Same Sex Marriage Bill

Same Sex Marriage Bill

Introduction

Same-sex marriage has been legalized in the state of Florida in the United States. This bill was passed on January 6^th, 2015. Brenner v. Scott had the lead case on the issue after the state had ruled out the possibility of same-sex marriage in august 2014. This ruling was temporary, and the US Supreme Court did not want to extend this decision further. The appeal for this case expired on January 6^th, 2015, and there was no more appeal. The day before, Pareto V. Ruvin had issued a marriage license to the same-sex couple, making it a legal binding.

Two federal courts In the United States had requested that the state officials to reconsider recognizing same-sex marriages out of Florida.  This was a case of Brenner vs. Scott on February 28, 2014. This was a filled lawsuit by the civil rights attorney suing a couple that had gotten married in Canada. A similar case was filed on the next month involving the south Florida LGBT advocacy group. By then, eight couples had already gotten married in other states. This case was assigned to Judge Robert Lewis Hinkle. He ruled out that the ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. He granted relief to same-sex marriage by ordering the state to allow and recognize this marriage. The state defendants were in dispute and appealed to the eleventh circuit court of appeals till the ruling was extended. The state felt this policy is not right, but with Judge Hinkle declaring it unconstitutional, the country had to battle it. The federal government seems not to have any problem with this and has passed this ruling Judge Hinkle was forced to clarify his argument to the Washington county clerk. He stated that his judgment was bound to that specific circumstance presented by the plaintiff as a relief. A year later, the ban for same-sex marriage was declared null and void. He stated that the constitution had issued statutory bans to the people and made a clarification that the federal government had to treat same-sex marriages with equality. Just as they treat other unions. This was later on decided in 2015, and the law that made this ban was now unconditional.

The lead video and PowerPoint gave a hint of what to expect during that day. The statute for same-sex marriage, Florida code section 741.212, requires that both parties have to apply for a marriage license in person. This is to be done at the same time and be able to raise the fee that is $93.50 as of 2017. They should be of age, that is 18yrs, and above as well as provide identification for the same. Identification forms may include the driver’s license, passport, and US military identification, among others. If a person is a Florida resident, the marriage license takes three days for it to be legal, not unless the resident can complete a premarital course from the clerk within the circuit court. All the marriage licenses are applied at the county clerk’s office.

Public opinion has been sought several times to see how effective this decision is and how it will affect the people. In March 2004, in the Miami Herald vs. Petersburg Times poll, the majority of the group did not agree to same-sex marriage. Eight percent of the people who participated in this poll were not sure of what they wanted. This public opinion has been conducted several, and the decisions keep on changing from time to time. By the time this opinion poll had reached the year 2014, 40percent were sure that they wanted same-sex marriages, 28 percent were not in recognition of the same marriage sex while the rest supported the civil unions. The Florida state level has nine counties that recognize same-sex marriages, 30 cities, and one town.

Over the past years, research has been made to find out the social impact that same-sex marriage has on social work (Gerstmann, 2017). This is important as the results will give the faculty an idea of what to expect over the coming years and how to train their members for ethical practice. The current research being made is based on looking for an endorsement for same-sex marriages in the United States as well as the MWS programs. In this analysis, they discovered twelve factors that revolved around this analysis. However, in the end, only four elements were in full control of this. Race and religion were found to be negatively associated with same-sex marriage. It was noted that gender-based violence, as well as same-sex relationships, were highly attributed to domestic and social disorder. This research was essential to finding out why domestic violence, as well as gender oppression, were factors that are seen to contribute more to same-sex marriage (Qureshi, 2017). As social workers, you need to be aware of these groups that support marriage equality. The number seems to be rapidly increasing over the day, and therefore every social worker should have an idea of what to expect when it comes to these demographic subgroups. With this kind of knowledge, they will be able to focus on the people within the society that are still in denial of marriage equality. The people under 50yrs are most likely to support this idea, and this was after research that proved that there is much connection between age and same-gender marriages. A survey showed that when it comes to religion, most of the supporters for these same-sex marriages are the Jewish Americans followed nu the most religious Americans, Catholics, and finally protestants. The Jewish American remain to be the highest number that vouches for marriage equality in the United States. These surveys are essential for those social workers who would want to understand and give justice to these people in support of same-sex marriage. Having this knowledge will ensure that social workers get to know how and where to let legislation and justice take its course. With this, they will be able to bypass and follow the social work values as well as their code of ethics. This would, of course, begin by enlightening the social workers of the NASW CODE of ethics.

With the knowledge that social workers have, they are required to apply this knowledge to are4as where it is needed. This is in line with the supporters of the same marriage sex. There are different areas in which the social workers can come in handy to offer help. The policies made are significantly impacted by public opinion; this is why there has been a lot of public poll over the years. The NASW has been in full support for same-sex marriage all along. They based their argument on the fact that same-sex marriage is reasonable since it also typical to have sexual feelings for a person of the same sex. They said that just like a man and woman can raise a child, similarly, they too have no less capable of raising children.

For social workers to finish their advocacy work, four models revolve around this. This is known as the cycle for advocacy. These include systems theory, ecological perspective, strengths perspective, and the empowerment theory (Fish, Karban, 2015). The kick-starting of the policy and advocacy model for the social workers require engagement, assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of the ideas. This whole process reveals the strengths and weaknesses of every policy or opinion that they have. Advocacy takes its full course when the social workers can provide adequately for the people in the society. This is taking care of their economic and social justice, human needs and rights, administrative access, as well as creating a supportive environment. This policy model ensures that every person gets their piece of cake and have it. Social workers have the mandate to treat everyone equally, no matter their beliefs or the kind of treatment they get in return. It is said that most social workers expect that if they do good, the people as well should be ready to do good to them. This ideology might fail since people are different and all have different opinions on various issues. Social workers are made to create an impact in people’s lives as required by NASW (Epstein, 2018). Advocacy involves knowledge, skills, value orientation, ethics, and passion. Social workers are expected to meet these standards in their support. Whether they are in for same-sex marriage or not, they should not be biased, nor should their code of ethics changes because of this. Everyone has a right to their opinion and not be crucified for it. Whatever the case, advocacy is meant to be collaborative as well as client-centered so that it can help the people in need and those that require social work support. Implications brought about by marriage equality are minute and should not change the work that is done by the social workers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, marriage equality has been an argument that has been highly discussed over the years. Coming up to a decision to pass a bill of rights accepting same-sex marriage was not easy. The public to date has different opinions for this issue, and everyone has come to accept that we all cannot be equal. The social workers as well have become aware of this and have been equipped with the necessary knowledge to be able to battle around this legislation. The social worker cannot stop for whatever reason, as directed by the NASW code of ethics. This is highly required to maintain the excellent work that social workers do. In the future, the number of people supporting same-sex marriage will be high, and the social worker will even be on a higher level than it is now.

References

Epstein, M. J. (2018). Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Routledge.

Fish, J., & Karban, K. (Eds.). (2015). LGBT health inequalities: International perspectives in social work. Policy Press.

Gerstmann, E. (2017). Same-sex Marriage and the Constitution. Cambridge University Press.

Qureshi, S. (2017). Utilizing Florida’s Stance on Domestic Violence Laws Regarding Same-Sex Couples as an Effective Model for National Uniformity. U. Fla. JL & Pub. Pol’y, 28, 143.