The Beginning

For years, homosexuals have struggled through a battle of inequality. In the eyes of legal courts, their love is seen as illegitimate love and they are deprived of the basic rights that heterosexual marriages entail. Since the beginning of time, people that are not the majority in the United States have been fighting for their rights. Before the early sixties, interracial marriages were not recognized by the church or state. Just a few years later efforts to legalize same-sex marriages were put into motion. As of today, April 2011, same-sex marriage is only legal in five states including Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, Massachusetts being the first state to legalize gay marriage in 2004. And for a few months in 2008, gay marriage was also legal in California until Proposition 8 passed 52% to 48% putting an end to this right. There are also a few other states that recognize same-sex marriage if it is preformed in a different state or ones that recognize gay marriage but do not grant a marriage license such as Rhode Island and New York. The hope for homosexuals and supporters alike is that one day, all states will realize that love is blind and gay or straight, we're all the same and deserve to be treated with the same rights and respect.