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An argument for same-sex marriage: an interview with jonathan rauch.

The debate over same-sex marriage in the United States is a contentious one, and advocates on both sides continue to work hard to make their voices heard. To explore the case for gay marriage, the Pew Forum has turned to Jonathan Rauch, a columnist at The National Journal and guest scholar at The Brookings Institution. Rauch, who is openly gay, also authored the 2004 book Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America.

A counterargument explaining the case against same-sex marriage is made by Rick Santorum, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a former U.S. senator.

Featuring: Jonathan Rauch, Senior Writer, The National Journal

Interviewer: David Masci , Senior Research Fellow, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

In this Q&A: Why same-sex marriage? Opposition from social conservatives Is there a slippery slope? Strategies for legalization

Why is marriage – I’m sorry, why is same-sex marriage good for America?

Well, you got the question right the first time. It’s “why is marriage good for America?” Same-sex marriage is good for all the same reasons. It’s good for gay people. I think if you asked straight people who have been married or hope to get married to imagine life without marriage, it’s very hard to imagine. It’s a much lonelier, much more vulnerable life.

Gay people need all the same safety. They need the same caregiving anybody else does. A society with successful marriages – and a lot of them – is a more stable, safer, more successful society. America’s problem is not too many marriages, it’s too few. Gay people are asking to be part of this social contract – to care for each other so society doesn’t have to.

What do you think drives the opposition to same-sex marriage? Does it ultimately boil down in many cases to discrimination? Is it that people are just unused to or uncomfortable with the idea of gay people marrying?

All of the above and much more. I’ve given a lot of talks on gay marriage in a lot of cities since writing a book about it in 2004 called Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America . I did a lot of traveling with it and talked to a lot of different kinds of audiences. And it runs the gamut. You get religious people who will say, God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. You get very sympathetic people who say, I really want to do something for gay people, but changing the fundamental boundaries of our most ancient, important institution just goes too far, so let’s do civil unions or something else. And then, you get a lot of people in between.

So it’s a whole variety of reasons. And I’m the first to agree, gay marriage is a significant change; it’s a big change. It’s not something you necessarily expect people to jump into.

You mentioned religious people. They will say things like, look, both the Old and New Testaments in the Bible are very clear about this: God intended marriage to be between a man and a woman.

If you do biblical marriage, then you’re talking about polygamy. It’s there in black-and-white. Or, you’re talking about, for heaven’s sake, no divorce. Jesus himself had nothing to say about homosexuality, but he’s very clear on divorce. You can’t do it. And what I don’t understand is why gay people are the only people in America who have to follow biblical law. I don’t think that’s fair. We could also have other debates about what the Bible does and doesn’t mean, but I think what it boils down to is that gay people should deal with the same standards as straight people. And when straight people start upholding biblical law in civic culture, then maybe gay people should consider it, but not until then.

Opponents of same-sex marriage, particularly social conservatives, will argue that same-sex marriage could or would hurt traditional marriage because by broadening the definition of marriage, you make it less special – less sacred in a sense. And then, eventually, marriage will lose its special place in society – lose its meaning. Why do you think this logic is incorrect?

It depends on what exactly they’re saying. But I think society is at a turning point. We’ve got all these gay couples out there. They’re already acting married in many cases. We’ve got a generation growing up now, which takes for granted that they’ll be able to live a lifestyle that is very much like marriage, even if in most states it’s not called marriage. To have those people set up a married kind of lifestyle – often raising kids, by the way; many gay couples are raising kids – outside of marriage sends all the wrong cultural signals.

The signal we need to send now is that everybody should be getting married. The big cultural problem with the family in America is not that gay people want to get married – it’s that straight people are not getting married or not staying married. And to me, one of the important cultural effects of gay marriage will be to send a very strong signal that marriage is something that is available to and expected of everybody, not just a few.

Now, there are lots of arguments on the other side about people who think that gay marriage will hurt straight marriage. I’ve never really understood why admitting gay couples – fairly small in number – into the institution of marriage and having them uphold those ideals would make marriage less likely or successful for anyone else. I’m probably not the best person to ask for those arguments.

