acceptance of who person in this situation does not come as easily. Bennett successfully argues that legal acceptance for gay marriage should not be recognized due to our nation’s weak institution of marriage. Marriage solely being between a man and a women is something we have had for centuries, however, due to divorces and newer ways to have a family, our prestigious and “honorable estate” (Bennett 34) of marriage is weakened.
Boies supports gay marriage; Stanton rejects it. Boies supports gay marriage by stating that it is a civil right. He also states that marriage is held at a legal standard not a religious standard. Moreover, Boies shows that the Supreme Court has consistently stressed the importance of marriage. Boies makes some strong points about supporting same-sex marriage.
The Family Court held that in B v J 1996 (NSW), child support did not need to be paid by a sperm donor, even if listed on the birth certificate. The Status of Children Act 1996 (NSW) allows children to have the identity of their father determined by blood tests. An article from the Sydney Morning Herald stating Bill’s story: a search for true identity explains that many ‘offspring’s of donor insemination are beginning to speak out with some painful stories’, indicating that many children have been scarred to know that they were “not their dad’s biological
The IRC, or the Internal Revenue Code, “exempts amounts transferred to a surviving spouse from the decedent’s taxable estate. For same-sex couples who are legally barred from marriage, this exemption is not available,” (“Federal Rights”). This means that homosexual partners cannot exempt estate taxes that heterosexual couples can which is not equal. The government should offer protection for every citizen because it promotes the marriage that America is equal for
Prostitution is not regulated in any way (no licensing) but prostitutes can contribute can contribute to the official government pension fund and receive benefits when they retire. New Zealand The Prostitution Reform Act 2003 made ALL adult prostitution and brothels a legal occupation in New Zealand but may have too many restrictions on brothels. In fact the government has online their "Brothel Operator Certificates." There are reasonable healths and safety requirements such as using condoms, local bylaws can restrict signage and brothel locations, and a provision to outlaw pimping. The Accident Compensation
For asylum seekers, all the issues discussed for the homeless apply. However their inability to access justice runs even deeper. An important case that exhibits this fundamental injustice is Al-Kateb v Godwin where it was held that indefinite detention of a stateless person without charge is lawful in Australia. Indefinite detention without charge has been outlawed by the Supreme Court of the United States in relation to immigrants and the United Kingdom’s House of Lords. Australia stands alone internationally in perpetrating this injustice.
DOMA: Bringing Back Minority Discrimination The Defense of Marriage Act, commonly known as DOMA, is a United States federal government law that defines the term “marriage” as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” The law prevents married couples of the same-sex from obtaining the federal benefits given to married couples of the opposite sex and excuses states from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized in other states. The DOMA law is a bad law because the means of its existence violates amendment rights, promotes minority discrimination, and contradicts the federal government’s promise of equal protection under the law. In 1996 Congress enacted the DOMA law in response to the Hawaii Supreme Court ruling of 1993 in Baehr v. Lewin that same-sex couples might be entitled to marry in the state. This ruling, however, initiated uproar of horror from religious and social conservatives who believed it to be “…an attack on what they refer to as ‘traditional marriage’ or ‘historical marriage,’ that is marriage reserved as a special privilege for opposite-sex couples” (Robinson).
1:28-29) It is true that everyone is equal under the law. This equality, however, is juridical, not biological. It does not and cannot eliminate the anatomical, physiological and psychological differences between the sexes, which create the conditions for marriage and constitute its natural foundation. Same-sex “marriage” destroys the integrity of true marriage by turning traditional marriage into a species within the marriage genus. This broad marriage genus would supposedly encompass traditional marriage, homosexual or heterosexual unions, and whatever other bizarre new relationships might arise.