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Brooke Neelands Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English 1102 Thursday, January 22, 2014

Extended Inquiry Project Topic Proposal: Same-Sex Marriage

Introduction/Overview The topic that interests me most is the controversy of same-sex marriage. I feel as if this topic affects the general nation as a whole. I would really like to know why it has become such a huge issue in todays society. I fully support this issue. I do not believe that anyone should be held back from doing something that will make him or her happy, especially something as important as marriage. With that said, I will be doing my project on the controversy of same-sex marriage in todays society. This has become one of the main topics and issues in our government today. Some people disagree based on religious beliefs and some people disagree based on their personal morals and beliefs. Most of the disagreement has been found to be religious based. Others do not disagree at all and are completely for it. This has been a controversial social issue in the U.S. for several decades, but public opinion on this topic seems to be evolving more and more. For example, an annual poll by Gallup has been tracking the question of whether or not same-sex marriages should be legal since 1968, and the percentage of favorable responses has increased from 27 percent to 53 percent through out the past 46 years. I found this information on a website that has open discussions on controversies in todays society. As of January 2014, seventeen states in the U.S have legalized same-sex marriage, but my question is why only 17? Same-sex unions have been on the political radar in the U.S since

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the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that denying marriage licenses to same-sex partners violated the Hawaii constitution unless there is a compelling state interest. Why has this not been found true for the rest of the states? Proponents argue that same-sex couples should have access to the same marriage benefits and public acknowledgment enjoyed by heterosexual couples and that prohibiting gay marriage is unconstitutional discrimination. Opponents argue that altering the traditional definition of marriage (men and women) with begin to weaken a threatened institution and that legalizing may cause more serious issues later on. I found this info at gaymarriage.procon.org. California, with the nations largest and most racially diverse gay and lesbian population, has played a prominent role in the modern gay marriage debate. I have done a lot of discussion with my friends on this topic as well as my southern Baptist conservative as it gets family members. I found this to be more interesting than any of the research that I found because it was based solely what individuals believe which is what the issue boils down to. I asked both my conservative and liberal friends and found it interesting that even most people that consider themselves to be conservative in my generation are completely for gay marriage. However, conservative people of older generations such as my parents wouldnt have to think twice about arguing against the topic. Hmmm? I find this interesting. Initial Inquiry Question(s) Why has this become such a big situation in todays society? Why has it not become legal in all 50 states? What are the differing government views? Does it have to do with what part of the country it is? If its legal in 17 states, why not just make it legal for all? How do homosexuals themselves view and defend the issue? How do others view, defend, or argue the

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issue? What is both sides of the argument? How long of a process is it for it to be legalized? Is the majority of the population for or against it? My Interest in this Topic I am particularly interested in this topic for several reasons. One, I believe that society is completely ignorant to continue to disagree with gay marriage and to constantly continue protesting. It is such a weighty issue in todays society and I think that it is important for people to know the facts rather than choosing their opinion bases just on what they think they know or better yet just because its what their parent believe. Im also interested because a big portion and I would even say a majority of my friends are gay as well as many of my professors. So its a pretty prevalent topic in my everyday life. I do not know much of the facts myself and I personally dont think that very many people do so thats why it interest me most because I am going to become an expert on this topic and then later get to share it with everyone I know. Next Steps One of my music professors here at UNCC does a lot of research on this topic so I definitely plan on getting with him over the course of my research to compare my own research and hopefully look into some of his as well. I plan on interviewing many people via facebook, twitter, and face to face to find out the stand point of their beliefs on the topic. I will be visiting gaymarriage.procon.org to gather a lot of information. I found this website to be very helpful in my preliminary research and it also has many links that connect to different recent articles on the topic. I also found that freedomtomarry.org has many recent articles that have been posted on the subject. I think that much of my information and research with be coming from articles because its so big in the headlines today and is also a changing issue.

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