Marriage in the United States
Encyclopedia
In the early 18th century, individuals looked for fairness, kindliness, and good temper in a potential mate. Those who wanted to marry did not dig much deeper than that. Marriage laws changed much over the course of United States history, including bans on interracial marriage and, most recently, laws on same-sex marriages.
In 2009, 2,077,000 marriages occurred in the United States. The median age for Americans' first marriage has increased in recent years, with the median age at first marriage in the early 1970s being 21 for women and 23 for men, and in 2009, it had risen to 26 for women and 28 for men.
People have tried to establish set rules or guidelines for marriage, but this is difficult to do since marriages range on a variety of aspects. Marriages range in aspects such as religion, the type of marriage, residential patterns, and reasons for marriages. In the U.S., types of marriages range from monogamy
Monogamy
Monogamy /Gr. μονός+γάμος - one+marriage/ a form of marriage in which an individual has only one spouse at any one time. In current usage monogamy often refers to having one sexual partner irrespective of marriage or reproduction...
, which is when one person marries another person, to polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
and polyandry
Polyandry
Polyandry refers to a form of marriage in which a woman has two or more husbands at the same time. The form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more brothers is known as "fraternal polyandry", and it is believed by many anthropologists to be the most frequently encountered...
, which is when one man or one woman marries multiple women or men at a given time. Reasons for marriage vary from having children to love to economic security. There are individuals who may use marriage as a way to acquire a green card
Green Card
Green card may refer to:* Permanent residence , known informally as a green card* Green Card , a 1990 movie whose title refers to the American document above...
, however the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986 established laws to avoid such instances. There are individuals who do not use this as a reason for marriage and in 2003, 184,741 immigrants were admitted to the U.S. as spouses of U.S. citizens.
In the cases that marriage does not work out, divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
is an option, laws vary from state to state and these laws deal with everything in a marriage from possession of property to child support
Child support
In family law and public policy, child support is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child following the end of a marriage or other relationship...
. "Married adults now divorce two-and-a-half times as often as adults did 20 years ago and four times as often as they did 50 years ago... between 40% and 60% of new marriages will eventually end in divorce. The probability within... the first five years is 20%, and the probability of its ending within the first 10 years is 33%... Perhaps 25% of children ages 16 and under live with a stepparent."
Other than marriage, there are three types of relevant unions in the united states: civil unions, domestic partnerships, and cohabitation
Cohabitation
Cohabitation usually refers to an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married...
. A civil union is "a formal union between two people of the same or of different genders which results in, but falls short of, marriage-like rights and obligations." In the U.S., domestic partnership is a city-, county-, state-, or employer-recognized status that may be available to same-sex couples and, sometimes, heterosexual couples. Cohabitation refers to two unmarried people who are in an intimate relationship and live together.
History
Only rarely in American history has loveLove
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
been seen as the main reason for getting married. In the early 18th century prospects often said they looked for "candor" in each other, meaning fairness, kindliness, and good temper. "People wanted a spouse who did not pry too deeply. The ideal mate, wrote U.S. President John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
in his diary, was willing to 'palliate faults and mistakes, to put the best construction upon words and actions, and to forgive injuries.' "
Since the founding of the country marriage between whites and persons of color were derived as “immoral” and “unnatural”
Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States
Anti-miscegenation laws have been a part of American law since before its independence. They were ruled unconstitional by the Surpreme Court in 1967...
. In 1948, the California Supreme Court
Perez v. Sharp
In 1948, in the case Perez v. Sharp, also known as Perez v. Lippold and Perez v. Moroney, the Supreme Court of California recognized that interracial bans on marriage violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution....
became the first state high court to declare a ban on interracial marriage unconstitutional. In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down remaining interracial marriage laws nation wide.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
there are three basic marriage models: The historic Judaic-Christian marriage model, the Romantic marriage model, and the Rationalistic marriage model. The historic Judaic-Christian model has roots deep within Jewish tradition. This model views marriage as a very special gift from God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
that should be used for man’s benefit. By taking care of his spouse and living life the way God intended for man to live, man therefore serves God. According to this model, a man and woman experience a very special bond through marriage. Though not commonly referred to as a sacrament to American Protestants, Roman Catholics commonly refer to marriage as a sacrament. The Judaic-Christian model believes that the institution of marriage is a creation of God and that the couple is joined together by God. The purpose and function of marriage in this model is to have companionship between man and woman, to love each other, and to help one another with the daily struggles of everyday life. The second purpose is to have children and be an outlet for sexual expression.
