SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The purpose of this essay is to analyze the same-sex marriage debate in the United States of America from a constitutional approach. To this end, I will discuss the key arguments in the academic and judicial debate, namely, sexual orientation discrimination and the right to marry. Later, I will analyze from a critical point of view the three decisions that the United States Supreme Court has issued around this matter: Windsor v. United States, 133 S. Ct. 2675, 2693-95 (2013), Hollingsworth v. Perry, 133 S. Ct. 2652 (2013), and Obergefell et al. v. Hodges, 576 U.S. (2015). As we will see, although equality arguments have never played a crucial role in the Court's argumentation, in Obergefell et al. v. Hodges, the United States Supreme Court has embraced an inclusive interpretation of the right to marry of the Due Process Clause, as one reaching heterosexual and homosexual persons, supporting its interpretation in the Equal Protection Clause.