Latest on Gay Marriage and Our Strategy to Win

We will be getting a decision from the Supreme on Prop 8 very soon. As a matter of fact it is reported that the justices have rule on two cases already and they will be announced by monday. We just don’t don’t know which two of the plate of decisions they have before them.  It is known that unless there is a broad decision coming from the court the alternative would be to go it state by state like we have been doing but that will come to a stop soon, as soon as we run out of democratic gay friendly states. Ted Olson, one of the lawyers who argued against prop 8 before the court believes that unless we get a mandate from the court not every state is pro gay marriage and it wont vote for it.

However we have known that. The options are for the gay community, that is anyone who is gay or gay friendly to vote for people that are also like minded. That way when the case comes back to the Supreme Court and it would have to, we would have a lot of pressure to put on the court that we have  a lot states that have legalized same sex marriage. This fight has to be done with a lot savvy and have a strategy in which we will never see a Prop 8 again that a state reverses again because we don’t have the years left in this generation. Is going to happen, but we needed yesterday. The person writing these blog is neither married nor engaged but is not a matter of believing in the institution of marriage or not because this is just for one individual. Marriage is the gate in which all the civil liberties for gays are attached to. It is the nature of the beast that the government, the one that taxes you, jail you, gives and takes is intertwined with this institution of marriage and the church. . If I were to get married which I don’t see in the horizon I would not do it in a church, that would be the last thing on my mind, but I will want all of my benefits wether they come with a license or a pole to put in front of the yard. It is our government and it should work for us. We need to vote in a  strategic way and that includes coming and encouraging peers not to hide.

"We have to win at some point on a national level because not all the states are going to legalize it,” Ted Olson said. He would not discount the possibility that the justices would rule broadly this month for gay men and lesbians but said advocates were thinking of the next phase anyway.

Olson and other lawyers seeking a constitutional marriage right say a model state for the next court challenge would be one that meets two main criteria. It would be a place where voters were unlikely to approve gay marriage in the near future, because approval would render any lawsuit moot. Ideally the state also would be in a region where judges are inclined to strike down a ban on same-sex unions, as happened in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit covering California.

One such state might be Virginia, which defined marriage as only between a man and woman in a 2006 state constitutional amendment. It also is one of the five states in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. Because of Democratic President Barack Obama's appointments in recent years, that bench has a strong majority of Democratic appointees and may vote more liberally.

Charles Cooper, who argued for the California ban at the Supreme Court in the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, declined to comment on his side's next steps pending a ruling.

While more developments lie ahead, the legal fight over gay marriage already constitutes one of the most concentrated civil rights sagas in U.S. history. Just 20 years ago the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that its state constitution could allow gay marriage, prompting a nationwide backlash and spurring Congress and a majority of states, including Hawaii, to pass laws defining marriage as between only a man and woman.

In 2003, when the top court of Massachusetts established a right to same-sex marriage under its constitution, the action triggered another backlash as states then adopted constitutional amendments against such unions. Five years later, the tide began to reverse, and states slowly began joining Massachusetts in permitting lesbians and gay men to marry. Most of those states are in the Northeast.

Opinion polls show a steady increase in public support for gay marriage, and this month the Pew Research Center found that 51 percent of Americans now favor allowing it. That poll also found that three-quarters of people responding believed legal recognition of same-sex marriage nationwide would happen one day.

That day might not be so soon.

"There may be a slim national majority for same-sex marriage, but there isn't a majority in a large number of states," said Jack Tweedie, director of the children and families program at the National Conference of State Legislatures. Tweedie noted that a majority of states have reinforced their opposition to gay marriage with constitutional amendments in the past decade. About 30 states now have such bans on the books.

Gay rights advocates say if the court strikes down the law denying federal benefits in the case of United States v. Windsor, state action on same-sex marriage might accelerate, especially in states that already allow civil unions for gays and lesbians. Still, lawyer David Codell, who specializes in gay legal rights and is a director at UCLA's Williams Institute, predicted some states would never go that route on their own.

"It seems likely that at some point a constitutional ruling from the court will be necessary for full equality nationwide," he said. "The issue remains tougher than people think.”

Adam Gonzalez