Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage is a legally recognized marriage between two men or two women. It has recently become accepted in many parts of the world, but is an extremely controversial issue in the United States, for example. Some states have legitimized it, but, in general, it is intensely resisted by social conservatives. Many GLBT advocates consider equal access to marriage rights by same-sex partners to be a fundamental right.

Political attitudes

At its simplest, same-sex marriage rights are often advocated for by those on the progressive left and opposed by conservatives and those on the political right. This masks an interesting question for understanding the politics of same-sex marriage. Some people - primarily libertarians - have advocated that the way to resolve the issue over same-sex marriage is to "get government out of the marriage business": that is, for the government to stop granting recognition to heterosexual marriages. Instead, this position holds that individual churches and groups can freely choose to marry whoever they wish to.

In some countries, even after introducing "marriage in all but name" solutions like Britain's civil partnerships law, there has still been a demand for marriage equality, with advocates approaching it from both ends - gay partners wanting to get a 'full' marriage rather than a civil partnership, and with heterosexual partners wanting to get a civil partnership, often for secularist reasons, as a civil partnership does not have the religious connotation of marriage.

Religious attitudes

"Liberal religions", such as Reform Judaism or Unitarian Universalism, often will perform such ceremonies even without civil authority. Same-sex marriage is opposed by Catholicism, Islam, and conservative Protestant denominations.

United Kingdom

Civil partnerships have been allowed since 2005 under the Civil Partnerships Act. This sets up a separate system of marriage-like benefits that is equivalent in all ways except the formalities: it is referred to legally as a 'civil partnership', and a divorce is referred to as a 'dissolution'. Additionally, civil partnership ceremonies can only performed in registry offices while marriages may be performed in both registry offices and in houses of worship (churches etc.).

Some religious ministers have blessed civil partnerships in wedding-like ceremonies after the civil partnership ceremonies; in the Church of England this has led to controversy and the resignation of one priest. The Church of England has also published a pastoral statement on civil partnerships which notes that there is ambiguity over what counts as a civil partnership: "people in a variety of relationships will be eligible to register as civil partners, some living consistently within the teaching of the Church, others not".

United States

In the United States, marriage rights differ by state. At the federal level, the Defense of Marriage Act passed in 1996 defines marriage as being between one man and one woman. Some Federal courts have overturned it on a district or circuit basis; but those cases have not reached the Supreme Court of the United States. In some states where it was overturned, the states have sometimes passed constitutional amendments nullifying the court's interpretation of the constitution.

In California, same-sex marriage was allowed for a brief period until the passage in 2008 of Proposition 8, a ballot initiative which banned same-sex marriage. After Proposition 8 passed, new marriages were not allowed, and the validity of existing same-sex marriages were put into some doubt. In August 2010, the U.S. District Court invalidated the ballot initiative in the case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger. The Court held that there was no compelling secular justification for such a ban and that it amounted to the imposition of a "private moral" or religious interest, which is not allowed under Constitutional precedent. It is expected that opponents of same-sex marriage will appeal the District Court ruling.