In order to understand the discrepancies between the rights denied to same sex couples, it is important to know what a marriage actually entails. Even the word marriage in Latin, maritare refers to terminology that translates to the masculine and feminine forms of the word, alluding to the joining a husband and wife and ultimately leading to motherhood. This in itself indicates the nature of making a wife a mother, thus supporting the notion that marriage is for procreation.

With this definition of marriage, even the roots of the word seem to go back to values and religion. This doesn’t leave much room for separation of church of state. Historically marriage wasn’t about when two people decided that they loved each other enough to want to be joined until death did them part. Marriages were for child rearing, financial reasons, arranged, and for property purposes.

The opposition has often argued that if same-sex marriage were allowed, then other types of marriages would then become allowed as well - polygamy, polyandry, and incest, which are all against the law, but valid marriages in certain cultures. All of this boils down to family values. There have even been studies that explore the livelihood of upbringing a child within a heterosexual home and within a home with two same-sex parents that have discovered that there is little to no difference between whether a child grows up with a mother and father or two mothers and two fathers.

Family rights and parental rights are a large obstacle that same sex couples with children have to deal with. With marriage being defined as a between a man and a woman, for procreation, and grants those parents legal guardianship, that leaves out those couples that are not between a man and a woman. A same sex couple can raise a child their whole life and have no legal binding to them. The same goes in the case of separation and divorce. The second parent, the non-biological parent, has no rights over the child in question.

In a marriage two people are legally bound to one another. According to the Government Accountability Office more than 1,138 federal rights and protections are given to U.S. citizens upon marriage. The two individuals become responsible for one another, each other’s property, debt, are granted visitation rights when either is hospitalized, immigration rights, control offer each other’s affairs in the case of death and have legal guardianship over a child shared between the two.

Before the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was struck down, not only were same sex marriages in question, but so were the federal rights they received if they were recognized within the state. So in that case, it didn’t matter if your marriage was legal in Vermont, federally your marriage was null and void.

President Obama was the first president to publicly come out in support of gay marriage; however, this was after Vice President Joe Biden came out in support first. At the beginning of Obama's first term he stated that his Christian beliefs were in opposition, but that he was evolving on the issue, and has since made strides in bringing equality to LGBT people by striking down Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, by talking publicly about LGBT rights, even including them in speeches, and working with the Supreme Court to strike down Section 3 of DOMA enacted by former President Bill Clinton, who has also since evolved in his beliefs.