Same Sex Marriage Should Be Legal - 1132 Words

For years individuals in same-sex relationships have been the thing of ridicule and discrimination. However, this started to change in December 2000, when the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage (Gay Marriage Around the World, 2015). Not just accepting same-sex couples, but actually allowing them to marry. It would be almost 15 years later and behind 16 other countries that the United States legalized same-sex marriage. On June 26, 2015 the Supreme Court declared that same-sex couples have the right to marry anywhere in the United States. This would change many laws throughout the United States and the laws governing the military were not exempt. For an institution that just recently allowed individuals to†¦show more content†¦This Directive held firm for just a little over 12 years. President Clinton couldn’t win over is opponents for letting homosexuals serve openly in the military. There was basically a compromise formed known as the â€Å"Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell† policy. In this policy, adopted in 1993, homosexuality was defined an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability. (United States Naval Institute, n.d.). The policy let homosexual members remain in the military as long as they didn’t openly admit it and it also restricted individuals from asking if a military member was homosexual. These policies that either banned or restricted homosexual behavior in the military took another 17 years to be done away with. During those 17 years, more than 13,000 military members were discharged from the military (United States Naval Institute, n.d.). Depending on the type of discharge they received, many were left without benefits. Barrack Obama let it be known during his campaign for President that he would repeal the â€Å"Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell† policy. President Obama kept