Delaware Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
On Tuesday, May 7, Delaware became the 11th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Delaware residents will be able to enter into same-sex marriages starting on July 1.
Advocacy Group Played Important Role
Equality Delaware is a gay rights group that drafted the same-sex marriage legislation and advocated for passage of the law. The group had also advocated for the civil union bill that was signed into law in 2011. When that law took effect on January 1, 2012, more than 550 couples entered into civil unions. Delaware’s civil union law provided couples all of the same rights and protections that are granted to opposite sex spouses.
The same-sex marriage bill was introduced into the state legislature in April 2013. The bill was passed by the Delaware House of Representatives with a 23-18 vote. The state senate voted 12-9 to approve gay marriage. During the debate, Senator Karen Peterson publicly acknowledged that she is a lesbian. She announced that she has been with her partner for 24 years. She stated that she and her partner entered into a civil union last year.
Less than an hour after the Senate vote, Governor Jack Markell signed the bill into law.
Civil Unions will Be Converted to Marriages
Once the same-sex marriage law takes effect on July 1, Delaware couples will no longer be able to enter into civil unions. Existing civil unions will be legally changed to marriages within the next 12 months. Under the new law, same-sex unions that were formed in other states will be granted the same legal protections as married couples in Delaware.
While the gay marriage law does not provide any new benefits or rights to couples who entered into civil unions, it does protect same-sex couples in the event that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. DOMA, which was enacted in 1996, restricted federal marriage benefits to opposite-sex married couples.
Opponents Concerned about Social Consequences of Gay Marriage
Opponents of the law have argued that same-sex marriage redefines an institution that has served as a building block of society. They fear that acceptance of gay marriage will bring unintended consequences on broader social issues.
The Delaware gay marriage law will not require clergy members to perform gay marriage if the union conflicts with their religious beliefs. However, under existing discrimination law, business owners who refuse marriage-related services to gay couples may be subject to claims of discrimination.
Gay Marriage Advocates Believe U.S. Has Reached Turning Point
The passage of Delaware’s same-sex marriage law comes less than one week after Rhode Island legalized gay marriage. Gay marriage supporters are confident that the U.S. has reached a significant turning point in the quest to legalize same-sex marriage throughout the country. This growing acceptance of same-sex marriage follows a significant movement by many states to declare gay marriage unconstitutional. In the U.S., 38 states have approved constitutional amendments that prohibit the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.
So "This bitch" seems to not understand same sex marriages at all or understand people at all. You must have a one track mind because any one can be in love and any one can be in lust. It does not matter what age, race, or sex, you are. People are all different yet the same doesn't matter where you come from or what you do. And I think you are the one whose actually the confused teenager JUST SAYING XD! There has been studies that people who are for same sex marriages have higher IQ JUST SAYING. And people that are against same sex couples don't have that great of education. Well I had fun hope you like my lil comment PEACE LOVE AND HAPPINESS FOR EVERYONE!
The Old Testament’s prohibition on homosexual activity was not the cruel imposition of a dictator, but the wise provision of a loving God who desired to see His chosen people grow in love. Perhaps (though there is no explicit evidence for this in the text) at some point the intensity of David and Jonathan’s affection for each other might have spilled over into sexual temptations. If so, the “delight in the law of the Lord” which moved David to song protected them from sin and kept their souls knit together in a pure and spiritual love.
In the same way, by declaring the “truth of God” that homosexual acts are sinful, the New Testament helps those of us who struggle with same-sex attractions to discover what it means to “worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”
But because love is the heart of the Gospel, Satan always tries to fool us with counterfeits of true love. Against these counterfeits, the Apostles and Prophets warn us again and again. God is love, and so nothing that is against His will can be love. He only approves of certain kinds of love, but punishes His people for loving idols, foreign women in the case of Israel, foreign deities, multiple wives, money, sexual love between close relations (incest), etc.
We do not always understand these prohibitions; God’s reasons for forbidding gay relationships may seem like dim shadow in a mirror to us when we first confront them. But it is love, not understanding, which God most desires from us. To place our hopes in Him even when we do not understand His ways is a mark of great faith, and even greater love.
It is not an easy path, and just as the Apostle Paul expressed the struggle between flesh and spirit, all of us will face struggles. But when we struggle, or when we fail, we should not lose hope. Rather, we should remember that Jesus said even of the soldiers who killed Him, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). And even when we fall again and again to the same familiar sins, we should remember that Christ told Peter to forgive others not seven times, but seventy times seven times (cf. Matthew 18:22). If God commands such mercy from us, how much more will He, who is Mercy Himself, show mercy to us in our weakness?
It also brought alive an important theme from the Psalms, the great prayerbook of the People of God: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalms 1:1-3). For those who follow the Law with all their heart, it becomes a source of life, strength, and peace of spirit.
Cheers Sandy
Dear "this bitchhh" please understand that not all gay people are teenagers or just in it for sex. It IS love not just lust. I'm gay but don't plan on having sex until after I'm married. However I can't marry my boyfriend of 13 years in my home state and have to look into which states I can so I can marry the man I love. Maybe you wont understand this since you are a "bitchhh" and all.
i really dont see how marriage can be controlled by the fedral goverment in a sense wasnt marrigae made under the essence of religion in which case the fedral goverment has not right to an oppion too then? Besides Gay Marrige should have been allowed by now i understand why its wronge to get married in a church but why should it matter in a civil court that instead of marrying eve i wanna marry steve.
just saying
You're not in love, you're in lust. You don't know what you want, I bet you've been with guys. I'm sorry but if you're actually gay you don't try and sleep with men and then decide oh shit i'm gay. NO YOURE A CONFUSED TEENAGER! justtt saying!
null
me and my girlfriend r of the same sexes and i dont see and issue with it……u don't people of the opposite race that they cant marry so why should it be different with same sex. u cant help who u fall in love with whether it is a male or female