The first new marriage models to emerge in the United States was the romantic one. The romantic model copied emerging themes. This model had an enormous impact on the United States. It was not known when exactly romantic love became apart of a marriage model because it was not originally associated with marriage. Troubadours, poets, and writers of popular love songs magnified the attention. In the romantic model, marriage is optional and may therefore be impermanent. This has had a large impact on the emergence of the newest marriage model, the rationalistic.
In the romantic marriage model, two individuals find themselves drawn together by love. However, one of the problems with the romantic marriage model is the social irresponsibility. Assuring stability in the family has now become a main focus. This is when the rationalistic marriage model came into play. In the rationalistic marriage model, two people are not only drawn together by love, they are drawn together by common traits.
With this marriage model, mates are carefully chosen based on personal and social traits of the two individuals. Not only is this marriage model based on fidelity
Fidelity
"Fidelity" is the quality of being faithful or loyal. Its original meaning regarded duty to a lord or a king, in a broader sense than the related concept of fealty. Both derive from the Latin word fidēlis, meaning "faithful or loyal"....
, one of the main goals is the pure happiness of the people involved.
In 1940, the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
conducted a study about premarital sex life. Male students who participated had great difficulty in facing marriage with a girl who has had sexual relations.
Demographics
Many changes have occured regarding married couples and families from the 1970s to today. For instance, the percentage of single mothers with children has rising roughly 30%. Yet on a more positive note, employment of mothers with young children (6 and down) has also risen about 30%.As of 2006, 55.7% of Americans age 18 and over were married.
According to '2008-2010 American Community Survey 3-Year Estimates' males over the age of 15 have married 51.5%. Females over the age of 15 have married 47.7%. The separation for is 1.8% for males and .1% for females.
African Americans have married the least of all of the predominant groups (White, African American, American Indian, Asian, Hispanic) in the U.S. with 29.9% marriage rate but have the highest separation rate with 4.5%. This also causes an extremely high rate of single mother house holds among African Americans.
American Indians have the second lowest marriage rate with 37.9%. Hispanics have a 45.1% marriage rate, with a 3.5% separation rate.
Asians (58.5%) and Whites (52.9%) have two highest marriage rates of ethnic groups in the United States. Asians have the lowest rate of divorce among the main groups with 1.8%. Shown by the rate of marriage in the labor force which is roughly 50% across the board (49-52%) for females and males over the age of 16 one can see that work does not hinder couples from marriage. Whites, African Americans, and American Indians have the highest rates of being widowed ranging from 5%-6.5%. They also have the highest rates of divorce among the three, ranging from 11%-13% with American Indians having the highest divorce rate.
According to the 2010 U.S. census bureau, the average family income is $62,770. The percentage of family households below the poverty line in 2011 (15.1%) is 3.8% higher than it was in 2000.
In 2009, 2,077,000 marriages occurred in the United States. The median age for Americans' first marriage has increased in recent years, with the median age at first marriage in the early 1970s being 21 for women and 23 for men, and in 2009, it had risen to 26 for women and 28 for men.
Speculation on Married Couples and their Families to 2030
In 2008 a report was done which showed what to expect families to look like in the next twenty years. These factors included:Change in population
With life expectancy increasing by 10 years (66 to 76 years of age) from 1950 to 2007; it seems the trend will continue for the next 50 years or so which means more people will be living to the ages of 80 and 90. This can be attributed to the ever-increasing technological advances in health that will continue to allow people to live healthier lives and ultimately, longer lives.Fertility Rates
In many high-income countries, such as the United States, fertility rates are much lower due to the fact that women are having children later in life, which may mean fewer births per woman. With more equal opportunity in the work force, more women also tend to have jobs that may divert their attention away from establishing a family. This may lead to speculation that, in the next 20 years, the native U.S. population is not going to increase as dramatically as some believe. Although families will range much more in age, the amount of members per family will not necessarily increase.Immigration
As of 2006, roughly 12%-14% of the U.S. population was foreign born, this is attributed to legal immigration from around the world and illegal immigration from adjacent countries, such as Cuba and Mexico. This supports the notion that more couples and families within the U.S. will increasingly become more ethnically and culturally diverse, furthering the idea that the United States is a "melting pot."Future Marriages and Families in the United States
Due to previous factors, the average couple in the United States can be projected to have longer generations within the family. Instead of grand-parents there will be many more great grand-parents and great grand-children. For the married couple this can either mean more sources of sibling, kin, and parental support or more stress from having to take care of more elderly and young family members—yet there will be less siblings within the family. Due to a constant flow of immigration, both legal and illegal, marriages can be projected to be more interracial and culturally diverse, which would lead to the dissolution of the dominant white culture, leaving behind a more diverse population that currently present in the United States.Sociology of Marriage
In 2004, Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
developed a basic marriage course. It covered seven domains:
- Love is not enough. Romantic attraction, good intentions, and happiness in courtship are not sufficient foundations for marriage.
