Word: same-sex
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...couples - opponents gave warning that they were not about to let the divided high court have the last word. Brandishing more than 1 million signatures from an ongoing petition campaign, they plan to put before voters as soon as November a proposition that would amend the constitution to forbid same-sex marriages. (A Los Angeles Times poll shows a majority of registered voters would support the amendment, preferring to overturn the ruling). The alliance of groups opposed to gay marriage, meanwhile, has petitioned the court to delay such unions, which could begin as early as June 16, until after...
Marcosson, however, points out a paradoxical possibility. He says the strongest cases will probably not involve gay marriage at all, at least not directly. They'll be the child-support cases that arrive out of its corollary, same-sex divorce. "The court would have to recognize the original marriage as valid to enforce the divorce and child support decree - and thus give it full faith and credit," he says...
...debate over same-sex marriage, like the one that rages over abortion, is a testament to the judicial branch’s ability to shape societal institutions. As commentators have frequently noted, both sides have embraced the power of the court as a last resort in their struggles for desired outcomes—advocates of gay marriage hope courts will uphold their rights to the practice, while opponents hope courts will agree it is unconstitutional. But in all likelihood, last week’s decision in California will be overturned at the ballot box come fall, since the prevailing sentiments...
...they want it to last—they need to find new allies. Far-fetched as this may seem, social conservatives may be worth wooing. Of the institutions potentially available to regulate the lives of individual gays, marriage is the most socially conservative institution possible. Many proponents of same-sex marriage apparently believe that, since social conservatives are unlikely to be won over, they will simply have to be strong-armed into putting up with the institution when enough Democrats and enough states have shown their commitment. So advocates of gay marriage have mistakenly abandoned attempts to appeal...
...Fewer and fewer Americans believe that gay Americans are gay out of lifestyle choice only. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama chalk sexual orientation up to some combination of biological and environmental factors. If they are right, then to oppose same-sex marriage is to oppose a societal avenue toward commitment, toward monogamy, and toward maintaining social structures that are in line with mainstream society. Given that a prevailing criticism of gay Americans is that their lifestyles are licentious, then encouraging them to pursue more conservative ends is an appropriate measure to make homosexuality less “objectionable...