Ben Warnick English 1010 Research Paper

Gay Marriage Throughout Time and History

Imagine sitting at a rustic chateau in the rolling hills of wine country. Waiting for your best friends wedding to start, you feel the warm breeze of the summer air and smell the bouquets of lilies lining the aisles. The soft sounds of music plays in the background while people file in to take their seats. The wedding starts with a beautiful wedding song, the loving couple walks down the aisle, shares their vows, and everyone waits for the priest to announce, I pronounce you husband and husband. This scenario happens on a daily basis in our country today. With that said, gay marriage is being discussed more and debated whether it should be legalized. Even though gay marriage is a new concept in the United States of America its been practiced throughout history. Gay marriage has evolved throughout history and its continuing evolution still affects us today.

Many types of same-sex marriages have existed, ranging from informal, unsanctioned relationships to highly formalized unions. (Herdt) Ancient Assyrians valued the love of a man for a man in the same way they valued the love of a man for a woman, as evidenced by marital prayers contained in The Almanac of Incantations (Bullough). Homosexuality was viewed as common practice in ancient Rome. In fact, thirteen out of

the first fourteen Roman Emperors were bisexual or homosexual. The first Roman emperor to have married a man was Nero, who married two different men on other occasions. His first husband was named Pythagoras. He later married a young boy, who resembled one of his concubines named Sporus. Same sex marriages were practiced until Christianity became the official relition of the Roman Empire in 342 A.D (Boswell). However that didnt stop same sex marriage from occurring. Records from the Middle Ages show that Pedro Daz and Muo Vanilaz were married by a Spanish priest in Rairiz de Veiga, Spain (Hinsch).

Classical and western cultures where not the only cultures that practiced same sex marriage rituals. Same sex expression in native Africa was also practiced and took a variety of forms. Native African woman engaged in socially sanctioned long term, erotic relationships called motsoalle (Stephen). Male Azande warriors in the northern Congo also would take on young male lovers from the age of twelve to twenty, who would then take on the duties of house cleaning and chores, they would participate in intercrual sex with their older husbands. In the Americas prior to European colonization, indivuals who exhibited same sex attraction know as Two-Spirit individual. This was recognized early in life and the child was given a choice by the parents to follow this path and, if the child accepted the role, they were raised in the appropriate manner, learning the customs of the gender it had chosen. Two-Spirited individuals were commonly known as shamans, and they were revered as having higher powers then those of ordinary shaman. Their sexual life was with the members of the same tribe of that same sex. Some of the earliest recorded same-sex love in history is in East Asia, Homosexuality in China, known as the

pleasures of the bitten peach, the cut sleeve, or the southern custom, has been recorded since approximately 600 BC. These terms were used to describe behaviors, not identities. Homosexuality in Japan, known as shudo or nanshoku, has been documented for over one thousand years and had some connections to the Buddhist lifestyle and the samurai tradition. This same-sex love culture gave rise to strong traditions of painting and literature documenting and celebrating such relationships. Similarly, in Thailand, Kathoey, or "ladyboys," have been a feature of Thai society for many centuries, and Thai kings had male as well as female lovers (News).

Not all social or religious beliefs have smiled upon same-sex relations. As early as 342 AD, Christianity ordered that people who were married to the same sex were to be executed. Traditional Christianity taught that marriage was defined as being between on man and one woman, who would bear and raise children together. Any other version of marriage was against Gods will. Today proponents of traditional marriage continue to claim that marriage should only be defined as a union between one man and one woman. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that children are entitled to be raised by a mother and a father who honor their marital vows with complete fidelity (Hinckley). They believe marriage is not primarily a contract between individuals to ratify their affections and provide for mutual obligations, but is an important part of rearing children. They teach that same-sex marriage undermines the purpose of marriage (Church).

Much of the current controversy over same-sex marriage stems from freedom of religion. There is concern that if same-sex marriage were to become a constitutional amendment, religious organizations would have to perform marriages for everyone or risk loosing their tax-exempt status. Not only would churches would have to change their practice if the definition of marriage grows to include same-sex couples, schools, healthcare centers, adoption agencies, social service agencies, summer camps, homeless shelters, nursing homes, orphanages, community centers, and athletic programs also have to change their values and policies to include same-sex couples families. There are benefits that would come from same-sex marriage being a constitutional amendment. Massachusetts, which became the first state to legalize gay marriage on May 17, 2004, had the lowest divorce rate in the country in 2008. Its divorce rate declined 21% between 2003 and 2008 (Silver, Divorce Rates Highter in States With Gay Marriage Bans). The Williams Institute at UCLA Law School estimated the positive economic impact of legalizing gay marriage in New Jersey to be $248 million over three years, creating 800 new jobs, and bringing in an additional $19 million in government revenues (VespaPapaleo). The personal benefits of same-sex marriage include fewer incidents of poverty and mental health problems in families where the parents are married rather than simply cohabitating. Many studies also support the idea that children living with married parents do better in a variety of ways than children in any other living arrangement. Married people live longer, have better access to health care, enjoy a more satisfying sex life, experience less stress, live a healthier lifestyle, and have lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, and depression compared to their single counterparts.

The list of health perks conferred by marriage is so long, in fact, that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has made it a centerpiece of its two-year-old, $5 million national media campaign to promote wedded bliss (Storrs).

There will always be those who fight agents or challenge same-sex or traditional marriage Same-sex unions are a natural result of same-sex relationships. People are going to find ways to get married whether or not their communities honor their marriage unions. The national trend is changing: over 50% of Americans are in favor of legalizing gay marriage. As of July 2013, thirteen states California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, the District of Columbia, and five Native American tribes have legalized same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage has always had a place in history, (Silver, Support for Gay marriage Outweighs Opposition in Polls) sometimes holding hands with religion and sometimes pushing against religion and culture. On May 9, 2012, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. President to publicly declare support for the legalization of same-sex marriage. On November 6, 2012, Maine, Maryland, and Washington became the first states to legalize same-sex marriage through popular vote (Obama).

It might seem the discussion of same-sex marriage in the USA is a new concept, but history has shown same-sex relations have existed in every culture. Whether we choose to recognize it or not, same-sex marriage continues to exist and evolve today.

Bibliography
Boswell, John. Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century . The University of Chicago, 1980. Bullough. (n.d.): 53. Church, Newsroom LDS. Newsroom. 2008 13-august. <http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/the-divine-institution-of-marriage>. Herdt, Gilbert H. Ritualized Homosexuality in Melanesia. Los Angeles: Google books, 1993. Hinckley, Gordon B. The Family: A Proclamation to the World . 1995 23September. <https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation>. Hinsch, Bret. Passions of the Cut Sleeve. University of California Press (1990): 3536. News, Jongo. Most Frequently used new coinages in daily Chinese . 2007 20August. <http://news.jongo.com/articles/07/0820/30157/MzAxNTcoluZIoia.html>. Obama, Presadent. Obama Affirms Support for Same-Sex Marriage Robin Roberts. 2012 9-May. Silver, Nate. Divorce Rates Highter in States With Gay Marriage Bans. 2010 12-jan. <www.fivethirtyeight.com >. . Support for Gay marriage Outweighs Opposition in Polls. 2012. Stephen, Murray Will ,Roscoe. Boy Wives and Female Hisbands: Studies of African Homosexualitiyes. St. Martin's Press (1998). Storrs, Carina. Why Love Is Good for Your Health. 16 February 2011. <http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20466753,00.html>. Vespa-Papaleo, J. Frank. The, Legal, Medical, Economic & Social Consequences of New Jersey's Civil Union Law. 2008 10-Dec. <WWW.nj.gov>.