Same sex Marriage

Andrea E. Vaccaro's article "Soldier in a Long White" discusses same sex marriage and the norms that people have towards regular marriage. Vaccaro discusses the benefits of being married to a person, they include: "1,138 federal benefits and responsibilities, such as hospital visitation rights, access to spouses' health insurance and pensions, automatic inheritance, tax benefits and legal guardianship of spouses' children" (30, Vaccaro). The DOMA passed in 1996 by the Clinton administration does not allow same sex marriage and the benefits with living with someone. When Vaccaro walked in to the bridal shop the sales lady assumed she was getting married because she was looking at a dress to a man. Vaccaro wants us to notice that the lady assumed this because of the norm that society has created. She really was buying it for a political movement for same sex marriage. Being a leader at her high school has allowed her to persue activism and present in front of 1,500 people. "While I knew that most GLBT people wanted marriage or at least equal rights for their relationship, most straight people were unaware that we could not marry or have the same rights" (35, Vaccaro). She finally got her marriage in August 2008 to Lauren. She said it was the best day of her life but also bittersweet because she will be treated as second class union.

The "Same-sex" article says that many people fight for the rights of same sex marriage because people should not be denied the right to have the choice to marry of they please. People marry for many different reasons or choose not to marry for others but I agree that they should not be denied the choice. Same sex relationships are denied basic rights such as visitation rights, social security benefits, health insurance, property taxes, retirement savings, and immigration rights. Just because you get married in Vermont the protection rights do not follow you into another state.

Ettelbrick's article talks about how marriage is not the path to liberation. It's for people who "want to live in an institution" (305, Ettelbrick). Marriage will not change people's views about same sex couples, it can actually heighten it. People fight for the right to be apart of the norm in society, but why would you want to be normal? You should be proud to be different. The only thing about Ettelbrick's argument I disagree with is, that people believe in marriage not necessarily for the institution but because they truly believe in it so they should be able to have the choice if they desire to have it.