Gay Marriage

One of the 5 things that will derail a government

=Same-sex marriage in the United States= Same-sex marriage, also referred to as gay marriage, is marriage between two persons of the same sex.

The federal government of the United States does not recognize the marriages of same-sex couples and is prohibited from doing so by the Defense of Marriage Act.

Nationwide, same-sex marriage is legal in three states as a result of a court ruling and in two others plus a district through a vote in their respective legislatures.

Same-sex marriages are currently granted by five of the 50 states, one federal district, and one Indian tribe: State(s) which previously granted same-sex marriage licenses: States which recognize same-sex marriage but do not grant same-sex marriage licenses: The movement to obtain marriage rights and benefits for same-sex couples in the United States began in the early 1970s. The issue became even more prominent in U.S. politics in the mid-1990s with a public backlash toward the idea evidenced by Congress' passage of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. In the late 2000s, New England became the center of an organized push to legalize same-sex marriage in the U.S., with four of the six states comprising that region granting same-sex couples the legal right to marry. The issue remains politically divisive in the United States.
 * In Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., marriages for same-sex couples are legal and currently performed.
 * The Coquille Indian Tribe in Oregon also grants same-sex marriage.
 * In California, same-sex marriages were performed between June 16, 2008, and November 4, 2008, after the California Supreme Court held the statutes limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violated the state constitution; however, the California electorate then approved California Proposition 8, a voter initiative that made the ban part of California's constitution. The California Supreme Court upheld the voter-approved constitutional ban. Today, all same-sex unions are given the benefits of marriage under California law, although only those performed as marriages before November 5, 2008, retain the designation "marriage". Proposition 8 is now being challenged in federal court in Perry v. Schwarzenegger.
 * In New York, Rhode Island, and Maryland, same-sex marriages are recognized, but not performed.

America's Big Decision
On Election day 2012 the voters not only voted for a new president the voted for Same sex marriage to be legalized in the U.S. After many protests Gays got there wish. The U.S. passed a bill in congess and in the senate. This is one of the big things that will elad to the fall of the government