- Personal maturity and self-understanding. "Know thyself" is the foremost key to marital success, and various studies show a positive correlation between emotional health and marital satisfaction.
- Capacity to assess compatibility with prospective partners. Compatible partner selection is important. Lovers are frequently misled by sexual pleasure, excessive idealization, and hopes to solve unconscious problems.
- Intimacy and personal barrier to achieving it. Happiness in marriage often hinges on the quantity and quality of intimate contact.
- Sexual satisfaction and compatibility is of importance.
- Conflict resolution and communication skills. The capacity to manage conflict well is currently the most robust predictor of marital happiness and stability and is an important mediator of the intergenerational transmission.
- Specific challenges that can undermine or overwhelm marriages. Many life problems impinge on marriages and can overtax otherwise adequate capacities to handle marital conflict. Expected marital changes include having children, relations with in-laws, time, and finances. Then a partner may also encounter more serious problems such as alcoholism, physical or emotional abuse, and extramarital affairs.
Types of marriage
In the U.S., there are various types of marriage. Some basic types include the following. MonogamyMonogamy
Monogamy /Gr. μονός+γάμος - one+marriage/ a form of marriage in which an individual has only one spouse at any one time. In current usage monogamy often refers to having one sexual partner irrespective of marriage or reproduction...
, which is when one person marries one other person, is the most common and acceptable form of marriage. Serial monogamy is when individuals are permitted to marry again often on the death of the first spouse or after divorce but they cannot have more than one spouse at one and the same time. Polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
and polyandry
Polyandry
Polyandry refers to a form of marriage in which a woman has two or more husbands at the same time. The form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more brothers is known as "fraternal polyandry", and it is believed by many anthropologists to be the most frequently encountered...
are forms of marriage in which one man or one woman marries multiple women or men at a given time. Part of the function of looking at marriage from a sociological perspective is to give insight into the reason behind various marital arrangements.
Reasons for marriage
There are a number of reasons why people choose to marry. The desire to have children is one; having a family is a high priority among many Americans. People also desire love, companionship, commitment, continuity, and permanence. There are some reasons for marriage that are ephemeral. These reasons include social legitimacy, social pressure, the desire for a high social statusSocial status
In sociology or anthropology, social status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in society . It may also refer to a rank or position that one holds in a group, for example son or daughter, playmate, pupil, etc....
, economic security, rebellion or revenge, validation of an unplanned pregnancy.
Theories about love
As mentioned previously, many people get married for love. Throughout history, love has increasingly become a priority in a marriage. There are a number of different theories about love. American psychologist Zick RubinZick Rubin
Isaac Michael "Zick" Rubin is an American social psychologist, lawyer, and author. He is "widely credited as the author of the first empirical measurement of love," for his work distinguishing feelings of like from feelings of love via Rubin's Scales of Liking and Loving...
proposed that romantic love
Romantic love
Romance is the pleasurable feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.In the context of romantic love relationships, romance usually implies an expression of one's love, or one's deep emotional desires to connect with another person....
is made up of three elements: attachment
Attachment
Attachment may refer to:Attachment- An emotional connection. Attachment involves being dependent on someone for something: emotional, mental or physical....
