American Same-Sex Marriage From American Court Decisions

• Main Authors: Yu-Ning Yu, 於佑寧
• Other Authors: 李本京
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/25204715682371678078

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 美國研究所碩士班 === 93 === Traditionally, marriage is based on the order of law, social values and ethics. In today’s society, civil marriage, which is set up by the law makers, is the key to access lots of duties and benefits. Civil marriage is the protection for setting up a family. What the government should do is to give benefits and duties to who wants to get married, not trying to define the definition of marriage. In Massachusetts, same sex partners can get married now. More and more states passed the laws to protect same sex partners’ benefits and duties. Civil Union, Domestic Partnership, and Reciprocal Beneficiaries provide some benefits and duties similar to marriage. However, with the Defense of Marriage Act, same sex partners can not access over one thousand federal benefits and duties from the “Real” marriage. The main purpose of the study takes the United States Constitution as the guidelines to analyze the fundamental human rights, and try to find out if the right to get married is included. Chapter One is the introduction of the study. Chapter Two shows the fundamental rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Chapter Three lists the verdicts in the Federal Supreme Court and State Supreme Court related to marriage and same sex marriage. Chapter Four lists the standing points from pro-same sex marriage groups and from anti-same sex marriage groups. Chapter Five is the discussion about same sex marriage from Foucault’s point of view. Chapter Six is the conclusion.