Humanities MYP 4: Love and Power

In class, we have been discussing power. Who has power? How does power shift?

Currently, our nation, along with other developed countries, is in the middle of what has been deemed a "culture war" where the topic of gay marriage is concerned. Regardless of where you stand on this issue, it is important to think about the tactics and tools used by both sides to promote their ideas and, ultimately, to maintain or obtain power.

Consider the following links, images and videos. Be prepared to discuss your thoughts in class, utilizing relevant terminology and concepts to dig deeper into the question of power.

Explore this site and consider the arguments presented.
National Organization for Marriage
https://www.nationformarriage.org/

Gay Dating Commercial Banned from Super Bowl on CBS:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123377010

Perspective Shift (please note that this video contains some disturbing content)

Consider how this same tactic could be used for a different issue or a different group.

Contextualizing Anti-Miscegenation Laws

Now consider a similar historical debate. Remember, our goal is to contextualize history. Rather than judge the past, we must seek understanding.

"Anti-miscegenation laws or miscegenation laws were laws that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizinginterracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races. Such laws were first introduced in North America from the late seventeenth century onwards by several of the Thirteen Colonies, and subsequently by many US states and US territories and remained in force in many US states until 1967. After the Second World War, an increasing number of states repealed their anti-miscegenation laws. In 1967, in Loving v. Virginia, the remaining anti-miscegenation laws were held to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. Similar laws were also enforced in Nazi Germany as part of the Nuremberg laws, and in South Africaas part of the system of Apartheid. In the United States, interracial marriage, cohabitation and sex have been termed "miscegenation" since the term was coined in 1863. Contemporary usage of the term is less frequent, except to refer to historical laws banning the practice."
-Wikipedia Entry

Read about this case from 1967, just 47 years ago): Supreme Court Case: Loving vs. Virginia