, caring and intimacy. "Caring involves valuing the other persons' needs and happiness as much as your own. Intimacy refers to the sharing of thoughts, desires, and feelings with the other person." From the development of his conception of love, Rubin devised a questionnaire called Rubin's Scales of Liking and Loving. Along with romantic love, there is also compassionate love
Compassionate love
Compassionate love, sometimes also called altruistic love, has been a topic of scientific interest and research since the 1990s. It is also closely related to the construct of unlimited love that has been expounded by Stephen G. Post. Compassionate love refers to love that "centers on the good of...
and passionate love as devised by psychologist Elaine Hatfield
Elaine Hatfield
Elaine Hatfield is a professor of Psychology at the University of Hawai'i. She is well known as a scholar who pioneered the scientific study of passionate love and sexual desire....
and her colleagues. "Compassionate love is characterized by mutual respect, attachment, affection and trust." It usually develops out of feelings of mutual understanding and shared respect for one another. "Passionate love is characterized by intense emotions, sexual attraction, anxiety and affection." It arises when people's expectation of falling in love and finding ideal love is believed to be fulfilled, and the person experiences arousal in the presence of their love interest. Passionate love usually only lasts between 6 and 30 months, according to Hatfield. It would be ideal to have passionate love lead to compassionate love, but Hatfield believes that this is rare.
There are also many perspectives of love. Two of these perspectives are: (1) a "Color Wheel Model of Love" was proposed by John Lee that includes Lee's 6 Styles of Loving
Love styles
Love styles are MOs of how people love, originally developed by John Lee .He identified six basic love styles—also known as "colours" of love—that people use in their interpersonal relationships:...
; and (2) the Triangular Theory of Love
Triangular theory of love
The triangular theory of love is a theory of love developed by psychologist Robert Sternberg. In the context of interpersonal relationships, 'the three components of love, according to the triangular theory, are an intimacy component, a passion component, and a decision/commitment...
. In Lee's 1973 book The Colors of Love, he compared styles of love to the color wheel. Just like colors, there are three primary styles of love: Eros, Ludos and Storge. Eros is loving an ideal person, Ludos is love as a game, and Storge is love as friendship. There are also three secondary styles in Lee's theory: Mania, Pragma, and Agape. Mania is a combination of Eros and Ludos and means obsessive love. Pragma is a combination of Ludos and Storge which means realistic and practical love. Finally, Agape is a combination of Eros and Storge which becomes selfless love. The Triangular Theory of Love is a theory proposed by Robert Sternberg
Robert Sternberg
Robert Jeffrey Sternberg , is an American psychologist and psychometrician and Provost at Oklahoma State University. He was formerly the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University, IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University and the President of the American Psychological...
. It suggests that there are three components of love: intimacy, passion, and commitment. Various combinations of these components result in different types of love. "A combination of intimacy and commitment results in compassionate love, while a combination of passion and intimacy leads to passionate love." Sternberg proposes that relationships built on at least two of these elements are more enduring and in order to consummate love, there must be a the combination of all three components. This type of love is the strongest and most enduring, however Sternberg believes that this kind of love is rare.
Wedding ceremonies
Most wedding traditions were assimilated from other countries, specifically EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Marriages in the U.S. are typically not arranged and may either be religious or civil. The tradition of the man meeting with his future father-in-law to ask for his blessing is a tradition that is rarely observed. When it is the first wedding for the bride, a typical U.S. traditional wedding tends to be more elaborate. It is also tradition that the bride’s maid of honor plans a wedding shower prior to the wedding, where the bride-elect receives gifts from family and friends.
More traditional U.S. weddings take place in a religious setting. The bride
Bride
A bride is a woman about to be married or newlywed.The word may come from the Proto-Germanic verb root *brū-, meaning 'to cook, brew, or make a broth' which was the role of the daughter-in-law in primitive families...
and groom
Groom
Groom may refer to:* Bridegroom, also shortened to "groom", a male wedding partner-Occupations:* Groom , a person responsible for the feeding and care of horses* Certain distinguished roles in the English Royal Household:...
invite all their family and friends. There may be bridesmaids and groomsmen, who include the maid of honor and best man. Depending on the religion of the bride and groom, a religious leader (a priest, rabbi..etc) conducts the ceremony. During the ceremony, the bride and groom vow their love and commitment for one another with either written vows they have prepared themselves, or with the traditional vows that the church gives them. Towards the end of the wedding ceremony it is often tradition for the religious leader to ask the congregation if they know of any reason why the man and woman should not be married. If no one objects, the couple then exchanges rings, which symbolizes their never-ending love and commitment towards one another. Finally, for the first time in public, the couple is pronounced husband
Husband
A husband is a male participant in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the husband regarding his spouse and others, and his status in the community and in law, vary between cultures and has varied over time...
and wife
Wife
A wife is a female partner in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the wife regarding her spouse and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time.-Origin and etymology:...
