Men have paired up with men and women with women throughout history and around the globe seeking companionship, support and sometimes physical intimacy. These same-sex relationships have enjoyed some social acceptance. But in the West, religious authorities have condemned homosexual relationships since the Middle Ages. In the 1970s gay and lesbian couples began trying to legally marry, but courts reformed their efforts throughout the 1980s (Rutgers, 2005). However at the time marriage was not a high priority in the gay-rights movement. Opinions were divided about the importance of marriage and gay-rights advocates had more pressing issues such as job discrimination, anti-gay laws and AIDS.
Efforts to win legal recognition for same-sex marriages intensified during the 1990s, starting with favorable court rulings in Hawaii and Alaska. However those rulings were nullified by state constitutional amendments. And in further reaction to the Hawaii and Alaska cases, the federal......

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Title: Gay Marriage
Approximate Word Count: 365
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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