Sociology
With the rising acceptance of same-sex marriage in the United States, there has been a change in marriage as a social institution.
1. What social factors impacted this change?
2. What fluctuations in U.S. culture helped to transform attitudes toward same-sex marriage?
3. Choose two countries other than the United States and report your findings on whether or not same-sex marriages are accepted. If accepted, to what degree are they accepted? Do you believe that same-sex marriage should be recognized in the same way as heterosexual marriage? Why or why not?
ANSWER
Same Sex Marriages
With the rising acceptance of same-sex marriage in the United States, there has been a change in marriage as a social institution.
1. What social factors impacted this change?
2. What fluctuations in U.S. culture helped to transform attitudes toward same-sex marriage?
3. Choose two countries other than the United States and report your findings on whether or not same-sex marriages are accepted. If accepted, to what degree are they accepted? Do you believe that same-sex marriage should be recognized in the same way as heterosexual marriage? Why or why not?
Question 1
Same-sex marriages did not exist until early in the twenty-first century. Before that, same-sex marriage was seen as an oxymoron and was inconceivable (Ozzano, 2016). Over time, formal arrangements like marriages have become less popular as compared to informal relationships like cohabitation. The rise of alternative partnerships is associated with the constantly evolving role of marriage. Over time, marriage has become a commitment mechanism while it used to be a specialization device. Marriages are no longer viewed as necessary for baby-making as a couple can opt to adopt kids.
Question 2
After the 21st century, gay marriage was accepted in the United States by over 30states. One driving factor for this is the generation gap. The new generation treats gay marriage as a norm and is thus readily adapting to it without any problems. The other factor should be the act of more gay people coming out. Before homosexuality and same-sex marriage started being treated as normal, people were afraid of coming out because of the stigma. However, in the current setting, more people are coming out, making homosexuality look normal, which changed the way people viewed same-sex marriages.
Question 3
In May 2020, Costa Rica became the first Central American Nation to make same-sex marriage legal. Because it was recently pronounced legal after several attempts, Costa Rica becomes among the other 28 countries that allow same-sex marriages (Campana & Vaggione, 2021). On the other hand, the Netherlands was the first country to allow same-sex marriages in 2001. Since then, same-sex couples in the Netherlands have the right to marry, divorce and even adopt children into their families. It is important to note that same-sex marriages should be recognized in the same way as heterosexual marriages. Heterosexual marriages may have been present for ages. In contrast, same-sex marriages have only been accepted recently, and not by everybody. Still, just like heterosexual partners, same-sex partners also grow emotionally attached to their partners and face the same issues related to love, loyalty and intimacy.
References
Campana, M., & Vaggione, J. M. (2021). Courts and Same-Sex Marriage in Latin America. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics.
Ozzano, L. (2016). Two forms of Catholicism in twenty-first-century Italian public debate: An analysis of positions on same-sex marriage and Muslim dress codes. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 21(3), 464-484.
