Gay and civil-rights activists are celebrating this week, as a superior court judge in California's San Francisco County ruled that the State Supreme Court cannot ban the issuing of marriage licenses to same-sex couples, based on a clause in the California constitution that protects all the state's residents from discrimination.
Two years ago, gay marriages were not recognized anywhere in the country and were not a subject of public discourse. Now, a handful of states allow gay couples to marry or enter into civil unions.
The issue was a galvanizing wedge in the 2004 election. Eleven states passed gay marriage bans in 2004. However, only 42 percent of the public believes that gay couples should receive no legal recognition, according to a February CBS News/New York Times poll.
It would seem that the politically motivated sloganeering on gay marriage is steadily being replaced by more logical and thoughtful discourse of judges, like those in California, and those free of the need to be re-elected in an era defined by political division.
For many, simply the word "marriage" provides an intellectual obstacle for providing equal rights under the law to a large group of America's citizenship. The word "marriage" carries deep religious connotations for many. But it is important to remember that marriage is not only a religious institution but a civil one as well. A heterosexual couple married under law receives more than 1,000 civil benefits, ranging from tax credits to power of attorney to hospital visitation rights.
Fence-straddling politicians have introduced the concept of the civil union, an abridged version of marriage that provides limited benefits and protections. This is not a solution for the country's homosexual population, and it makes no difference to give a different definition to the union of same-sex couples.
Legalizing marriage for the America's millions of gay couples means nothing more than extending the same civil rights as those granted to heterosexual couples, rights they are guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
