The Obama Legacy: The Legalization of Gay Marriage
Why our 44th President symbolizes equality
By Emma McDonald
The Progressive Teen Staff Writer
AS PRESIDENT OBAMA’S FINAL TERM NEARS THE END, it becomes harder to believe that he has been with us as our president for the past eight ayears. While two terms of presidency appears to be quite a while, time truly does fly by. Especially succeeding the President’s farewell address on the 10th, many begin to reminisce on how progressive Obama has made this multi-nation we call the United States of America. However, while progression is a daring subject to pursue in the 21st century, Obama has worked long and hard to secure fair opportunities for each and every one of us. The emergence of the LGBT community continues to be almost as controversial as it was in the 20th century. As difficult as it may have been, Obama was (successfully) able to assist in ending the stigma surrounding the LGBT community, and now we can all confidently say — as Obama did in his Farewell Address — “Yes, we did.”
Like every other fight, one must fall in order to rise higher; to put it in Michelle Obama’s words, “When they go low, we go high.” For better or for worse, the battle for complete human equality began many centuries ago. In order to get a complete understanding of just how far this world has come, it is best to take a look at the history of LGBT struggles, at least in America. It was not, for lack of better words, uncommon in world history to engage in homosexual acts. In the aspects of Greco-Roman culture, historians have found evidence of frequent displays of homosexuality. Seeming like a good start to globalizing, this act eventually faded away from all societies, and, as the world became more centralized, gained a negative connotation. Police first noticeably began ensuring the practice of homophobia in the U.S. during the 19th century when it became evident that certain bars were notorious for hosting the population of LGBT individuals. The community continuously experienced persecution, both through the law and through society. Engaging in homosexual acts was considered a crime by 1791 in all 13 states after ratifying the Bill of Rights.
While sodomy laws, the name given to laws and restrictions toward certain sexual acts, remained a constant form of discrimination for the LGBT community, stigma surrounding homosexuality emerged to be just as toxic and unhealthy for those individuals. During the middle of the 20th century with the emergence of the chronic infections HIV and AIDS, those whom enticed in homosexual acts were often considered carriers of the virus. Living in a period where it was the “easiest” to blame such an infection on a minority prejudiced group deems just how desperate Americans would go to undermine the reality that, in fact, love cannot be defined.
Full credit is not handed to President Obama for legalizing gay marriage, but nonetheless, he is attributed to finishing some of the legal structures against the LGBT community. Even prior to his inauguration into office in 2009, legislative execution was driven to promote the ideals of homosexuals, and soon bisexuals, transgenders, and so forth. The initial report of battling the uncivil laws against gay marriage began on May 18, 1970 when two male graduate students applied for a marriage license at the Hennepin County District Court. Despite being — as most would assume — denied this license, the first step of applying for a marriage license put into motion the timeline of LGBT rights that would inevitably lead to a national legalization.
Obama’s first act of legislature to ensure safety among the LGBT community was in his first year of presidency when he signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd. Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The law, signed in October, protracted attacks based on an individual’s sexual or gender orientation to be declared as a federal hate crime. The following year, the Affordable Care Act granted that all citizens, including those who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, have access to universal health care. Later in December of the same year, President Obama repealed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell legislature, allowing the LGBT community to serve openly (keyword) in the Armed Services.
Ending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), enacted in 1961, which forced all states to recognize that marriage was between and a man and a woman, started in 2011 and would end with positive repercussions. In February 2011, both the President and Attorney General declared the Department of Justice would no longer defend DOMA, which led to the Supreme Court Case United States v. Windsor. The effect marked section 3 of DOMA, which prevented the federal government from recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples, unconstitutional.
The cherry on top, as some would say, to finish the battle of LGBT rights and the legalization of same-sex marriage, was also in the fingertips of the Supreme Court. The case Obergefell v. Hodges, which lasted two years, shed light on the inhumane acts pressed on LGBT Americans. The case held a 5–4 decision that declared the indispensable right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The winning rule overturned an opposing case, Baker v. Nelson, in which the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that state-laws denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples did not violate any Constitutional Amendments.
America’s victory of the national legalization of same-sex marriage was announced by President Obama on June 26th, 2015. The briefing sparked hope in the lives of nearly eight million Americans. The hashtag #lovewins attained 6.2 millions tweets within just six hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
With five days left in office, billions of citizens worldwide can give President Barack Obama a pat on the back. The civil rights of those in the LGBT community came before him as an immediate priority, and, thanks to him, America is waving the rainbow flag high. After January 20th, President Obama will not just be commemorated as “the first African-American president,” but as a citizen of our multi-nation who, simply, just cared.