. It is then that they share their first kiss as a married couple and thus seal their union. For some weddings, as the couple begins to leave the church
Church
In the Christian religion, a church building is a building or structure whose primary purpose is to facilitate the meeting of a church. Originally, Jewish Christians met in synagogues, such as the Cenacle, and in one another's homes, known as house churches...
, family and friends throw rice or wheat their way, which symbolizes fertility. The average cost of a wedding can range anywhere from $27,000-$40,000 which doesn't include the honeymoon.
After the actual wedding ceremony itself, there may be a wedding reception. During this reception it is tradition that the best man and the maid of honor proposes a toast
Toast (honor)
A toast is a ritual in which a drink is taken as an expression of honor or goodwill. The term may be applied to the person or thing so honored, the drink taken, or the verbal expression accompanying the drink. Thus, a person could be "the toast of the evening," for whom someone "proposes a toast"...
. The couple may receive gifts. These gifts help the new couple to start their lives together. Lasting several days or weeks, the couple then usually goes on a honeymoon
Honeymoon
-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
to celebrate their marriage.
Law
MarriageMarriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
laws are established by individual states. In the United States, there are two methods of receiving state recognition of a marriage: common law marriage and obtaining a marriage license
Marriage license
A marriage license is a document issued, either by a church or state authority, authorizing a couple to marry. The procedure for obtaining a license varies between countries and has changed over time...
. Common-law marriage in the United States
Common-law marriage in the United States
Common-law marriage in the United States was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court in Meister v. Moore , which ruled that Michigan had not abolished common law marriage merely by producing a statute establishing rules for the solemnization of marriages...
is no longer permitted in most states.
Though federal law does not regulate state marriage law, it does provide for rights and responsibilities of married couples
Rights and responsibilities of marriages in the United States
According to the United States Government Accountability Office , there are 1,138 statutory provisions in which marital status is a factor in determining benefits, rights, and privileges...
that differ from those of unmarried couples. Reports published by the General Accounting Office in 1997 and 2004 identified over 1000 such laws
Rights and responsibilities of marriages in the United States
According to the United States Government Accountability Office , there are 1,138 statutory provisions in which marital status is a factor in determining benefits, rights, and privileges...
.
Restrictions/Expansions of marriage
A major political issue that emerged in the United States in 2003 was the debate over whether to allow same-sex couples access to the institution of civil marriageCivil marriage
Civil marriage is marriage performed by a government official and not a religious organization.-History:Every country maintaining a population registry of its residents keeps track of marital status, and most countries believe that it is their responsibility to register married couples. Most...
. This major political issue is credited to three important court decisions. The court decisions are as follows:
- 1.) "June 26, 2003: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that anti-gay sodomy laws violate the U.S. Constitution’s right to privacy.”
- 2.) "November 18, 2003: The Massachusetts’s Supreme Judicial Court rules that denying marriage to same-sex couples violates the state’s constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process.”
Same-sex marriage in the United States
Same-sex marriage in the United States
The federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage in the United States, but such marriages are recognized by some individual states. The lack of federal recognition was codified in 1996 by the Defense of Marriage Act, before Massachusetts became the first state to grant marriage licenses...
is currently legal in six states: Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Laws vary because marriage laws are the purview of individual states. The social movement to obtain the right of same-sex couples to marry began in the early 1970s, and the issue became prominent in U.S. politics in the 1990s. Massachusetts
Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts
Same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of Massachusetts began on May 17, 2004, as a result of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts constitution to allow only heterosexual couples to marry...
has recognized same-sex marriage since 2004. Nine states and the District of Columbia offer same-sex legal unions that offer some or all of the rights and responsibilities of marriage, but these rights are not automatic with civil union as a result of a federal statute
Defense of Marriage Act
The Defense of Marriage Act is a United States federal law whereby the federal government defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. Under the law, no U.S. state may be required to recognize as a marriage a same-sex relationship considered a marriage in another state...
. In contrast, twenty-six states have constitutional amendments explicitly barring the recognition of same-sex marriage. Forty-three states have statutes restricting marriage to two persons of the opposite sex, including some of those that have created legal recognition for same-sex unions under a name other than "marriage." A small number of states ban any legal recognition of same-sex unions that would be equivalent to civil marriage.
State anti-miscegenation laws
Anti-miscegenation laws
Anti-miscegenation laws, also known as miscegenation laws, were laws that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races...
banning interracial marriage have a long history in the United States, dating back to the 1660s. These laws were gradually repealed between 1948 and 1967. The U.S. Supreme Court declared all such laws unconstitutional in Loving v. Virginia
Loving v. Virginia
Loving v. Virginia, , was a landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v...
in 1967.
