Gay Marriage, Adoption, Science, and the Law

Things are happening fast on the struggle for Marriage Equality in the United States. Michigan is currently in the nation spotlight, as its own marriage laws are being challenged by two lesbian Michigan citizens in Federal Court. Concurrently, many reflections of the Civil Rights Movement can be found in the Marriage Equality Movement. Each finds its Constitutional grounding in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Each is caught in a struggle between the Federal Government and States Rights.

For this assignment – for three days – I want to you read, write, inform yourself on the legal arguments surrounding the Marriage Equality Movement in the United States. Particularly, I’d like you to look at the current court case playing out in Detroit as well as Arizona’s SB 1062, which allows private businesses to refuse service to homosexuals, based on personal religious views.

I have created a Blendspace below that deals with these issues, and adoption and science in regard to homosexuality.

Your Assignment –

Over the next three days look closely at each of the nine links provided. Go in order of the Blendspace, so that we can discuss the previous days’ work as a class for the first ten minutes of the following day.

You will have the chrome books – use your headphones – read, listen, learn and talk. Work in groups of two or three. If you really want to work by yourself that is fine. After you all have read or watched the linked source – stop, talk about it, take notes and save them to your own google docs. At the end of the class period on Friday, your group must turn in a single assignment that breaks the study down into three areas… use three areas below as your guidelines for study. Each numbered topic is worth 15 points for a total of 60 points for the entire assignment.

Detroit case and Homosexual Adoption rights (3 & 4)
Arizona SB 1062 – and response (5 & 6)
Sixty Minutes – Science of homosexuality (7)
Interpretation of the Graphs (8 & 9)

Your presence in the classroom is required and you cannot switch groups. So if you are absent one of the next three days, you only earn 66% of the group grade (two days 33%). You may make that up with a weekend homework assignment (my choice). If you know you will not be in school on one of the days, then work by yourself. We all will do an open note essay Thursday March 6 on the issue…so keep good individual notes.

All I want you to do for the assignment is to think and talk about what you’ve read and watched; bullet your thoughts under the three topics above. That’s it. There is no limit or minimum of notation. You may bullet discussion, opinion, reflection, fact, whatever you deem significant. You can do it anonymously or you can post the individual’s name on each of the specific points of reflection. Your call; the group gets the same grade. Choose a secretary to record your work.