What about the argument that when you make marriage about rights and equal treatment you ultimately open up the field to other sorts of relationships – like polygamous or incestuous relationships – as well? Is that likely, first of all, and, if it is likely, is that a problem?

It would be a problem if it were likely. I think there are a lot of important and good social reasons to be against polygamy and incestuous marriage. We can talk about those if you’re interested. But, fundamentally, it’s not directly relevant. I guess there’s this political argument: Once you have one change, you’re going to get every change.

First of all, I don’t think the American public is that indiscriminating. Second of all, there is no logical connection between gay marriage and all of these other things. I often say, you know, when straight people get the right to marry two or three people or their mother or a toaster, then gay people should have the same right.

But all gay people are asking for now is the one thing that we lack but that all straight people already have – they don’t need to give themselves anything more. And that’s the opportunity to marry some person – one person – that we love. Right now, we can’t marry anybody. The set is the null set for us. That’s not true of straight people who want multiple husbands or multiple wives. That’s not true of people who want to marry their mother; they can have 4 billion marriage partners except their mother. So, ultimately, I think those arguments, although well intended, are primarily a red herring.

You said that you don’t think same-sex marriage would hurt traditional marriage. In fact, it sounds like you’re saying it might actually help marriage in general – the idea of marriage. But what if you were convinced otherwise?

I’ve often said, if I believed that gay marriage would wreck straight marriage then I’d be against it just as if I thought that giving women the vote would wreck democracy so that no one’s vote mattered, I’d be against that, too.

On the other hand, if gay marriage was to have a very small, sort of incremental bad effect on the divorce rate for straight people, I’d say that’s not enough to stop it because you’ve got 10, 12, 15 million Americans not only without marriage, but without even the prospect of marriage. You’ve got them growing up assuming that they’ll be legal strangers to the people that mean the most to them – that they’re committed to care about. And that’s just a scalding deprivation.

When Goodridge v. Department of Public Health , the 2003 Massachusetts decision legalizing same-sex marriage, was handed down, there was a prediction that there was going to be a domino effect and that within five or 10 years we were going to see a lot of other states follow suit. But, at least so far, that hasn’t happened. Are we in the lull before the storm, or do you think that widespread legalization of gay marriage is still a long way off, if it happens at all?

I think it’ll take a while, and I think it should take a while. I see the reaction as going through a few stages. The first was panic after the Supreme Court knocked down the Texas ban on sodomy. And then after Goodridge mandated same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, you had some of the gay marriage advocates saying, we need to get the court to impose this around the country as fast as possible. And then you had conservatives saying, we need to rush through a constitutional amendment at the federal level to ban gay marriage on every inch of American soil forever.

But to my great gratitude – and I think it’s almost inspirational how right the country has gotten this – the public has refused to be rushed. The public has come to understand that we can take our time with this. And the way to do this is let different states do different things. Let’s find out how gay marriage works in a few states. Let’s find out how civil unions work. In the meantime, let the other states hold back.

Marriage is not like voting, something the government just gives you at the stroke of a pen by fiat. Marriage must be a community institution to have its full power, which is to make couples actually closer. It actually fortifies and not just ratifies relationships. Your marriage has to be recognized by your community, your friends, your family, your kids’ teachers, your co-workers, all of the people around you as a marriage with all of the expectations and social support that goes with that. The law can’t give you that. That comes from community and that’s something gay couples are going to have to build by showing, as I think we are in Massachusetts, that we can be good marital citizens, that we’re not hurting anybody else’s marriage.

From your point of view, is it better to legalize same-sex marriage by passing a law in the legislature, or are courts a better venue for this?

I think now in 2008, clearly, the legislatures are a better way to do it. To everything its season. When this issue first came up in 1970 – the first gay couple tried to get married in 1970, filed a lawsuit and lost – the courts were the only place you could go. There was no chance that any legislature would ever even hear you out if you were gay and wanted to get married.

