婚姻傳統上是男女兩性依特定的法律、倫理和風俗的規定所建立起來的夫婦關係。它是組成家庭的基礎和根據。是家庭成立的標誌。兩性結合趨於規範化的主要手段是風俗、倫理和法律；現代社會主要是依據法律。 法律制度對婚姻成立的所有條件設定，是針對人民希望透過婚姻，來取得相關的權利和義務。政府是以尊重公民當事人真實意願為原則，來考慮的訂立國民在特定的條件下締結婚姻，才能享有婚姻的權利和義務時。法律並不保護婚姻，而是保護公民因婚姻而產生的相關權利和義務。對同性婚姻的承認，其目的就是確立和保護同性公民因婚姻而產生的權利和義務。法律必須對符合這些條件而締結的婚姻所產生的權利和義務給予保護，這些權利應該包括相互扶養權，共同財產權，獲得贍養權，遺傳繼承權等等。 本論文第一章為序論，說明本論文的研究動機，研究目的與限制。第二章為從美國聯邦憲法當中得出基本人權是否有包含自由選擇婚姻伴侶。第三章則列出聯邦法院與地方法院關於同性婚姻的裁決，第四章為說明支持與反對同性婚姻的論述。第五章為傅科與同性婚姻的探討。第六章為結論。 Traditionally, marriage is based on the order of law, social values and ethics. In today’s society, civil marriage, which is set up by the law makers, is the key to access lots of duties and benefits. Civil marriage is the protection for setting up a family. What the government should do is to give benefits and duties to who wants to get married, not trying to define the definition of marriage.
In Massachusetts, same sex partners can get married now. More and more states passed the laws to protect same sex partners’ benefits and duties. Civil Union, Domestic Partnership, and Reciprocal Beneficiaries provide some benefits and duties similar to marriage. However, with the Defense of Marriage Act, same sex partners can not access over one thousand federal benefits and duties from the “Real” marriage.
The main purpose of the study takes the United States Constitution as the guidelines to analyze the fundamental human rights, and try to find out if the right to get married is included. Chapter One is the introduction of the study. Chapter Two shows the fundamental rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Chapter Three lists the verdicts in the Federal Supreme Court and State Supreme Court related to marriage and same sex marriage. Chapter Four lists the standing points from pro-same sex marriage groups and from anti-same sex marriage groups. Chapter Five is the discussion about same sex marriage from Foucault’s point of view. Chapter Six is the conclusion.
