… The legal patchwork faced by married gay couples in the wake of Windsor now make the state-by-state battles that have been taking place over the right to marriage even more important. In their midst will be sympathetic politicians and judges who nevertheless hesitate to usher in sweeping changes due […] Read more »
What if Marriage Equality Is Loving Instead of Roe?
… The fact that Windsor and Perry leave a two-tiered legal regime in place for most gay couples begs an even bigger question: why didn’t the Court simply establish marriage equality as the law of the land? The five justices making up the Court’s majority in Windsor clearly empathize with […] Read more »
As a Long-Term Political Issue, Gay Marriage Will Be More Like Abortion than Integration
… When people discuss the inexorable rise of support for gay marriage, they talk about it like racial integration. The supporters of Jim Crowe [sic] were routed: it became impossible to publicly support segregation, and the opposition eventually died or flipped. But there’s another possibility: that gay marriage is somewhat […] Read more »
Court underscores political shift on same-sex marriage
… Everything about the decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8 suggests that the justices fully recognize the direction the national debate is heading in and were not prepared to stand in the way. … By every measure, more and more Americans are coming to accept the […] Read more »
Supreme Court Doma and Prop 8 rulings align law with public opinion
The US supreme court made two monumental rulings today. First, it struck down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act (Doma). Doma had previously made it so that gay marriages and the benefits that go with marriage would not be recognized by the federal government. The supreme court’s ruling […] Read more »
Supreme Court Decisions in Favor of Gay Marriage Would Not Go ‘Too Far, Too Fast’
… In less than two decades, support for same-sex marriage rights has effectively doubled, and strong support for marriage equality among younger Americans suggests that the trend toward support for same-sex marriage will continue. A decision in favor of marriage equality would therefore probably begin with majority support that is […] Read more »