This paper is an examination of the impact of changing societal views about homosexuality and the effects of those changes on the institution of the family. While homosexuality has been a part of the human experience from the beginning, societyÆs attitudes toward homosexual practices and homosexual lifestyles have changed considerably. In American society, this has meant an evolution from shame and disapproval to gradual and increasing acceptance. Yet gay and lesbian marriage remains a difficult concept for most Americans to embrace, and the families that have tried to form around homosexual unions face great barriers to acceptance and legal obstacles for participants, ranging from prohibitions against partner benefits to difficulties in becoming parents and problems accepting gay and lesbian children. This paper looks at the controversies that continue to surround same-sex couples and the families they seek to create in a society that is still unsure that such relationships ought to be welcomed, encouraged, or, at the very least, legally recognized.
A recent case in Alabama demonstrates the prejudice that continues to exist against homosexuality, even within the justice system. Robert W. Lee (2002, April 8) quotes Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who ruled, "Homosexual conduct is, and has been, considered abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature and of nature's God upon which this Nation and our laws are predicated" (p. 27). His views reflect much of established religion, which uses selected passages from the Bible to justify calling homosexuality an abomination, and much of conservative society which argues that, because homosexual sex cannot produce children, it must therefore be unnatural.
Moore went on to contend that homosexuality:
Violates both the criminal and civil laws of this State and is destructive to a basic building block of society the family. Th...