Recently, the issue of gay marriage came to the forefront of the news, in New Jersey. Although news pertaining to sexuality and sexual preference often is relegated to late night news, or to the back pages of the newspaper, this topic proved so controversial, for several weeks the issue was the focus of every major news source. "New Jersey's Supreme Court ruled in a landmark decision October 25 that the state constitution guarantees same-sex couples all the legal benefits of marriage, but it stopped short of Massachusetts in legalizing same-sex marriage." (Peterson, 2006)
             Describe the two types of families chosen
             Family 1: A gay couple, unmarried, with middle-school age children from one of the couple's earlier relationships
             Family 2: A traditional, nuclear heterosexual couple with one middle-school child, an adolescent, and two sets of grandparents heavily involved in the children's upbringing
             Describe the potential impact and how this impact could vary depending on the chosen families
             Any married couple, particularly married couples with children, would have watched this news about gay marriage with a great deal of interest. The gay or lesbian family with young children might see marriage as a way of socially and legally equating their relationship with that of a heterosexual couple. In contrast, the very traditional heterosexual couple might worry how to explain homosexuality, sexual behavior and preference, and the nature of marriage to their young child. The child might begin asking questions about this issue. Also, if the husband and the wife had opposing views about gay marriage, this might create potential divisiveness in the household, and bring their conflicting values to the forefront of family debates.
             The impact of the issue upon the homosexual family would be most obvious. The couple, if they desired, could have traveled to New Jersey and gotten married if the r
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