Photo by Jose Antonio Navas via Flickr
By most estimations, it looks all but inevitable that gay marriage will be legal in all 50 states sooner rather than later. To use a lazily constructed metaphor, America, at times, can look like a train with its brake lines cut that's speeding toward Civil Rights Station. Its arrival is seems like as much of a guarantee as your parents remembering to DVR this week's Modern Family. In fact, it's hard to believe that anyone who exists outside of the realm of a YouTube comment section actually considers it an issue.But the movement took a big hit yesterday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld gay marriage bans in four states. Federal Judge Jeffrey Sutton, an appointee of President George W. Bush, wrote in support of the 2-1 decision that the court system shouldn't implement social change. "When the courts do not let the people resolve new social issues like this one," he penned, "they perpetuate the idea that the heroes in these change events are judges and lawyers."The decision is significant because it's the first time since the Supreme Court overturned the Defense Against Marriage Act in 2013 that an appeals court has approved bans on same-sex marriage. It also means that the Supreme Court, which declined to take up the issue last month, might have to finally make a decision on whether gay marriage should be legal.The four of the cases considered by the Sixth Circuit court have a lot in common: The states voted overwhelming in favor of banning same-sex marriage, but resident gay couples are suing to receive benefits from ceremonies performed out-of-state.Ohio
The Buckeye State passed its Defense of Marriage Act in 2004. Since then, the state hasn't really changed it's mind. A Washington Post poll from 2012 showed only 52 percent of Ohioans believed in same-sex marriage. In 2013, a couple who had gotten hitched in Maryland sued Ohio for not recognizing the marriage. One spouse wanted to appear on the death certificate of the other, who had been diagnosed with ALS. The suit was combined in May with that of four same-sex couples that wanted to appear on their children's' birth certificates. On November 6, the 2-1 appeals court decision said the marriage ban was constitutional and threw out the cases. The most recent public opinion poll, by SurveyUSA, shows that only 43 percent of people in Ohio think gays should be able to get married. Rather than roll with the times, this state is slipping back into the Dark Ages.Michigan
It's been kind of confusing for gay couples in Michigan. First, the state passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in 2004. But then a district court said that wasn't okay and appealed it, which meant that more than 300 couples got married the next day before the Sixth Circuit put a stay on the decision. And now the judges have determined that all those gay marriages are invalid. Support for the idea is dropping in Michigan, too, it seems. Only 47 percent of voters say they would vote for it today as opposed to 51 percent last year.Tennessee
More than 80 percent of voters approved an amendment banning same-sex marriage here in 2006. That's kind of a humongous margin. Still, four couples married out of state sued, saying that the ban violates their "right to travel" as laid out in the Constitution. Opposition to gay marriage is still stronger in Tennessee than almost anywhere else in the country. A 2013 poll found that 61 percent of the people in that state were against it as compared to 43 percent nationally. Wowwww.Kentucky
In 2004, more than 75 percent of voters approved Amendment 1, which banned same-sex marriage. A decade later, a federal judge said that violated the right to equal protection under the law, although the governor appealed which put the case in the hands of judges like Jeffrey Sutton. About 55 percent of people in Kentucky still think that two dudes definitely shouldn't be able to get married.While that all looks grim, the appeals court decision means that the Supreme Court will probably have to eventually decide if gay marriage is a constitutional right. By not taking cases from other appeals courts, the justices have quietly allowed same-sex unions to be granted in 32 states plus the District of Columbia. But, t he Sixth Circuit's decision deviates from four other federal appeals court rulings. In September, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg suggested that the much-awaited Sixth Circuit decision could be the tipping point."So far, the federal courts of appeals have answered the question the same way—holding unconstitutional the bans on same-sex marriage," she told an audience in Minnesota. "There is a case now pending before the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Now if that court should disagree with the others then there will be some urgency in the court taking the case."So some good could come of yesterday's decision. Maybe.
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The Buckeye State passed its Defense of Marriage Act in 2004. Since then, the state hasn't really changed it's mind. A Washington Post poll from 2012 showed only 52 percent of Ohioans believed in same-sex marriage. In 2013, a couple who had gotten hitched in Maryland sued Ohio for not recognizing the marriage. One spouse wanted to appear on the death certificate of the other, who had been diagnosed with ALS. The suit was combined in May with that of four same-sex couples that wanted to appear on their children's' birth certificates. On November 6, the 2-1 appeals court decision said the marriage ban was constitutional and threw out the cases. The most recent public opinion poll, by SurveyUSA, shows that only 43 percent of people in Ohio think gays should be able to get married. Rather than roll with the times, this state is slipping back into the Dark Ages.
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It's been kind of confusing for gay couples in Michigan. First, the state passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in 2004. But then a district court said that wasn't okay and appealed it, which meant that more than 300 couples got married the next day before the Sixth Circuit put a stay on the decision. And now the judges have determined that all those gay marriages are invalid. Support for the idea is dropping in Michigan, too, it seems. Only 47 percent of voters say they would vote for it today as opposed to 51 percent last year.Tennessee
More than 80 percent of voters approved an amendment banning same-sex marriage here in 2006. That's kind of a humongous margin. Still, four couples married out of state sued, saying that the ban violates their "right to travel" as laid out in the Constitution. Opposition to gay marriage is still stronger in Tennessee than almost anywhere else in the country. A 2013 poll found that 61 percent of the people in that state were against it as compared to 43 percent nationally. Wowwww.Kentucky
In 2004, more than 75 percent of voters approved Amendment 1, which banned same-sex marriage. A decade later, a federal judge said that violated the right to equal protection under the law, although the governor appealed which put the case in the hands of judges like Jeffrey Sutton. About 55 percent of people in Kentucky still think that two dudes definitely shouldn't be able to get married.While that all looks grim, the appeals court decision means that the Supreme Court will probably have to eventually decide if gay marriage is a constitutional right. By not taking cases from other appeals courts, the justices have quietly allowed same-sex unions to be granted in 32 states plus the District of Columbia. But, t he Sixth Circuit's decision deviates from four other federal appeals court rulings. In September, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg suggested that the much-awaited Sixth Circuit decision could be the tipping point."So far, the federal courts of appeals have answered the question the same way—holding unconstitutional the bans on same-sex marriage," she told an audience in Minnesota. "There is a case now pending before the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Now if that court should disagree with the others then there will be some urgency in the court taking the case."So some good could come of yesterday's decision. Maybe.