Supreme Court affirms right to gay marriage
"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." - Leviticus 20:13
The Supreme Court has found a constitutional right to same-sex
marriage, striking down bans in 14 states and handing a historic victory
to the gay rights movement that would have been unthinkable just 10
years ago.
Anthony Kennedy, a conservative justice who has broken with his
ideological colleagues to author several decisions expanding rights for
LGBT people, again sided with the court’s four liberals to strike down
the state bans. The 5-4 majority ruled that preventing same-sex people
from marrying violated their constitutional right to due process under
the 14th Amendment and that the states were unable to put forth a
compelling reason to withhold that right from people.
“It
would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea
of marriage,” Kennedy wrote of same-sex couples. “Their plea is that
they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its
fulfillment for themselves.”
“They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law,” he continued. “The Constitution grants them that right.”
The United States is now just the 21st country in the world to allow same-sex marriage in every jurisdiction.
Chief
Justice John Roberts read a stinging dissent from the bench, as Kennedy
sat beside him, his hand on his chin. “Five lawyers have closed the
debate and enacted their own vision of marriage as a matter of
constitutional law,” he wrote. “Stealing this issue from the people will
for many cast a cloud over same-sex marriage, making a dramatic social
change that much more difficult to accept.”
Roberts told same-sex couples they could “celebrate today’s decision,” even though he disagreed with it so strongly.
“Celebrate
the achievement of a desired goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new
expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new
benefits,” he wrote. “But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had
nothing to do with it.”
Despite
Roberts’ harsh words, people in the courtroom were all smiles as they
poured out onto the steps after the decision. Some wiped tears from
their eyes.
In oral arguments last April, Kennedy expressed reservations about
changing the traditional definition of marriage to include LGBT people
and seemed to suggest that the court should allow the American public to
continue debating the relatively new concept.
“The word that keeps coming back to me in this case is millennia,” he said then, referencing the amount of time societies had considered marriage to be only between a man and a woman.
But Kennedy was swayed by the fact that hundreds of thousands of
married same-sex couples already exist and that they — and their
children — are being treated differently by the law when they move to a
state that doesn’t recognize their union. The states in the case also
had trouble articulating why they had a compelling reason to deny that
recognition, saying only that it was in the interest of children to only
allow couples of the opposite sex to marry.
The decision came just two years after the Supreme Court ruled that the
federal government could no longer refuse to recognize married same-sex
couples who lived in the handful of states that had legalized their
unions. That decision, also written by Kennedy, caused a cascade of
lower court decisions striking down state same-sex marriage bans, and
now 36 states allow same-sex marriage. Public opinion on gay marriage
has changed at lightning speed as well: 60 percent of Americans support
it, compared with just 37 percent 10 years ago.
This transformative opinion will most likely continue the trend toward
greater acceptance of LGBT people around the country, as the highest
court of the land has ruled that same-sex unions are legitimate and
lawful everywhere.
Even with the landmark decision, however, support for gay marriage has
been almost nonexistent among elected Republican officials, whose
positions on the issue likely will not change overnight. To date, no
major Republican presidential candidate has endorsed marriage equality.
Many 2016 GOP candidates even struggled with the question of whether or
not they would attend a gay wedding.
Despite public opposition, many Republican operatives privately have
suggested that court rulings favorable to gay marriage are a blessing in
disguise for GOP politicians. With the judicial system expanding gay
rights, the courts have eased the burden on the legislative and
executive branches, removing pressure for them to act proactively on
marriage equality policy.
The opinion is a big win for the Obama administration, which is already
flying high after the Supreme Court batted down a potentially fatal
challenge to the Affordable Care Act on Thursday. The president came out
in favor of same-sex marriage in 2012.
Friday’s ruling also could have a big effect on religious institutions
that have maintained their opposition to same-sex marriage. Religious
schools that refuse to provide housing for same-sex couples could face
lawsuits and lose their tax-exempt status, for example. (Religious
clergy will not have to marry same-sex couples, however.) Some states
will most likely respond to this ruling by attempting to pass
legislation to exempt people who oppose same-sex marriage on religious
grounds, such as the controversial Indiana law that passed in March.
The gay rights movement, meanwhile, will move on to employment
discrimination. Activists want a federal law that forbids discriminating
against people based on their sexual orientation.
Gay and lesbian couples will be able to marry immediately in the four
states named in the case — Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan. There
may be a delay of a few days or weeks for same-sex marriage to be legal
in the remaining states with bans, since lower courts will have to
apply the opinion to them.
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