Chapter 6, Question 1

President Barak Obama may have opposed legalizing same-sex marriage on a federal level due to the fact that there would be plenty of opposition to it. Although there is plenty of opposition currently, if he would have supported legalizing gay marriage on a federal level it would be a drastic change for the United States. It would redefine the concept of marriage as stated in the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. Although church and state are naturally set to be separate, sometimes there are times when it seems to overlap and Obama opposing same-sex marriage on a federal level is one of those times. He claims to believe in equal rights for all people, however these rights are denied for same-sex couples in regards to marriage. It is strange to think that someone is able to be married in New York yet not married in Delaware. Barak Obama would respond to Nava and Dawidoff’s argument by stating that Americans, even those who agree with same-sex marriage, may be too stuck in the traditional marriages to think that such a drastic change in society is even possible without a large uproar across the nation. I believe that Obama would also state that there are states which do grant the basic right of gays and although same-sex couples do not have the same legal rights they are still granted the same “moral, social, and spiritual benefits”  as other couples although the marriage is not valid by the federal government (Nava & Dawidoff, 1994).

-SigmaLove