The term polygamy can be defined as “a condition or practice or culture of having more than one spouse.” The United States is seen as a Monogamous nation (a nation where polygamy is a criminal defense). In the United States, an estimated 100,000 people are practicing polygamy secretly and illegally. A large number of these people include those who call themselves fundamentalist Mormons
Mormons
The Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, a religion started by Joseph Smith during the American Second Great Awakening. A vast majority of Mormons are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while a minority are members of other independent churches....
, but polygamy was banned in Mormonism in 1890 and no Mormons, defined as people who follow The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are affiliated with any polygamous groups.
Background
In the United States, activist Jack BakerJack Baker (activist)
Jack Baker is an American LGBT activist in the state of Minnesota. He and his partner, James Michael McConnell, were the first American gay couple to seek a marriage license and the first gay couple to establish a legal relationship via adult adoption.-Student activism:On May 18, 1969, , the...
and Michael McConnell applied for a marriage license in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
in 1970. This was denied, because they were the same sex. There were no state laws or precedents regarding same-sex marriages. They tried to argue that denying a license on that basis in Minnesota was unconstitutional, but the trial and appeals courts ruled against them. Other same-sex couples in the seventies tried to obtain marriage licenses, but most were unable to get them for the same reason as Baker and McConnell.
When the HIV/AIDS epidemic occurred in the 80’s and 90’s, much of the focus in the gay community
Gay community
The gay community, or LGBT community, is a loosely defined grouping of LGBT and LGBT-supportive people, organizations and subcultures, united by a common culture and civil rights movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality...
shifted to addressing and fighting the disease, and little priority was given to other aspects of gay life, such as promoting same-sex marriages and gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
rights. By 1985, people were more informed about AIDS/HIV and realized that the disease had not been confined within the gay community. Some still argued it was a reason to oppose same-sex marriages. The epidemic actually helped the image of gay men by giving them some positive attention. More gays revealed their sexual identities. Discrimination diminished, leading to more open pursuit of marriage by the mid 90’s. Revising marriage laws to include same-sex did not seem achievable at that time, so gays focused on laws permitting the more acceptable domestic partnerships. In the 2000’s, the number of laws and court rulings that have not favored gays have outnumbered those that do, but gays have still made significant legal progress relating to gay marriages and marriage rights.
Same-sex marriages
Some marriages involve homosexualsHomosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
rather than heterosexuals
Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, physical or romantic attractions to persons of the opposite sex";...
. A same-sex marriage is a marriage between two people who identify as the same gender or sex. Views on same-sex marriages in the U.S. have begun to substantially change only in the past few decades. The majority of people have defined marriage as specifically between a man and a woman, but society is becoming increasingly more open to and accepting of same-sex couples. People who support same-sex marriage say that a person’s sexual orientation should have nothing to do with whether or not they get certain rights. They also argue that letting same-sex couples marry will make the individuals healthier overall. Implications of this could help make anti-gay activists more willing to allow gays to adopt children because of the healthier relationship a married couple has. People who don't support same-sex marriage tend to say it threatens religion and ruins the traditional view of marriage that, for the most part, worldwide society has historically embraced.
Religion and same-sex marriage
Religions in the U.S. have many different opinions of what sorts of same-sex activity and rights should be allowed. Certain religions do not perform same-sex marriages for the sake of separating them from religious affairs, but tolerate civil same-sex marriage ceremonies. Others refrain from performing them because they believe in the separation of church and stateSeparation of church and state
The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....
. Congregations within the same denomination may even differ in the behaviors each supports. Many who oppose same-sex marriage are conservative Christians and believe homosexuality to be a sin. Some religious leaders are so fiercely opposed to it that they try to alter the gay person's views on homosexuality by subjecting them to intense classes or sessions in which the goal is to force them to change their orientation and/or repress homosexual feelings. Some people talk about passages in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and how they teach that homosexuality is a bad thing, while others argue that the overall messages, for example, love, override the few anti-gay passages. Religions that have a strong anti-gay stance are Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
, Mormonism
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
, Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, and conservative Christian denominations. Some religions seem to be indifferent to homosexuality, such as Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, and don't support or reject it. A few branches of religions do support same-sex marriage and homosexuality, such as Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
.
