On The Case Law Development Of American Homosexual Marriage And Its Enlightenment To China

On June 26,2015,the US Supreme Court recognized the marriage rights of homosexual couples in Obergefell v.Hodges,legalizing the same-sex marriage in the United States.For the LGBT(Lesbian,Gay,Bisexual,and Transgender)community in the United States,this victory wasn’t achieved overnight,but after 44 years of fighting.The legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States faced many obstacles because 1)as the largest immigration country in the world,United States has very complex race composition;2)the United States is practicing federalism and each state has accepted same-sex union to a different extent and in a different way;and 3)the largest religion-Christianity-in the United States strongly opposes the same-sex marriage.After experiencing many difficulties to legalize same-sex marriage through legislation,American homosexuals resorted to the Constitution and the constitutional review of the United States courts.Through case law rather than statutes,American LGBT community gradually realized three goals:the recognition of the "non-marriage" same-sex unions,the decriminalization of the same-sex sexual behavior,and the legalization of same-sex marriage.Chinese homosexuality has undergone a process of homosexual "depatho-logization" and "decriminalization",which is similar to the development of homosexual marriages in the United States.As the first case of same-sex marriage appeared in China in 2016,Chinese homosexuals began to openly pursue the same-sex marriage rights.Different from the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States which was legalized through the constitutional review of the United States Supreme Court,same-sex marriage in China can only be legalized through legislation because our courts do not have the right to review the constitutionality of laws and governmental acts.Because of that,the legalization of same-sex marriage in China may take much longer than that in the United States.In this long journey,our homosexuals should actively strive for their own rights,argue and develop same-sex marriage right from the standpoint of constitutional rights.At the same time,China can also learn from the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States:firstly,we could recognize the "non-marital" homosexual union as a transition,and then actively protect the development of LGBT organizations and movement to establish a supportive social environment,and ultimately achieve the goal of the legalization of same-sex marriage.