Courts are almost never at the vanguard of social change. In general, they have required sweeping cultural shifts such as school desegregation only when it was clear that a substantial percentage of Americans supported them. So what does this portend for same-sex marriage litigation, which is likely to end up before the Supreme Court eventually, especially in light of recent federal court rulings in Boston and San Francisco in favor of same-sex marriage?
The first same-sex marriage cases, filed by gay couples in the 1970s, were nearly laughed out of court. But by the time of last week's ruling in support of same-sex marriage, more than 40% of the nation — and an even greater percentage in California — supported it. The question now will be whether that's enough of a cultural shift to influence the Supreme Court's thinking.
Before World War II, the NAACP refused to challenge school segregation, knowing that a case would lose in court because most Americans supported the status quo. But by the time the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, half the country agreed with the outcome. Read more:
Same-Sex Marriage Debate Has Roots Going Back Centuries
By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
U.S. SUPREME COURT Gay Rights Advocates Seize on
Justice Ginsburg’s ‘Time Bomb’
By Debra Cassens Weiss – July 20, 2010 – ABA Journal
Under the U.S. Supreme Court: Kennedy key to gay marriage
By Michael Kirkland, United Press International - UPI.com
Who has standing to appeal Prop. 8 ruling?
by Erwin Chemerinsky - Los Angeles Times
Prop. 8 plaintiffs ask that marriages proceed –
by Joe Garofoli - The San Francisco Chronicle
Looking for Time Bombs and Tea Leaves on Gay Marriage
By Adam Liptak – July 19, 2010
The New York Times
American Bar Association (ABA)
Backs Marriage Equality for Gays and Lesbians
ABA Journal
Gay marriage
“Religious beliefs that gay and lesbian relationships are sinful or inferior to heterosexual relationships harm gays and lesbians.”
Judge Vaughn Walker
Same Sex Marriage: A Selective Bibliography - Rutgers School of Law-Newark - compiled by Paul Axel-Lute
Campaigns Against “Gay Marriage” Have Been A Vehicle
To Convey Certain People Into Political Office
Same-sex marriage - The Big Picture
August 4, 2010 - Boston.com
Auschwitz - Christmas 2008
A flashback far more severe than in
Brokeback Mountain
The Quality Of Lasting Homosexual Relationships
Deserve Respect
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Vienna
Same-Sex Marriages Should Be Allowed, Schwarzenegger Says
By Edvard Pettersson – August 7, 2010
BusinessWeek
Gay Marriage -> Restores “Hope of Love”
To Children In Early Childhood
Gay marriage - Sexual orientation
is less about sex and more about love, being one with another human being
Attachment Theory - LOVE & RELIGION
Gay Marriage - Galileo Condemned As A Heretic
Misinterpretations of The Bible
Homosexuality? Natural Law? Benedict XVI?
Kids Are Being Hurt!!!
by David Taffet – Dallas Voice
No comments:
Post a Comment