미국 대법원, 동성결혼 합헌 결정. 미 전역서 허용

1. 연합뉴스 발췌http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/international/2015/06/26/0608000000AKR20150626188700071.HTML

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미국 연방 대법원은 26일(현지시간) 동성결혼이 합헌이라는 역사적 결정을 내렸다.

이에 따라 미 전역에서 동성결혼을 합법화됐다. 결정은 대법관 9명 가운데 찬성 5명, 반대 4명으로 이뤄졌다. 

 지금까지는 워싱턴 D.C.와 36개 주에서만 동성결혼이 허용돼왔으나 이날 결정으로 미 전국에서 동성 결혼이 허용됐다. 

 판결의 캐스팅 보트를 쥔 앤서니 케네디 대법관은 판결문에서 "결혼은 한 국가의 사회적 질서의 이정표"라며 "동성 커플이건 이성 커플이건 이러한 원칙을 존중하는 데에는 차이가 없다"고 밝혔다. 

앞서 대법원은 2013년 이성 간의 결합만 결혼으로 인정한 결혼보호법의 부분 위헌 결정, 지난해 10월 5개 주의 동성결혼에 대한 상고 각하 결정 등을 통해 사실상 동성 결혼을 인정하는 길을 열어왔다, 

버락 오바마 미국 대통령은 트위터에 올린 글에서 이날 대법원 판결에 대해 "평등을 향한 우리의 여정에서 큰 발걸음을 내디뎠다"며 "이제 게이와 레즈비언 커플들이 다른 사람들처럼 결혼할 권리를 갖게 됐다"고 말했다. 

동성 결혼 지지자들은 이날 오전 대법원 건물 앞에 모여 역사적 결정을 환영하며 기뻐했다.

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2. 논평

사실 이미 오래전부터 논리적으로 동성결혼을 반대하기는 힘들었다. 동성애자도 인간으로서 가장 기본적 제도인 '결혼제도'를 향유할 수 있어야 한다는 의식이 점차 확산되어왔다. 인종, 성별, 종교 등으로 인간을 차별하면 안 되었듯, 성적지향으로도 인간을 차별해서는 안 된다는 의식 말이다. 이에 따라 이미 일부 유럽 및 미국의 많은 state에서는 동성결혼이 합법화되어 시행되고 있었다.

동성결혼을 반대하는 논거는 기껏해야 '일부일처제가 가장 이상적인 결혼제도이며', '동성애 중 에이즈 등 성병 감염 확률이 높다'는 정도에 불과했다. 그외에 자연의 섭리를 운운하는 논리는 진작에 무시되었고, 다만 국민의 의식 속에서 아직 시기상조이다라는 논거만이 그나마 동성결혼의 합법화를 저지해왔던 것이다.

따라서 이번 미국의 결정은 그리 놀랍지는 않다. 적어도 인권의 측면에서는 지속적으로 진보해온 역사의 흐름 속에서 당연한 일이었던 것이다. 다만 그 시기가 생각보다 조금 당겨졌을 뿐이다. 

물론 동성결혼제도에 관하여 무관심했거나 반대했던 세력들(특히 한국의 보수적인 기독교)에게는 매우 충격적인 사실일 것이다. 미국의 변화는 곧 세계 주류의 변화를 의미하기 때문에, 세계 각국의 반대론자들도 조금씩 생각이 바뀌어갈 것이다. 

3. 판결문 전문 및 하이라이트

1) sentencing

scotus.pdf

2) highlights

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/supreme-court-gay-marriage-ruling-highlights-n382431

Supreme Court Gay Marriage Ruling: The Highlights

Here are highlights from Friday's 5-4 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage across the country. You can read the full ruling here.

From Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion

"The Court now holds that same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry. No longer may this liberty be denied to them."

"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."

"The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity. The petitioners in these cases seek to find that liberty by marrying someone of the same sex and having their marriages deemed lawful on the same terms and conditions as marriages between persons of the opposite sex."

"Far from seeking to devalue marriage, the petitioners seek it for themselves because of their respect—and need—for its privileges and responsibilities. And their immutable nature dictates that same-sex marriage is their only real path to this profound commitment."