Green card marriages
A green card is the way immigrants from other countries become a permanent resident of the United States. According to the United States Census Bureau "Every year over 450,000 United States citizens marry foreign-born individuals and petition for them to obtain a permanent residency (Green Card) in the United States." In 2003, 184,741 immigrants were admitted to the U.S. as spouses of U.S. citizens.The applicant must already be married. There are conditional requirements in order to obtain a green card through the marriage process. The prospect must have a conditional green card. This becomes permanent after approval by the government. The candidate may then apply for United States citizenship.
A conditional residence green card is given to applicants who are being processed for permanent residence in the United States because they are married to a U.S. citizen. It is valid for two years. At the end of this time period if the card holder does not change the status of their residency they will be put on “out of status”. Legal action by the government may follow.
Because there are different procedures based on whether the applicant is already a U.S. citizen or if the applicant is an immigrant. The marriage must also be legal in, if appropriate, the emigrant's country.
Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986
A public law was passed to deter marriage fraud among immigrants. The major stipulation is that if the immigrant is married for less than two years they are classified as conditional immigrants. The two year period is not from the time they get married, but from the time that residency is granted. In order to remove this classification the immigrants must apply for U.S. Citizenship ninety days before the second-year anniversary of still being considered conditional.There are several reasons why the conditional immigration status can be terminated. Those include divorce, marriage is not valid, or the couple failed to petition the Immigration Service to remove the classification of conditional residency. If the Immigration suspects that an alien
Alien (law)
In law, an alien is a person in a country who is not a citizen of that country.-Categorization:Types of "alien" persons are:*An alien who is legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign to him or her. On specified terms, this kind of alien may be called a legal alien of that country...
has created a fraudulent marriage the immigrant are subject to removal from the United States. The marriage must be fraudulent at its inception and can be determined by several factors. The several factors are the conduct of parties before and after the marriage is relevant, and the bride and groom’s intention of establishing a life together. The validity must be given by the couple by showing insurance policies, property, leases, income tax, bank accounts, etc. The final decision is determined by if the sole purpose of the marriage was to gain benefits for the immigrant. The punishment for fraud is a large monetary penalty, possibility of never becoming a permanent resident of the United States, and jail time for the spouse. These Amendment Acts cover spouses, children of spouses, and K-1 visa
K-1 visa
A K-1 visa is a dual intent visa issued to the fiancé or fiancée of a United States citizen to enter the United States. A K-1 visa requires a foreigner to marry his or her U.S. citizen petitioner within 90 days of entry. Once the couple marries, the foreign citizen can adjust status to become a...
fiancés.
Basic immigration law
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 has been amended many times, but still remains the basic and central body of immigration law.Intersection of immigration law and family law
Immigrants who use the reason of family ties to gain entry into the United States are required to document financial arrangements. The sponsorSponsor
To sponsor something is to support an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. A sponsor is the individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor.-Definition:...
of a related immigrant must guarantee financial support to the family. These guarantees form a contract between a sponsor and the federal government. It requires the sponsor to support the immigrant relative at a level equivalent to 125% of the poverty line for his or her household size. A beneficiary
Beneficiary
A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example: The beneficiary of a life insurance policy, is the person who receives the payment of the amount of insurance after the death of the insured...
of the contract, the immigrant, or the Federal Government may sue for the promised support in the event the sponsor does not fulfill the obligations of the contract. The sponsor is also liable for the prevailing party’s legal expenses.
Divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
does not end the sponsor’s obligation to provide the support deemed by the contract. The only ways to terminate the obligation are the immigrant spouse becomes a U.S. citizen, the immigrant spouse has worked forty Social Security Act eligible quarters (10 years), the immigrant spouse is no longer considered a permanent alien and has left the U.S., the immigrant spouse obtained an ability to adjust their status, or the immigrant spouse dies. A sponsor’s death also cuts off the obligation, but not in regards to any support the sponsor already owes which will be paid but the sponsor’s estate.
Mail-order bride industry and immigration fraud
The mail-order brideMail-order bride
Mail-order bride is a label applied to a woman who publishes her intent to marry someone from another country. This term is considered offensive by some people. The mail-order bride industry is the economic trade of contracted domestic partnerships, often between citizens of different countries or...
industry is an international network that takes women from currently developing countries and sends them to men who pay for them in industrialized nations. Initially, it was conducted through mail catalogs, but is now more accessible due to the Internet. Prospective brides are typically from developing nations such as South/Southeast Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Macao
Mação
Mação is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 400.0 km² and a total population of 7,763 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of eight parishes, and is located in the Santarém District....
