ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to lay a historical and philosophical foundation for understanding the issue of marriage equality. It explains how marriage equality became a political issue. The issues of marriage equality may have been legally resolved by the Supreme Court in 2015 after 50 years of related contestation at the local, state, and federal levels of government. The chapter illuminates different perspectives on marriage equality. This philosophical discussion articulates theoretical and legal frameworks that have been employed to understand and analyze the issue of marriage equality. The state-by-state advancement of marriage equality intensified around related developments in the country's largest states. Significant differences in perceptions and perspectives surrounding same-sex marriage persisted after marriage equality was legally established in Obergefell v. Hodges, particularly among religious Americans. In addition to different theoretical starting points, critical assessments of Obergefell and marriage equality raised several secular objections that focused on the nature of American government.