"Army Reserve Sergeant First Class Ijpe DeKoe and his partner Thomas Kostura, co-plaintiffs in the Tennessee case, fell in love. In 2011, DeKoe received orders to deploy to Afghanistan. Before leaving, he and Kostura married in New York. A week later, DeKoe began his deployment, which lasted for almost a year. When he returned, the two settled in Tennessee, where DeKoe works full-time for the Army Reserve. Their lawful marriage is stripped from them whenever they reside in Tennessee, returning and disappearing as they travel across state lines. DeKoe, who served this Nation to preserve the freedom the Constitution protects, must endure a substantial burden. The cases now before the Court involve other petitioners as well, each with their own experiences. Their stories reveal that they seek not to denigrate marriage but rather to live their lives, or honor their spouses' memory, joined by its bond."

4. President Obama's remarks on the ruling.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/06/26/transcript-obamas-remarks-on-supreme-court-ruling-on-same-sex-marriage/

Our nation was founded on a bedrock principle that we are all created equal. The project of each generation is to bridge the meaning of those founding words with the realities of changing times — a never-ending quest to ensure those words ring true for every single American.

Progress on this journey often comes in small increments. Sometimes two steps forward, one step back, compelled by the persistent effort of dedicated citizens. And then sometimes there are days like this, when that slow, steady effort is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.

This morning, the Supreme Court recognized that the Constitution guarantees marriage equality. In doing so, they have reaffirmed that all Americans are entitled to the equal protection of the law; that all people should be treated equally, regardless of who they are or who they love.

This decision will end the patchwork system we currently have. It will end the uncertainty hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples face from not knowing whether they’re marriage, legitimate in the eyes of one state, will remain if they decide to move or even visit another.

This ruling will strengthen all of our communities by offering to all loving same-sex couples the dignity of marriage across this great land.

In my second inaugural address, I said that if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. It is gratifying to see that principle enshrined into law by this decision.

This ruling is a victory for Jim Obergefell and the other plaintiffs in the case. It’s a victory for gay and lesbian couples who have so long for their basic civil rights. It’s a victory for their children, whose families will now be recognized as equal to any other. It’s a victory for the allies and friends and supporters who spent years, even decades working and praying for change to come.

And this ruling is a victory for America. This decision affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts. When all Americans are treated as equal, we are all more free.

My administration has been guided by that idea. It’s why we stopped defending the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and why we were pleased when the court finally struck down the central provision of that discriminatory law. It’s why we ended, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

From extending full marital benefits to federal employees and their spouses to expanding hospital visitation rights for LGBT patients and their loved ones, we’ve made real progress in advancing equality for LGBT Americans in ways that were unimaginable not too long ago.

I know a change for many of our LGBT brothers and sisters must have seemed so slow for so long. But compared to so many other issues, America’s shift has been so quick.

I know that Americans of good will continue to hold a wide range of views on this issue. Opposition, in some cases, has been based on sincere and deeply held beliefs. All of us who welcome today’s news should be mindful of that fact and recognize different viewpoints, revere our deep commitment to religious freedom.

But today should also give us hope that on the many issues with which we grapple, often painfully, real change is possible. Shift in hearts and minds is possible. And those who have come so far on their journey to equality have a responsibility to reach back and help others join them, because for all of our differences, we are one people, stronger together than we could ever be alone. That’s always been our story.

We are big and vast and diverse, a nation of people with different backgrounds and beliefs, different experiences and stories but bound by the shared ideal that no matter who you are or what you look like, how you started off or how and who you love, America is a place where you can write your own destiny.

We are people who believe every child is entitled to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There is so much more work to be done to extend the full promise of America to every American. But today, we can say in no uncertain terms that we’ve made our union a little more perfect.

That’s the consequence of a decision from the Supreme Court, but more importantly, it is a consequence of the countless small acts of courage of millions of people across decades who stood up, who came out, talked to parents, parents who loved their children no matter what, folks who were willing to endure bullying and taunts, and stayed strong, and came to believe in themselves and who they were.

And slowly made an entire country realize that love is love.

What an extraordinary achievement, but what a vindication of the belief that ordinary people can do extraordinary things; what a reminder of what Bobby Kennedy once said about how small actions can be like pebbles being thrown into a still lake, and ripples of hope cascade outwards and change the world.

Those countless, often anonymous heroes, they deserve our thanks. They should be very proud. America should be very proud.

Thank you.