Gay marriage ruling a reflection of huge shift in US public opinion
When Supreme Court case was filed, only 3 states had marriage equality and only one Republican official backed gay marriage
When proponents of same-sex marriage in the United States decided nearly five years ago to bring their legal battle before the Supreme Court, the decision set off a spasm of anxiety among many gay leaders worried that an adverse ruling would set back a fight that many of them had never really wanted.
But as the Supreme Court issued its last-day-of-court rulings on Wednesday, nullifying the federal law that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman and effectively permitting same-sex marriage in California, what was also clear was just how rapidly much of the country had moved beyond the court. Rulings that just three years ago would have loomed as polarising and even stunning instead served to underscore and ratify vast political changes that have taken place across much of the country.
"Things are dramatically different today," said Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign and the founder of the gay rights group that brought the case against the Californian ban. "When we filed this case, there were three states that had marriage equality, there was one Republican official who supported marriage equality, Vice-President Cheney, and public support of marriage equality was in the high 30s or low 40s."
Since these cases began winding their way through the courts, President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden explicitly endorsed gay marriage - in the midst of a re-election campaign, no less. Bill Clinton, the president who signed the Defence of Marriage Act in 1996, later renounced the legislation and called for it to be repealed. A steady stream of senators and members of Congress from both parties voiced their support for gay couples joining in marriage. And same-sex marriage is now legal in 13 states and the District of Columbia. Chief Justice John Roberts, in questioning lawyers during the argument in these cases, noted just how much political support there was for gay marriage.
Gay characters and celebrities have become ever-present in popular culture, on television and, over the past year, in sports and rap music. Word that a celebrity wants to marry someone of the same sex, whether Neil Patrick Harris or Ellen DeGeneres, is treated as celebratory news in magazine rather than scandalous in . It is difficult to imagine a Democratic candidate for president winning the nomination in 2016 without supporting gay marriage.
The 5-4 decision overturning the Defence of Marriage Act, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, was sweeping and hardly technical, an affirmation of same-sex marriage written in broad constitutional terms that produced cheers and even some surprise among same-sex marriage supporters standing in front of the Supreme Court. And though the court declined to hear the Californian case on procedural grounds, the effect was to let stand a lower-court decision that threw out a voter initiative banning gay marriage in this state.
That means that now 30 per cent of the nation's population live in states that allow same-sex marriage.
A striking aspect of the rulings is the extent to which they reflect public opinion. Polls suggest the public wanted the Defence of Marriage Act struck down and while most Americans now support same-sex marriage, they did not want the court to force states to legalise gay marriages.
"Having the case decided in this current atmosphere, with this tidal wave of support for equality of gay people, certainly helped us," said Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the Californian case.
