According to a study published in May 2020 by the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, the legalization of same-sex marriage has boosted the local and state economy by about $3.8 billion. The Williams Institute has estimated that the 300,000 same-sex couples who have married in the United States since 2015 have generated about $3.2 billion for the local and state economy. In addition, traveling wedding guests spent an additional $544 million and about 45,000 jobs were supported by same-sex marriages. $244 million was generated in state and local taxes. [150] [151] [152] There is little information on public attitudes towards homosexuality in South and Central Asia. ILGA found that 35% of Indians and 30% of Pakistanis in 2016 thought same-sex marriage should be legal. Support for Kazakhstan was 12 percent. The June 2013 decision of the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Windsor`s repeal of the law banning recognition of same-sex marriage at the federal level has given significant impetus to the progress of lawsuits challenging state bans on same-sex marriage in federal court.
Since that decision, U.S. District and Appellate Courts, with a few exceptions, have ruled state prohibitions on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, as have several state courts. The exceptions were a state court in Tennessee, U.S. district courts in Louisiana and Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear appeals against the county`s decision. Among the politicians who have spoken out against same-sex marriage in particular are Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin.
Only 31 percent of people in China, 30 percent in Malaysia and 14 percent in Indonesia supported legalizing same-sex marriage in 2016, according to ILGA. Same-sex relations between men are banned in parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore. In Brunei, they are punished by stoning, although the government said after an international outcry that it would not enforce the law. Human rights groups have reported an increase in threats and violence against LGBTQ+ people in Indonesia since 2016, including discriminatory comments by several officials. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has come out in favor of recognizing same-sex partnerships, but not same-sex marriages, and 73 percent of Filipinos surveyed in 2019 said homosexuality should be accepted. A 2019 study found an increase in employment among same-sex couples after same-sex marriage was legalized. The author of the study provided additional evidence that this change in employment was caused by a decrease in discrimination. [149] From an economic perspective, same-sex marriage advocates point out that legal marriage brings certain rights, many of which are financial in nature, such as social security benefits and health insurance (Solmonese 2008). Denying these benefits to same-sex couples is a mistake, they argue. Conflict theory suggests that as long as heterosexuals and homosexuals fight for these social and financial resources, there will be some degree of conflict.
As of July 9, 2015, same-sex married couples in the United States have equal access to all federal benefits available to opposite-sex married couples. [15] The financing of referendum amendment campaigns has been highly controversial. Both Richter and the IRS have ruled that it is questionable or illegal to protect campaign contributions on condition of anonymity. [103] [104] [105] Approximately 7,400 businesses offered spousal benefits to same-sex couples beginning in 2008. In states that recognize same-sex marriage, same-sex couples cannot continue to receive the same benefits as if they marry. [148] Only 18% of private employers provided health services to domestic partners. [146] Thirty countries, including the United States, have legalized same-sex marriage, and many other Western democracies without marriage equality recognize civil partnerships. Yet same-sex marriage remains banned in many countries, and the expansion of broader LGBTQ+ rights is uneven globally. International organizations, including the United Nations, have passed resolutions in favor of LGBTQ+ rights, but human rights groups say these organizations have limited power to enforce them. Human rights observers note a strong correlation between LGBTQ+ rights and democratic societies; The research and advocacy group Freedom House lists nearly every country where marriage equality — when same-sex couples have the same right to marry as opposite-sex couples — as “free.” “Wherever you see restrictions on individuals — in terms of speech, expression, or freedom of assembly — you see a crackdown on LGBT rights,” says Julie Dorf, senior advisor to the Council for Global Equality, a Washington-based group that promotes LGBTQ+ rights in U.S. foreign policy.
“It`s the canary in the coal mine,” she says. Sociologists, representing the three broad theoretical perspectives, examine the role that sexuality plays in social life today. Researchers recognize that sexuality remains an important and defining social place, and that the way sexuality is constructed has a significant impact on perceptions, interactions, and outcomes. Opponents of same-sex marriage have worked to prevent individual states from recognizing same-sex partnerships by trying to amend the U.S. Constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual partnerships. In 2006, the federal marriage amendment, which would have barred states from recognizing same-sex marriage, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee along a partisan line and debated by the entire Senate, but ultimately rejected in both houses of Congress. [38] On April 2, 2014, the Alabama House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for a constitutional convention to propose an amendment to the national ban on same-sex marriage. [39] Until the June 2013 Supreme Court decision in United States v.
Windsor demanded that the federal government treat legally married same-sex couples on the same basis as legally married opposite-sex couples, and same-sex couples were severely disadvantaged. The federal government has not recognized these marriages for any purpose. According to a 1997 study by the General Accounting Office, at least 1,049 U.S. federal laws and regulations contain references to marital status. [144] A 2004 study by the Congressional Budget Office found 1,138 legal provisions “in which marital status is a determining factor or receiving benefits, rights and privileges.” [145] Many of these statutes regulate property rights, benefits and taxation. Same-sex couples whose marriages were not recognized by the federal government were not eligible for Social Security spouse and survivor benefits and were not eligible for spousal benefits of a federal employee. [145] One study found that the difference in social security income for same-sex versus opposite-sex married couples was per year. [146] The federal government recognizes same-sex marriages that have married in certain states where same-sex marriage has been married for short periods between the time a court order allowed these couples to marry and the stay of that court order, including Michigan.
