John F. Kennedy once said, “The rights of every man are abridged when the rights of every man are threatened.” Same-sex marriage should be legalized in the United States. The two main reasons for this are the unconstitutionality of denying same-sex marriages and the fact that this goes against basic human rights. First, it is unconstitutional for federal law to prohibit same-sex marriage. In the case of Lawrence v. 2003 Texas Supreme Court overturned previous precedents on sexuality by declaring laws that made homosexual sodomy a crime unconstitutional, holding that although the Constitution says nothing about sex or marriage, there is still a right to sexual activity consensual between adults. that the government cannot regulate. This occurred because of vigorous dissent from conservative justices, who said that the Constitution leaves such questions of marriage and morality to the states and the democratic process, and that federal courts therefore have no power to enforce their own judgments moral. Despite this knowledge, same-sex couples have been subject to restrictions for decades. The Defense of Marriage Act took effect in 1996. This act amends the federal judicial code to provide that no state, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any same-sex marriage to under the laws of any other jurisdiction or any rights or claims arising out of such dealings. This law also brings into play a federal definition of “marriage” and “spouse”; marriage is defined as “only the legal union between a man and a woman as husband and wife” and spouse is defined as “only a person of the opposite sex who is husband or wife.” Secondly, denying two people... ... half of the paper ...... er. Network. 18 December 2013. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=87ddfadd-bb20-4b0f-8855-3dc32c237fd4%40sessionmgr114&vid=1&hid=119&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h& AN=8 9621143 • Garcia, Monique and Ray Long. "Lawmakers affirm gays' right to marry." Chicago Tribune. 06 November 2013: 1. Researcher on SIRS problems. Network. December 18, 2013. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMO0798-0-5763&artno=0000356535&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Same-sex%20marriage&title=Lawmakers%20Affirm% 20Gays% 27%20Right%20a%20Wed&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N#quote• SULLIVAN, ANDREW. “The president of the United States changed the mainstream in just one interview.” Newsweek 159.21 (2012): 22. MasterFILE Premier. Network. December 18, 2013 http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=516b8c19-b57d-4a85-a76a-8c85973c761a%40sessionmgr110&vid=1&hid=119&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db= f5h &AN=75292760