same-sex civil unions

Examples of same-sex civil unions in the following topics:

• The Movement for Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights

  • In response to same sex couples' attempts to gain state marriage licenses, the U.S.
  • Nonetheless, by the early 2000s, many states began to consider legalizing same-sex marriage.
  • Other states have passed laws allowing for same-sex civil unions.
  • Civil unions provide the legal benefits of marriage to same-sex couples, but not the title of marriage.
  • Challenges to bans on same-sex marriage contend that laws prohibiting same-sex marriage are discriminatory.

• The Decline of the Traditional Family

  • One parent households, cohabitation, same sex families, and voluntary childless couples are increasingly common.
  • As of 2009, only two states in the United States recognized marriages between same-sex partners, Massachusetts and Iowa, where same-sex marriage was formally allowed as of May 17, 2004 and April 2009, respectively.
  • Three additional states allow same-sex civil unions, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Vermont.
  • Between May 2004 and December 2006, 7,341 same-sex couples married in Massachusetts.
  • Summarize the prevalence of single parents, cohabitation, same-sex couples, and unmarried individuals

• New Developments in Families

  • Andersson et al. examined precisely this issue in Norway and Sweden, where same-sex marriages or civil unions have been legally recognized since the mid-1990s.
  • Andersson et al. found several ways in which lesbian/gay unions differ from heterosexual unions in these countries:
  • the average same-sex couple is older than the average heterosexual couple
  • female same-sex couples are more likely to divorce than are male same-sex couples
  • One question often raised about same-sex unions is how it influences any children raised in these households.

• The Nature of Marriage

  • It is believed that same-sex unions were celebrated in Ancient Greece and Rome, some regions of China, such as Fujian, and at certain times in ancient European history.
  • In some jurisdictions, such as Brazil, New Zealand, Uruguay, France and many U.S. states, civil unions are also open to opposite-sex couples.
  • Same-sex is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or gender identity.
  • A civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage.
  • In some jurisdictions, such as Brazil, New Zealand, Uruguay, France and the U.S. states of Hawaii and Illinois, civil unions are also open to opposite-sex couples.

• Families and Inequality

  • An example of such restrictions would be a requirement to marry someone from the same tribe.
  • Conversely, there are people who have religious ceremonies that are not recognized by civil authorities.
  • They teach that unmarried people should not have sex, which they refer to as fornication.
  • About 10-15% of women and 20-25% of men in the U.S. engage in extramarital sex.
  • For the most part, religious traditions in the world reserve marriage to heterosexual unions but there are exceptions including the Unitarian Universalists and Metropolitan Community Church.

• Divorce and Its Legal Ramifications

  • For same-sex couples, divorce law is in its infancy and is less than clear on how such unions may be legally dissolved.
  • For example, if a same-sex couple is married in a state that recognizes gay marriage but returns to reside in a state that does not, they might find themselves in a situation where their own state, in failing to recognize their union will also fail to enable them to divorce.
  • Although marriage was previously defined as a legal union between one man and one woman in the United States, over the past decades several states have begun to consider adopting, or have adopted, legislation which legalizes same-sex marriage.
  • For same-sex couples, divorce law is in its infancy and is less than clear on how such unions may be legally dissolved.
  • For example, if a same-sex couple is married in a state that recognizes gay marriage but returns to reside in a state that does not, they might find themselves in a situation where their own state, in failing to recognize their union, will also fail to enable them to divorce.

• Gender Inequality in Politics

  • Angela Merkel is the first female Chancellor of Germany and Chairwoman of Christian Democratic Union.
  • "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."
  • Women's suffrage took a back seat to the Civil War and Reconstruction, but America's entry into World War I re-initiated a vigorous push.
  • Many wondered if the same fixation on a candidate's body and style would happen to a male candidate.
  • Mott, along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, organized the Seneca Falls Convention in 1948, effectively launching the women's civil rights movement in the United States.

• Discrimination Against Individuals

  • Though what constitutes sex discrimination varies between countries, it essentially refers to an adverse action taken against a person based on their perceived sex, gender, and/or gender identity.
  • In a 1979 consultation on the issue, the United States commission on civil rights defined religious discrimination in relation to the civil rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which deals with due process and equal fairness of all citizens under the law.
  • This discrimination may seek to redress social inequalities where minority groups have been denied access to the same privileges of the majority group.

• Women as a Minority

  • Women are considered a minority group, because they do not share the same power, privileges, rights, and opportunities as men.
  • The belief that men and women are very different and that this should be strongly reflected in society, language, the right to have sex, and the law
  • There a number of examples, both historical and contemporary, of women not being granted the same rights and access as men, both historically and in the present day.
  • The existence of a glass ceiling indicates that women, even today, do not enjoy the same opportunities as men.
  • Any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment, or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil, or any other field.

• Socialization and Human Sexuality

  • In regards to sexuality, socialization in the U.S. and Western countries most notably adheres to heteronormativity, or the marking of heterosexual unions as normal and homosexual unions as socially abnormal and deviant.
  • While homosexual unions are the types of unions most commonly marked in opposition to normative heterosexual unions, heteronormativity marks any type of non-heterosexual sexual activity as deviant, as heterosexual sexual acts are considered the norm.
  • In this sense, biological gender was obviously relevant, but not in the same way as evaluating homo- or heterosexual orientation.
  • Sodomy laws, or laws prohibiting particular sexual acts between two consenting partners such as anal sex between two men, were on the books in most American states for decades.
  • Follow-up studies show that many of these individuals—in addition to female pornography viewers—attempt to incorporate the actions they witness in pornography into their own sex lives.