But I think the court strategy has basically exhausted its utility. In fact, it may have overreached. And what we’re seeing now is that, in any case, the number of court venues where you can even use a judicial strategy are very, very sharply diminished. They are almost all gone because of the state constitutional amendments and because a lot of courts have acted already. So that means we’re now turning to the next stage. And I think it’s the proper stage. That’s the democratic process. I think it is qualitatively different and better if you get married with the consent of your community, which, in America, means your state legislature, among other things. And that’s where we need to go.

Let’s assume that same-sex marriage eventually becomes the norm in America. Are there any downsides for gays and lesbians?

No. No, I see none at all. For gays and lesbians, I see only an upside. I see an opportunity to join in the most healthgiving, beneficial social institution that’s ever been invented by humanity. I see the prospect for young people to grow up assuming that they will have families and connections to their community that have been denied to gay people for thousands of years. I see no downside at all for gay people.

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About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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Gay Marriage

By: History.com Editors

Updated: July 10, 2023 | Original: June 9, 2017

In the landmark 2015 case Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all state bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional, making gay marriage legal throughout America. The ruling was a culmination of decades of struggles, setbacks and victories along the road to full marriage equality in the United States.

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans

In 1970, just one year after the historic Stonewall Riots that galvanized the gay rights movement, law student Richard Baker and librarian James McConnell applied for a marriage license in Minnesota .

Clerk Gerald Nelson rejected their application because they were a same-sex couple, and a trial court upheld his decision. Baker and McConnell appealed, but the state Supreme Court affirmed the trial judge’s decision in 1971 in Baker v. Nelson.

When the couple appealed again, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 declined to hear the case “for want of a substantial federal question.” This ruling effectively blocked federal courts from ruling on same-sex marriage for decades, leaving the decision solely in the hands of states, which dealt blow after blow to those hoping to see gay marriage becoming legal.

In 1973, for instance, Maryland became the first state to create a law that explicitly defines marriage as a union between a man and woman, a belief held by many conservative religious groups. Other states quickly followed suit: Virginia in 1975, and Florida , California and Wyoming in 1977.

Of course, numerous other same-sex couples across the country had also applied for marriage licenses over the years, but each ended in a somber note like Baker and McConnell’s case. Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements in the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk becoming the first openly gay man elected to public office in the country in 1977—the fight for gay marriage made little headway for many years.

Marriage Equality: Turning the Tide

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, same-sex couples saw the first signs of hope on the marriage front in a long time. In 1989, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that allowed homosexual couples and unmarried heterosexual couples to register for domestic partnerships, which granted hospital visitation rights and other benefits.

Three years later, the District of Columbia similarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex couples to register as domestic partners. Like with San Francisco’s ordinance, D.C.’s domestic partnership status fell far short of full marriage, but it did grant D.C. same-sex couples some important benefits, such as allowing partners to receive health care coverage if their significant other was employed by the D.C. government.

Then, in 1993, the highest court in Hawaii ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage may violate that state constitution’s Equal Protection Clause—the first time a state court has ever inched toward making gay marriage legal.

The Hawaii Supreme Court sent the case—brought by a gay male couple and two lesbian couples who were denied marriage licenses in 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circuit Court, which in 1991 originally dismissed the suit.

As the state tried to prove that there was “compelling state interest” in justifying the ban, the case would be tied up in litigation for the next three years.

The Defense of Marriage Act

Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not sit on their haunches. In response to Hawaii’s 1993 court decision in Baehr v. Lewin, the U.S. Congress in 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which President Bill Clinton signed into law.

DOMA didn’t ban gay marriage outright but specified that only heterosexual couples could be granted federal marriage benefits. That is, even if a state made gay marriage legal, same-sex couples still wouldn’t be able to file income taxes jointly, sponsor spouses for immigration benefits or receive spousal Social Security payments, among many other things.

The act was a huge setback for the marriage equality movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kevin S. C. Chang ordered the state to stop denying licenses to same-sex couples.

Unfortunately for these couples looking to get married, the celebration was short-lived. In 1998, voters approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in the state.

Pushing for Change: Civil Unions

The next decade saw a whirlwind of activity on the gay marriage front, beginning with the year 2000 when Vermont became the first state to legalize civil unions, a legal status that provides most of the state-level benefits of marriage.