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Now brides from Eastern European countries are becoming a prized commodity.
These women are forced into the mail-order bride industry due to the increasing poverty in their respective countries. The immigration of these brides is becoming a large problem. There is a growing fear of industrialized industries is that the mail- order brides are not trying to overcome poverty, but are seeking an easy immigration route by only staying married for a long enough period of time in order to secure permanent citizenship and then divorce their husbands. Even if the brides choose to remain married they could still sponsor the rest of their families so they can immigrate over. Needless to say there have been precautions taken by several countries such as the United States, Great Britain, and Australia. They are fighting the proliferation of the mail-order bride industry through an amendment process of the immigration laws. The United States in particularly has addressed the mail-order bride crisis by developing the laws dealing with the immigration and naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
of aliens. The United States has done this by passing the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendment of 1986. This reform shows how serious of a problem the United States considers this, and why the other two industrialized nation (Great Britain and Australia) are experiencing problems and are trying to deal with the issue quite seriously.
Divorce
DivorceDivorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
is the province of state governments, so divorce law varies from state to state. Prior to the 1970s, divorcing spouses had to allege that the other spouse was guilty of a crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
or sin
Sin
In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
like abandonment or adultery; when spouses simply could not get along, lawyers were forced to manufacture "uncontested" divorces. The no-fault divorce revolution began in 1969 in California; South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
was the last state to allow no-fault divorce, in 1985. No-fault divorce on the grounds of "irreconcilable differences" is now available in all states. However, many states have recently required separation periods prior to a formal divorce decree. State law provides for child support
Child support
In family law and public policy, child support is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child following the end of a marriage or other relationship...
where children are involved, and sometimes for alimony
Alimony
Alimony is a U.S. term denoting a legal obligation to provide financial support to one's spouse from the other spouse after marital separation or from the ex-spouse upon divorce...
.
" According to the book Marriage, Families, and Intimate relationships by Brian Williams married adults now divorce two-and-a-half times as often as adults did 20 years ago and four times as often as they did 50 years ago... between 40% and 60% of new marriages will eventually end in divorce. The probability within... the first five years is 20%, and the probability of its ending within the first 10 years is 33%... Perhaps 25% of children ages 16 and under live with a stepparent." The median length for a marriage in the US today is 11 years with 90% of all divorces being settled out of court.
Civil Unions
According to attorney Lloyd Duhaime, "a civil unionCivil union in the United States
A civil union is a legally recognized union similar to marriage. Many people are critical of civil unions because they say they represent separate status unequal to marriage...
is a formal union between two people of the same or of different genders which results in, but falls short of, marriage-like rights and obligations." The people must be adults (18 years of age or older), currently unmarried or in another union, and be ready to commit to their spouse and future family the same obligations as a marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
requires. A difference between civil unions and marriages is that if the two people decide they want to end their union, no judicial paperwork is necessary, as long as the couple has no children. This means the pair can draft a document that says they want to separate and it is legal. In this manner, it is similar to uncontested divorce between people of the opposite sex.
Domestic Partnerships
In the United States of America, domestic partnership is a city-, county-, state-, or employer-recognized status that may be available to same-sex couples and, sometimes, heterosexual couples. Although similar to marriage, a domestic partnership does not confer any of the 1,138 rights afforded to married couples by the federal government. Domestic partnerships in the United States are determined by each state or local jurisdiction, so there is no nationwide consistency on the rights, responsibilities, and benefits accorded domestic partners. Couples who live in localities without civil unions or domestic partnerships may voluntarily enter into a private, informal domestic partnership agreement, specifying their mutual obligations, but it may be considered invalid by certain institutions, like hospitals.Cohabitation
CohabitationCohabitation in the United States
Cohabitation in the United States is illegal in five states but a total of 4.85 million couples live together.-Statistics:In most parts of the United States, there is no legal registration or definition of cohabitation, so demographers have developed various methods of identifying cohabitation and...
refers to two unmarried people who are in an intimate relationship and live together. Some couples cohabit as a way to experience married life before they are actually married. Some cohabit instead of marrying. Other couples may live together because other living arrangements are less desired. In the past few decades, societal standards that discouraged cohabitation have faded and cohabiting is now considered more acceptable.
External links
- National Survey of Family Growth - federal statistics