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Originally Posted by Finn_Jarber
No, we don't write different laws for different groups of people, there is only one law for everyone.
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Then why have we written laws differently for gay people vs. straight people? In recent history, we had laws that allowed sex between straight people, but made sex between gay people illegal. We had laws that allowed straight people to serve in the military but banned gay people from serving. We had laws that allowed straight people to have jobs in the government, but banned gay people from working for the government. We even had laws that allowed gay people to be involuntarily committed to mental institutions, and if you go back far enough (to about 1850), executed for being gay - we didn't have such laws for straight people.
Currently, most states have different marriage laws for gay couples than they do for straight couples. Namely, the laws allow straight couples to get married and access some 300 state-offered rights whereas the laws forbid gay couples from getting married and deny them those rights. We also have a federal law - DOMA - that sets different rules for different groups of people. It says that straight couples married in any state get an additional 1100 federal rights, but that no gay couple anywhere - no matter if legally married in a state that allows it, in a civil union, etc - can have those rights.
See: different laws treating gay people differently. It's the codification of prejudice and invidious discrimination within our laws.
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There are always those who are not happy with the laws, and that's just too bad.
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No, it's not "just too bad." When a law unconstitutionally discriminates, the people who are being unjustly treated make a case, and then receive judicial relief. That's currently happening. Many lower courts have ruled DOMA unconstitutional as well as several state bans on gay marriage - see Iowa and California. It's just a matter of time before the injustice is corrected nationwide.