报刊阅读,第四版12

Background Information
During 2004, partly in reaction to the Massachusetts decision, citizens in 13 states approved state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriages. By mid-2007 the campaign against gay marriage by the religious right and Republican Party strategists had led voters in 39 states to pass laws reserving marriage for a man and woman.
Background Information
The campaign for gay marriage rights gained ground in early 2009. On April 3, the Iowa Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, unanimously ruling that the state’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional. Four days later, on April 7, the Vermont Legislature voted to legalize gay marriage. By the end of 2012, nine states and Washington, D.C. have legalized same-sex marriage.
Background Information
Background Information
Opponents argued that these marriages violated state law and immediately challenged them in court. In August 2004 the California Supreme Court invalidated nearly 4,000 same-sex marriages performed earlier in the year in San Francisco. In April 2005 the Oregon Supreme Court similarly nullified nearly 3,000 marriage licenses issued to Portland-area gay couples. The courts ruled that local officials improperly disregarded state law in granting marriage licenses and certificates to same-sex couples.
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Contents
Background
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Structure Analysis
Background Information
Gay Marriage in the US
In most of the United States, marriage between partners of the same sex is not legally recognized and the issue of homosexual marriage provokes controversy. Religious conservatives who believe that the Bible forbids same-sex relationships constitute the most outspoken opponents of gay marriage in the United States. These critics, who fear that the recognition of gay partnerships threatens the institution of marriage, have spearheaded legislative efforts to explicitly restrict the definition of marriage to heterosexual couples.
3. liberal activist (Line 1, Para. 4)
— A liberal activist is one who fights for liberal causes and speaks out or organizes to do so.
4. Domestic Partner (Line 3,
Para. 4)
同居伴侣（It refers to the person you are living with and having a sexual relationship with but are not married to. Domestic partners can be of the same sex or different sexes.）
美英报刊阅读教程
端木义万
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Lesson 12
Another Thirty Years War in the m aking?
Another Thirty Years War in the making?
Key to Questions
Photos & Diagrams Additional Notes Background Information
Background Information
On May 17, 2004, authorities in Massachusetts performed the first legal same-sex marriages in the United States. Following the Massachusetts court decision authorizing gay marriages, some U.S. cities and counties—including San Francisco, California, and Portland, Oregon—began issuing marriage licenses and performing weddings for thousands of gay couples. Gay marriage made swift inroads in New England. Four of the region's six states authorized such unions. They are Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut.
6. liberal cities (Line 4, Para. 5)
—Liberal cities are those cities dominated by liberals and liberal policies. Liberal cities in the US include Detroit Michigan, Gary Indiana, Berkeley California, Washington, D.C. Dist. of Columbia, Oakland California, Inglewood California, Newark New Jersey, Cambridge Massachusetts, San Francisco California, Flint Michigan.
Background Information
In 1996 the Congress of the United States adopted the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which allows states to enact laws that deny recognition of same-sex marriages obtained in other states, and defines marriage, for purposes of federal law, as the legal union of one man and one woman. By 2004, 39 states had adopted legislation similar to DOMA.
5. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (Line 1, Para. 5)
— The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.
Background Information
However, gay-rights activists continue to work toward legal recognition of same-sex unions. In 2000 Vermont became the first state to allow gay partners to join in a civil union that grants them the same rights under state law that married heterosexual couples have. Connecticut legalized civil unions in 2005. In 2003 the Supreme Judicial Court, the highest court in the state of Massachusetts, ruled that samesex marriages are permitted under the state’s constitution. The court clarified its ruling in February 2004 by saying that civil unions were not a permissible substitute for marriage.
Campaign for Gay Marriage Rights
Gay Marriage
Additional Notes
1. Throwing rice (Line 4, Para. 1)
—Throwing things at a newly married couple is a very old tradition that may date back to ancient Rome or Egypt or even further back. Food has always been a popular choice because it symbolizes plentiful crops.
2. activist judges (Line 2,
Para. 3)
—An activist judge refers to the one who tries to set policy from the bench instead of interpreting the law without bias and following the Constitution. An activist judge is often thought to make rulings based on emotions rather than legal precedence.