Three years later, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had the right to marry in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, a ruling that, unlike Hawaii’s, wouldn’t be overturned by voters. The state finally introduced the country to gay marriage (minus the federal benefits) when it began issuing same-sex marriage licenses on May 17, 2004.

Later that year, the U.S. Senate blocked a Constitutional amendment—supported by President George W. Bush —that would outlaw gay marriage across the country.

2004 was notable for couples in many other states as well, though for the opposite reason: Ten typically conservative states, along with Oregon , enacted state-level bans on gay marriage. Kansas and Texas were next in 2005, and 2006 saw seven more states passing Constitutional amendments against gay marriage.

But towards the end of the decade, gay marriage became legal in various states, including Connecticut , Iowa , Vermont (the first state to approve it by legislative means) and New Hampshire .

Domestic Partnerships

Throughout the decade and the beginning of the next, California frequently made headlines for seesawing on the gay marriage issue.

The state was the first to pass a domestic partnership statute in 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill in 2005 and 2007. The bills were vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger both times.

In May 2008, the state Supreme Court struck down the 1977 state law banning same-sex marriage, but just a few months later voters approved Proposition 8, which again restricted marriage to heterosexual couples.

The highly contentious ballot measure was declared unconstitutional two years later, but multiple appeals kept the matter unsettled until 2013 when the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the case. Hollingsworth v. Perry legalized same-sex marriage in California.

United States v. Windsor

The early 2010s continued the state-level battles over gay marriage that defined the preceding decade, with at least one notable event. For the first time in the country’s history, voters (rather than judges or legislators) in Maine , Maryland, and Washington approved Constitutional amendments permitting same-sex marriage in 2012.

Same-sex marriage also became a federal issue again.

In 2010, Massachusetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Section 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman—to be unconstitutional. Foundations of the act had finally begun to crumble, but the real hammer fell with United States v. Windsor .

In 2007, New York lesbian couple Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer wed in Ontario, Canada. The State of New York recognized the residents’ marriage, but the federal government, thanks to DOMA, did not. When Spyer died in 2009, she left her estate to Windsor; since the couple’s marriage was not federally recognized, Windsor didn’t qualify for tax exemption as a surviving spouse and the government imposed $363,000 in estate taxes.

Windsor sued the government in late 2010. A few months later, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that  Barack Obama 's administration would no longer defend DOMA, leaving a representative of the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the House of Representatives to take on the case.

In 2012, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that DOMA violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments for the case.

The following year, the court ruled in favor of Windsor, ultimately striking down Section 3 of DOMA.

Obergefell v. Hodges

Though the U.S. government could now no longer deny federal benefits to married same-sex couples, other parts of DOMA were still intact, including Section 2, which declared that states and territories could refuse to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples from other states. Soon enough, however, DOMA lost its power thanks to the historic Obergefell v. Hodges .

The case involved several groups of same-sex couples who sued their respective states ( Ohio , Michigan , Kentucky  and Tennessee ) for the states’ bans on same-sex marriage and refusal to recognize such marriages performed elsewhere.

The plaintiffs—led by Jim Obergefell, who sued because he was unable to put his name on his late husband’s death certificate—argued that the laws violated the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment .

In each case, trial courts sided with the plaintiffs, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit disagreed, bringing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Full Marriage Equality Attained

As with United States v. Windsor, conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy sided with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg , Stephen Breyer , Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan in favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately making gay marriage legal across the nation in June 2015.

By this time, it was still outlawed in only 13 states, and more than 20 other countries had already legalized gay marriage, starting with the Netherlands in December 2000. Chile became the most recent country to legalize same-sex marriage in December 2021.

A Pew Research Center poll in 2001 found that 57 percent of Americans opposed same-sex marriage and only 35 percent supported it. In 2022, a Pew poll found 61 percent of Americans said that the legalization of same-sex marriage is good for society.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Gay Marriage — The Case for Legalizing Gay Marriages

The Case for Legalizing Gay Marriages

• Categories: Gay Marriage

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Words: 630 |

Published: Jan 29, 2024

Words: 630 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

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Individual rights, societal benefits, counterarguments and refutation.

