Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Teaching About Gay Marriage: 10 Years After Massachusetts

Today marks the 10th Anniversary of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision legalizing gay marriage and making it the first state in the U.S. to allow gay marriage. Since 2003, U.S. public opinion appears to be rapidly changing in favor of marriage equality and a recent Washington Post/ABC News polls shows 58% of Americans support the right for gay and lesbian couples to marry. Yet, gay marriage is viewed negatively in many religious and conservative communities and 29 states prohibit same-sex marriage in their constitutions. Like any social movement, students should grapple with the impact of change related to the civil definition of marriage. Here are some excellent resources to help social studies teach about the marriage equality movement:

The Massachusetts SJC Ruling and Related Law: http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/subject/about/gaymarriage.html

The History of Gay Marriage (Boston Globe): http://www.boston.com/news/specials/gay_marriage/ and http://www.bostonglobe.com/2013/11/12/same-sex-marriage-over-time/mbVFMQPyxZCpM2eSQMUsZK/story.html

A Personal Retrospective of Gay Marriage in Massachusetts (TIME Magazine): http://ideas.time.com/2013/11/18/why-massachusetts-was-so-important-to-marriage-equality/

Different Stratgies to Marriage Equality (Teaching Tolerance): http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/marriage-equality-different-strategies-attaining-equal-right

A Contentious Debate: Same-Sex Marriage in the U.S. (Pew Religion and Public Life Project): http://www.pewforum.org/2009/07/09/a-contentious-debate-same-sex-marriage-in-the-us/

The Gay Marriage Debate (PBS NewsHour): http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/gaymarriage/


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