by Daniel Bergman

Created on: October 24, 2008   Last Updated: January 19, 2009

The United States Government addressed this issue in 1868, when congress passed the fourteenth amendment. The amendment prohibits the government from making or enforcing "any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

As defined by dictionary.com, the word "abridge" means to reduce or lessen in duration, scope, authority, etc.; diminish; curtail: to abridge a visit; to abridge one's freedom.

Marriage affords the couple a variety of rights and privileges. The couple can share joint ownership in assets. They are allowed unique tax exemptions. They can apply for a mortgage together. They can include the other in their insurance plan. They can sue and be sued jointly. They are not required to testify against one another, their communications are privileged. They have the right to divorce, and have a court of law determine the distribution of their assets, and enter custody and maintenance orders.

The act of making and/or enforcing a law which guarantees one class of citizen a right along with its accompanying privileges and immunities, while prohibiting another class from exercising that same right would reduce and/or lessen the scope and authority of that right, thereby denying that class of citizen equal protection of the law.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were all passed by congress within a four year period. The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery. The fourteenth amendment prohibited the government from abridging citizens' rights. The fifteenth amendment removed the racial bar to vote. This four-year period between 1865 and 1869 marked a turning point in American history. It was with these amendments that our nation declared that every citizen shall be treated equally under the law.

When arguing that marriage should be a sacred union only between a man and a woman, people often allege that same sex marriage is immoral. Unfortunately, people often confuse religious belief with morality; arguments asserting an issue of morality are usually nothing but a disguise for a religious belief. Nothing in the law states that homosexuality is a crime. Therefore, there is nothing in the law that logically supports a conclusion that same sex marriage should be banned.

A law guaranteeing couples the right to marry would be unconstitutional if it denied that right to any one class of citizen. Our nations' laws are not subject to religious interpretation; doing so, would lay siege to our nations' foundation and tear at the fabric from which it was woven.

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