EDITORIAL – California overturns gay marriage ban

On May 15, California’s Supreme Court overturned the state’s ban on gay marriage, a decision… On May 15, California’s Supreme Court overturned the state’s ban on gay marriage, a decision that could allow same-sex couples in the state to legally marry.

On June 14, after a provisional period of 30 days during which the court’s ruling takes effect, legal clerks in the state would be authorized to give marriage licenses to any couple wishing one, regardless of their respective genders.

In many ways, this is a huge step forward for people fighting for equality in U.S. marriage laws. The only other state to allow same-sex marriages is Massachusetts, which did so in 2004; the rest of the United States remains woefully behind the times in regard to treating same-sex couples equally to traditional couples.

Pennsylvania is a perfect example.

Although the state already has a law that limits marriage to a union of one man and one woman – the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act – some legislators want to strengthen the ban by having it added to the state constitution. As of now, the bill is presumed to be dead in committee in the Pennsylvania Senate, but it could be enacted again in the next session.

Even if the bill does pass through both the state House and Senate, it would also have to get a majority in a statewide referendum before being applied to the constitution. In contrast, California’s constitution can be amended by a simple majority vote in a statewide referendum, something that some groups are attempting to do in November to re-enact a ban. This would also keep the court decision from coming into effect until the referendum was held.

It’s almost shameful that, even after the California Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage should be legal, some groups would attempt to keep it from reaching that status.

If the state Supreme Court has acknowledged that same-sex couples have the same rights as traditional couples, they should be granted all the benefits of those rights, including the right to marry.

And if that right isn’t granted, then it’s clear that same-sex couples are discriminated against in a way that evokes the same problems we had as a society in the 1960s. Discriminating against gays and lesbians purely because of their sexuality is no more justified than discriminating against a black person solely because of his or her race.

These are problems that were supposedly solved almost a generation ago, yet we’re still dealing with the same issues purely because of backward thinking based in personal belief and conviction instead of legal realities. By the letter of the law, there is no rule against same-sex couples getting married unless the state has made it so. If these laws were applied to any other social group, they would be immediately lambasted as discriminatory and insensitive. It should be no different for gay couples.

The California court’s ruling should stand and allow people to marry, regardless of sexual orientation. And Pennsylvania, along with the other states, should realize that doing anything other than what California and Massachusetts have done is discrimination and flies in the face of both equality and logic.