• Rands, Morgan L., and Justin J. Lehmiller. "Gay marriages: A systematic review of the research evidence." Health Psychology Review 13.1 (2019): 1-24.
• Baumeister, Roy F., and Kathleen D. Vohs. "Sexual orientation and economic behavior." BE Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy 8.1 (2007).
• Sullivan, Edmund. "The conservative case for gay marriage." Time 6 (2013): 2013.

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Thailand Lawmakers Bring Same-Sex Marriage a Crucial Step Closer

The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to legalize same-sex marriage. The bill now goes to Thailand’s Senate.

By Muktita Suhartono

Reporting from Bangkok

Thailand’s House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage, bringing the measure a significant step closer to becoming law.

The bill passed by 400 votes to 10, with a handful of abstentions, and now the legislation goes to the Senate. If it passes there, and if Thailand’s king approves it, the country will become the first in Southeast Asia to recognize same-sex marriages. In Asia more broadly, only Taiwan and Nepal have done so.

Thailand’s bill describes marriage as a partnership between two individuals, rather than between a woman and a man. It will also give L.G.B.T.Q. couples equal rights to various tax savings, the ability to inherit property and the power to give medical treatment consent for partners who are incapacitated. The draft will also grant adoption rights. Thai law currently allows only heterosexual couples to adopt, although single women can adopt children with special needs.

“The amendment of this law is for all Thai people. It is the starting point to create equality,” Danuphorn Punnakanta, a lawmaker who chairs the lower house’s committee on marriage equality, told Parliament. “We understand that this law is not a universal cure to every problem, but at least it’s the first step toward equality in Thai society.”

The legislation has been more than a decade in the making, with obstacles stemming from political upheaval and disagreements as to the approach to take and what to include in the bill. In December, Parliament passed four proposed draft bills on same-sex marriage; one was put forward by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s administration, and three additional versions by the Move Forward Party, the Democrat Party and the civil sector were considered. These four were combined into a single draft that was passed on Wednesday.

“This is the greatest victory,” said Nada Chaiyajit, a law lecturer at Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, who has supported the law from its beginnings. “We have been working hard with the committee. This is not only about L.G.B.T.I.Q., this is about everyone. Equality.”

Thailand is one of the most open places in the world for L.G.B.T.Q. people, though some elements of its Buddhist-dominated culture are socially conservative.

Muktita Suhartono reports on Thailand and Indonesia. She is based in Bangkok. More about Muktita Suhartono

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Moscow officially registers marriage between two brides

On August 19, an unusual marriage was registered in Moscow: Two girls in similar wedding dresses turned up at one of the city's civil registry offices.

The two girls had decided to officially register their relationship, despite the fact that same-sex marriages are prohibited by law in Russia. However, officials were unable to refuse them, as one of the brides, known in the Russian LGBT community as the blogger Alina Davis, is a transsexual. According to her passport, Davis is actually a man named Dmitry Kozhukov.  

According to Davis, to avoid a scandal, the civil registrar’s office staff threatened not to let the young couple inside if both came wearing dresses. 

“Going to the civil registrar’s office was not scary, although we were threatened,” she said. “We submitted our application in May, and everything was fine.” 

During the ceremony, the civil registry office manager became indignant with the eccentricities of this young couple, and sincerely wondered aloud why a man would want to become a woman. However, according to the newlyweds, there were no further verbal skirmishes.

This wedding of two 'non-traditional' individuals sparked heated debates on the Russian internet.

First published in Russia by  Metro

Read more: Reaction to marriage of ‘two brides’ in Moscow shows challenges ahead

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Gay Parade in Moscow Crushed By Police (Intermediate News Lesson Plan)

With Answers! | Download Homosexuality ESL Lesson plan here: Gay-Parade-Police-Moscow-Intermediate-30052011.docx

Note to teachers : This lesson was published in 2011, and therefore, may seem dated.

Homosexuality ESL News Lesson Plan: Warm-up

•  Have you ever been involved in a rally, protest, or parade?
•  What does the term “lobbying” mean? What are some powerful lobby groups in your country?
• Does your city or town have a gay community? Would you say your city is gay-friendly?
• Are there any well-known gay people in your country, for example, politicians, actors, or athletes?

