Callie Parrish/ The Daily Cougar
Students who comprise the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community at UH may eventually see Texas transform in their favor in the upcoming years because of two landmark cases which took place this summer.
The first case concerns California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state.
The second case involves the Defense of Marriage Act, a bill signed into law by former President Bill Clinton that defends traditional marriage between a man and a woman and excludes everything else.
Because the Supreme Court dismissed the Prop 8 case, the verdict of a lower court was upheld, and gay marriage was reinstated in California.
What is particularly interesting about the DOMA and Prop 8 cases is although they regard the same core topic of same-sex marriage, their rulings can have different effects.
Lorraine Schroeder, director of the LGBT Resource Center, sees the Supreme Court’s dismissal of Prop 8 as giving validation to young people in the LGBT community.
“Any state or federal law that promotes equality for LGBT people helps to validate any young LGBT person’s identity and experiences. This results in less stress, less depression and increased self-esteem,” she said.
Marriage is not mentioned in the Constitution. It is a power reserved for the states. On that account, this makes DOMA, a federal law, unconstitutional. At the same time, it upholds Prop 8 because it was a state decision.
“More concretely, any LGBT Texan can go to California (or any other state with legalized same-sex marriage), get married and benefit from the federal benefits that the repeal of DOMA just allowed,” Schroeder said.
Proponents of same-sex marriage often cite Section One of the 14th Amendment as support for their cause. The quoted section reads:
“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
The Supreme Court was justified in upholding the lower court’s decision concerning Prop 8 because if marriage is limited to a man and a woman, that is not equal protection for these same-sex couples’ rights. The Declaration of Independence says everyone is entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Opponents of same-sex marriage use religious appeals and quote studies that show that same-sex parents cause their children psychological and social damage. The first argument is invalid because religion is theoretically — thought not always in practice — supposed to be separate from law. However, the second argument would merit some value if it were true, but because of conflicting studies supporting and opposing these “findings,” that is also not a valid argument either.
Schroeder said some arguments made by the Texas legislature are delaying progress for more than just the LGBT community.
“At the state level, I feel the issues regarding LGBT people as well as women are being held back. For example, the legislature frequently works on bills that will abolish LGBT resource centers on college campuses,” Schroeder said.
Without the allowance of same-sex marriage, same-sex couples would only be left with civil unions, which do not provide the same benefits as a marriage.
Edith Windsor, the plaintiff in the DOMA case is a same-sex widow who was forced to pay $363,000 in inheritance taxes when her wife died, a fine a heterosexual couple would not have to pay.
According to glaad.org, other benefits previously unavailable to same-sex couples include but are not limited to “military family benefits, social security benefits, multiple areas of tax categories, hospital visitation rights and healthcare benefits.”
According to a Bloomberg National Poll conducted from May 31 to June 3, 52 percent of those polled support same-sex marriage while 41 percent oppose it. Likewise, of the 52 percent of supporters, 61 percent want a national decision rather than a state-by-state approach.
These numbers give hope to homosexual couples in Texas who are looking to wed.
Mónica Rojas is a print journalism sophomore may be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com.