1) According to the article, what percent of Americans polled support gay marriage and why is this news?
Ans: According to the poll 50% of Americans support gay marriage. This is news because the public perhaps has reached a turning point in that this new poll was the first poll to show majority support when it comes to same sex marriages. The new poll is a big change from 1996 where 25 percent of Americans said that gay and lesbian couples should have the right to marry according to an average of national polls.
2) Click on the link to Proposition 8 in the NY Times article. What is Proposition 8? Also, briefly describe the history of Prop 8 over the past few years.
Ans: Proposition 8 was a 2008 California ballot measure that had outlawed same-sex-marriage. The History of Proposition 8 involved huge debates and included the following:
· On Aug. 4, 2010, a federal judge in San Francisco struck down the ban, saying it unfairly targeted gay men and women,
· A week later the judge ordered that enforcement of the ban be dropped on August 18th, essentially making same-sex marriage legal again as of that date.
· Opponents against same –sex-marriage launched the Proposition 8 initiative campaign, asking voters to ban same-sex marriages. After an expensive and hard-fought campaign, the measure passed on Nov. 4, 2008, with 52 percent of the vote. (Florida and Arizona also passed bans at the same time.)
· On May 26, 2009 the state Supreme Court upheld the voter-approved ban but also decided that the estimated 18,000 gay couples who tied the knot before the law took effect will stay wed.
3) Go to this website: Defense of Marriage Act Amendment
According to the this amendment, what is the definition of marriage in the U.S.?
Ans: The definition of marriage in the U.S. means only a legal union between one man and one woman as a husband and wife.
4) Okay, one last website from National Public Radio. Go to this link NPR state by state map of gay marriage
You can click on a state to see their stand on gay marriage, adoption of Defense of Marriage Act etc. Choose two states and compare their positions on gay marriage. Please don't all choose NJ!
Ans: North Carolina passed a Defense of Marriage Act ion 1996. Idaho voters approved a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in November 2006. The state already has a Defense of Marriage Act
