CHAPTER FivE • Civil RigHTs 111
Supreme Court ruled against the amendment because it violated the equal protection
clause of the U.S. Constitution by denying to homosexuals in Colorado—but to no other
Colorado residents—“the right to seek specific protection of the law.”^21“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
Until recently, the armed forces have viewed homosexuality as incompatible with military
service. In 1993, however, President Bill Clinton announced a new policy, described as “don’t
ask, don’t tell.” Enlistees would not be asked about their sexual orientation, and gay men
and lesbians would be allowed to serve in the military so long as they did not declare that
they were gay men or lesbians or commit homosexual acts. The new policy was a compro-
mise—Clinton had promised during his presidential campaign to repeal outright the long-
standing ban on gay male and lesbian military service. Despite the new policy, large numbers
of gay men and lesbians were expelled from the military in subsequent years.
During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to repeal “don’t ask, don’t
tell” and allow lesbians and gay men to serve openly, but throughout 2010, Congress
failed to act on legislation that would repeal the policy gradually. Public opinion was run-
ning ahead of the government, however—by December 2010, respondents in a typical
public opinion poll supported the right of gay men and lesbians to serve openly by a mar-
gin of 77 to 21 percent.
In September 2010, a U.S. district court judge ruled that the ban on open service was
unconstitutional and issued an injunction that would prohibit its enforcement.^22 A federal
court of appeals then stayed [suspended] the injunction. Faced with the possibility that
the courts might force the immediate abolition of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” in December
Congress finally passed the gradual repeal legislation that had been tied up for most of- “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was phased out in mid-2011.
In 2013, the Department of Defense announced that same-sex spouses of service
members would, for the first time, be eligible for certain benefits, such as the right to
access on-base shops and other facilities. The perks did not include measures that would
require additional spending, such as medical care, housing allowances, or death benefits.
Same-Sex Marriage
One of the hottest political issues concerning the rights of gay and lesbian couples has
been whether they should be allowed to marry in the same way as heterosexual couples.The defense of marriage Act. Controversy over this issue flared up in 1993 when the
Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that denying marriage licenses to gay couples might violate
the equal protection clause of the Hawaii constitution.^23 In response, the U.S. Congress
passed the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, which bans federal recognition of lesbian
and gay couples and allows state governments to ignore same-sex marriages performed in
other states. (Chapter 3’s At Issue feature discussed the Defense of Marriage Act in greater
depth—see page 52.)
The controversy over gay marriage was further fueled by developments in the state
of Vermont. In 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that gay couples are entitled
to the same benefits of marriage as opposite-sex couples.^24 Subsequently, in April 2000
the Vermont legislature passed a law permitting gay and lesbian couples to form “civil- Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996).
- Log Cabin Republicans v. United States, 716 F.Supp.2d 884 (C.D.Cal. 2010).
- Baehr v. Lewin, 852 P.2d 44 (Hawaii 1993).
- Baker v. Vermont, 744 A.2d 864 (Vt. 1999).
www
Helpful Web Sites
Most civil rights advocacy
groups have useful Web
sites. For the National
Organization for Women,
simply enter “now” into
a search engine. For the
National Association
for the Advancement of
Colored People (African
Americans), search on
“naacp.” For the Human
Rights Campaign (gays
and lesbians), enter “hrc.”Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.