Observation
Despite the recent breakthrough in the perception of homosexual people, which the movement for the rights of the specified denizens of the U.S. population had spawned, the process of providing the LGBT community with their irrefutable rights is still hampered by a range of factors from religious ones to political concerns (Liptak, 2015). However, a recent event regarding gay marriage, which the New York Times sheds some light on, may serve as the gateway to reconsidering the current status of the members of the LGBT community and entitling them to the rights that they are promised as the citizens of the United States.
In his article Gay marriage backers win Supreme Court victory, the title of which speaks for itself, Adam Liptak (2015) outlines the key stages of the process and the major outcomes that it has already led to, as well as is bound to lead to in the foreseeable future. According to Liptak, the U.S. Supreme Court “ruled on Friday that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage” (Liptak, 2015, par. 1). The specified decision is bound to affect the lives of the members of the LGBT community in the USA on some levels.
The effects of the event in question are going to have an immense impact on the provision of rights to the LGBT community, Liptak (2015) assures. Which is even more surprising, the court’s decision was influenced heavily by the ruling of the UK court, particularly, Windsor’s choice (Liptak, 2015). The input into the process of granting LGBT members their irrefutable rights can be described as international, which guarantees that the rights of the above-mentioned people may soon be recognized worldwide.
Connection
Even though the issue of same-sex marriage can be viewed as rather specific compared to the general topics overviewed during the course, it is still related directly to some of the political aspects of society’s functioning. Particularly, the fact that the event in question is bound to reinvent the concept of marriage and its legal status that has been accepted in the U.S. society for decades needs to be brought up.
Indeed, according to the official definition of a public policy, the latter traditionally denotes the decision made by the state government that is supposed to address a certain political aspect of the society’s functioning, yet it also affects the social interactions among its members and allows for redesigning the values that are currently accepted by the members of the society in question. The event under consideration, in its turn, can be viewed as a prime example of the alteration that society needs to undergo as a result of a change in the state policy towards the law on same-sex marriages.
Particularly, the very concept of marriage will have to be reconsidered due to the changes that the court decision has brought. While previously marriage was considered matrimony between a man and a woman, the court ruling described by Liptak turns the concept around, making marriage matrimony between two people of any gender. According to the author of the article, the decision ruled by the Supreme Court is going to have a major effect on U.S. society in terms of recognizing the rights of LGBT movement members. Seeing that the case in point can be described as a legal reform triggering major social consequences, it can be defined as a public policy-related issue.
One might argue that the alteration in question is unlikely to result in a major change of attitudes towards the very concept of gay marriage. On the one hand, people may be unwilling to change their opinions regarding a certain controversial issue radically within a relatively short amount of time. on the other hand, the changes in the concept of marriage, which the court decision described above will entail, will trigger the reconsideration of not only marriage but also the needs and demands of the members of the LGBT community, therefore, allowing the members of the contemporary American society to relate to the target denizens of the U.S. population more efficiently. Consequently, the very attitude towards homosexuals and their rights may change as a result of the verdict passed by the Supreme Court. The case in point is a graphic example of the moods within a society being changed by the alterations in the legal system, particularly, the introduction of a new law.
Speculation
Naturally, it would be naïve to assume that every single citizen of the United States is going to accept the specified change immediately and irrevocably. Quite on the contrary, the legal reinforcement of the process of providing the LGBT community with the rights and freedoms that they have been deprived of for so many years is likely to be received with much reluctance by the opponents. More importantly, the specified change in the public policy may spur major protests among some of the most conservative denizens of the American population. The above-mentioned issues are quite expected, as the alterations in the public policy will trigger an inevitable change in the moral fabric of the society, making every single member of the United States accept the fact that homosexual people have the right to get married.
The possibilities, which the new public policy opens in front of the American society, are truly ample. Not only does the court decision promote better chances for the LGBT members to integrate into the American society, but also the chances for both the LGBT representatives and the rest of the U.S. population to finally reconcile by setting their differences aside. What the homosexual residents of the United States need at present is to show that they are not that different from the rest of the American population; thus, the latter will be capable of relating to the LGBT community and, therefore, learn to be more tolerant towards the specified population.
Additionally, the changes in the U.S. public policy regarding marriage between people of the same gender are likely to set an example for other states and, therefore, promote tolerance worldwide. There is no secret that the contemporary world is ruled by information technology; therefore, the discussions of the subject matter spawned in the environment of the global network are most likely to contribute to spreading awareness regarding the needs of the LGBT community.
As it has been stressed above, though, a major social backlash should also be expected from the opponents of the movement. It is reasonable to assume that not all people are ready to accept the idea of homosexuals claiming the right to marry to belong to them as well. In other words, the traditional perception of marriage is unlikely to be altered easily, since time-honored traditions are quite hard to part with.
The issue in question, however, can and should be addressed as soon as possible so that the further promotion of rights provided to the LGBT community should be facilitated. Particularly, the claims of the protesters must be heard and considered by the proponents of gay marriage. It is essential to make sure that the opponents could understand the actual intentions of homosexual people; as Liptak outlined in his article, “It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage” (Liptak, 2015, par. 5). The specified concept needs to be reinforced in the U.S. society so that people could realize that the LGBT community is not aiming at jeopardizing the traditional values or questioning them in any way; instead, homosexual people are willing to experience the social concept of family values and create strong relationships with the people that they love. As soon as the representatives of the LGBT community make it clear that they are not going to destroy the traditional values and the rest of the U.S. population becomes more accepting of the alterations that the current legislation changes have triggered, the endeavors of fighting for the rights of the target denizens of the U.S. population will be crowned with success. Although the step that has been made with the change in the U.S. legislation and the further acceptance of gay marriage is a major step in the right direction, further enhancement of the LGBT movement needs to be made so that homosexual people could finally enjoy the rights of regular members of the U.S. society.
Reference
Liptak, A. (2015). Gay marriage backers win Supreme Court victory. New York Times. Web.