National debate: The fate of marriage equality in the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court captured the attention of the Elon University community last month as it heard arguments about marital rights of LGBTQ-identified Americans, an issue that has elicited both activism and criticism from Elon students, faculty and alumni. The court considered both the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 federal law that awards federal benefits according to the traditional definition of marriage, and Proposition 8 (Prop 8), a 2008 amendment to California’s state constitution that legally recognizes marriage as a union of one man and one woman. During the week of March 25, when both sets of arguments were heard, many Elon students changed their Facebook profile picture to a pink equal sign to symbolize their support of marriage equality, and some engaged in debate both on and offline. While the move toward legalizing same-sex marriage encourages some LGBTQ activists, others, including senior Lauren Clapp, an advocacy and education chair for Spectrum, Elon’s queer-straight alliance, point out that marriage equality is not the dominant issue for most LGBTQ people. “I get really frustrated by organizations like the Human Rights Campaign who pose themselves as the leading LGBTQ advocacy organization, but are in many ways a single issue organization,” Clapp said.
