But if We Give Gays and Lesbians Equal Rights, Everyone Else Will Want Them, Too
Yesterday, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry. That makes Connecticut the third state, after Massachusetts and California, to legalize gay marriage. Interestingly enough, the state had passed a civil union law, but the court ruled that it did not offer gays and lesbians the same privileges and status as marriage.
What next? It seems likely that this will continue to be decided on a state by state basis for the next few years - but will the Supreme Court weigh in once more states have taken a stand? If so, will any of the reasoning in Loving v. Virgina apply by analogy, or will the Court decide that protecting traditional family values is a legitimate public interest?
What next? It seems likely that this will continue to be decided on a state by state basis for the next few years - but will the Supreme Court weigh in once more states have taken a stand? If so, will any of the reasoning in Loving v. Virgina apply by analogy, or will the Court decide that protecting traditional family values is a legitimate public interest?
posted by Bekki at 10:00 AM
3 Comments:
Gay marriage is our generation's desegregation. The issue may be hotly contested now, but in forty years the consensus will be that bans on same sex marriage are legally unjustifiable, and morally embarrassing. The only legitimate public interest is in putting those bans behind us.
But I don't see this Supreme Court doing it. At best, they might overturn DOMA, but even that seems a stretch.
I think the Court, if it ever addresses this issue, will leave it to the states. Marriage is something that has traditionally been decided by the state as one of the 10th Am police powers. Obviously there is tension with the 14th Am, but because of the difference between the constitutional treatment of gender issues (intermediate scrutiny) vs. race issues (strict scrutiny), I don't think the rationale of Loving will be as persuasive as some speculate.
Whatever one thinks of the desirability of same-sex marriage, I do not think it is a matter to be decided by the Supreme Court, but rather by the states.
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