Gay Parade in Moscow Crushed By Police (May 20th, 2011)

Gay-rights activists have tried to hold a parade in Moscow for the sixth year in a row . But dozens of people were arrested after the activists clashed with counter-protesters. Russian officials have detained three global gay rights leaders, and dozens of others, after they tried to hold an unauthorized rally near the Kremlin.

Police say a small crowd of marchers, some waving rainbow flags and others carrying signs that read, “Russia is not Iran,” was attacked by an ultra-Orthodox group who had successfully lobbied the Moscow city government to ban the event.

The leader of Russia's Orthodox Union, Leonid Simonovich, said people should not be allowed to hold a gay pride parade. He said God once burned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and if something like homosexuality was condoned in Russia, God would burn down Moscow as well. He referred to the Russian capital as a “holy” city.

Witnesses say police aggressively arrested the marchers, protesters, and members of the ultra-nationalist group before putting them in police vans.

Many rights activists had hoped they would be able to hold a gay-rights parade after former Mayor Yuri Luzhkov was fired. Luzhkov had likened homosexuality to the devil. Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993, but homophobic attitudes remain. In October, the European Court of Human Rights fined Russia for banning homosexual parades in Moscow.

Officials say most of the detained people have been released. [232 words]

[Original: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Dozens-Detained-at-Gay-Rally-in-Moscow-122796049.html]

Homosexuality ESL News Lesson Plan: Comprehension Questions

4 - They hoped it might be successful because the mayor of Moscow, who was strongly against homosexuality, was no longer the mayor. 5 - False. It was decriminalized in 1993.

Homosexuality ESL News Lesson Plan: Vocabulary Matching

• activist - a person working for political or social change.
• clash - fight, do battle
• detain - arrest, capture
• unauthorized - unofficial, illegal, not permitted
• lobby - try to persuade, influence
• condone - accept, allow
• aggressively - forcefully, violently
• liken - compare
• decriminalize - make legal
• fine - to make someone pay money as a punishment

Homosexuality ESL News Lesson Plan: Connect the below idea(s) to make a sentence.

• Activists clashed with the police on the street.
• Many activists were detained by the police.
• The government's secret laboratory is an unauthorized area for the general public.
• The Orthodox church lobbied the government to stop the parade.
• Gandhi did not condone the use of violence.
• Linda is scared to get in the car with her husband because he drives so aggressively.
• Life can be likened to a journey.
• Marijuana has been decriminalized in some countries.
• The man was fined $500 dollars for running naked through the shopping mall.

Read and complete the below sentences where necessary.

I have for three nights in a row.

I don't like to for more than two days in a row.

• I have gone to bed after 1 a.m. for three nights in a row
• I don't like to eat the same food or go without showering for more than two days in a row.

Homosexuality ESL News Lesson Plan: Discussion Questions

• Are there certain jobs that tend to be done by gay people? If so, why is that?
• Sigmund Freud believed that all people have homosexual tendencies. In other words, everyone is gay to a degree. What do you think of this idea?
• What might be the pros and cons of being raised by same-sex parents?

Lesson plan copyright Englishcurrent.com

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Russian State Duma adopts constitutional amendments on historical faith in God and traditional marriage

Moscow, March 12, 2020

The Russian State Duma and Federation Council approved a number of constitutional amendments yesterday, March 11. The foundational legal document now speaks of the importance of Russia’s historical faith in God and enshrines traditional marriage and family values.

As IA-Regnum reports, regarding faith in God, the constitution now reads:

The Russian Federation, united by a thousand-year history, preserving the memory of our ancestors who passed on ideals and faith in God to us, as well as continuity in the development of the Russian state, recognizes the historically established state unity.

Legislators also adopted an amendment that stipulates that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, effectively banning gay marriages, reports macaubusiness.com .

Yesterday, at the same time the Duma was voting to adopt the amendments, the Holy Synod of the Russian Church officially voiced its support for Pat. Kirill’s proposal.

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