Religion and Gay Marriage: The Use of Religion in the Debate Concerning Same-Sex Marriage in the U.S.

Abstract

Since the 1970s the issue of same-sex marriage has been publicly debated in the United States. This debate has lasted for several decades and gone through court cases and ballot measures to find a solution to the question. As several states legalized same-sex marriage the situation became tense and the demand to find a solution grew. In the summer of 2015, the United States Supreme Court handled the question of federal legalization of same-sex marriage and ruled in favor of it. As the proponents of same-sex marriage celebrated, their opponents began denying gay couples service or products with the reason that homosexuality or same-sex marriage violated their religious beliefs. Religion has always been a part of the debate concerning same-sex marriage and gay rights and this thesis has researched how it has been used and by who. The research found that religion has been used both directly and indirectly in the rhetoric of the debate, and both opponents and proponents of gay marriage have used it. Following the debate concerning gay marriage from its beginning in the 1970s until the ongoing cases about freedom of religion, this thesis shows how there has been three major shifts in the use of religion in the rhetoric. It began with the opponents of gay marriage focusing on homosexuality as a sin, to them presenting arguments that are indirectly based on religion, shifting to the proponents of same-sex marriage starting to focus on religion in their arguments and lastly to the opponents of gay marriage focusing on the expansion of their freedom of religion instead of banning someone from marriage.