It’s taken 10 years for our southern North American counterpart to jump on board and legalize gay marriage, but perhaps the country wasn’t ready. In a historical 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) legalized gay marriage in the country last week. While this was a victory for gay rights activists, that doesn’t mean the rest of the country is going to simply acquiesce without a lot of whining.
First, let’s clear up any confusion. SCOTUS is the country’s highest ruling body and only cases dealing directly with constitutional rights and equivalent situations are dealt with at that level. Any decision made by them is binding, although there is a 25-day period during which a party can file a petition to rehear the case in the Supreme Court. All states have to comply with the decision made, regardless of what the previous state laws had allowed or prohibited.
In this case, SCOTUS declared that banning gay marriage was in violation of the 14th Amendment right, which forbids states from depriving “any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The question then became: does the 14th Amendment forbid states from treating homosexual couples differently than heterosexual ones? SCOTUS said yes, it does. Or rather, only five of the nine judges said yes.
Normally, one would think that once SCOTUS has made the decision, there would no longer be a problem since the decision has been made. The law is the law, after all, and there isn’t much room for argument. Except there is and certain states are making their protests known loud and clear. Texas, for example, is allowing their state workers to refuse to grant marriage licenses to gay couples. Their argument is that the government can’t force these workers to go against their religious beliefs. If they tried, then “numerous lawyers stand ready to assist clerks defending their religious beliefs, in many cases on a pro-bono basis.”
Kansas and Alabama are refusing or stalling until that 25-day reconsideration period has passed and have ordered probate judges against issuing marriage licenses to gay couples until then. This is especially confusing for state-level judges because they’re in a tough position. Their state government is telling them not to while the federal government is saying they have to. States such as Louisiana are advising their clerks to wait as well, though some offices have already begun issuing licenses regardless.
Polls show that most of the country’s citizens seem to be either supportive of it or at the very least, nonchalant about it. However, by not allowing this to go through a democratic process in all states, it was instead imposed upon those who weren’t in favour. Considering many of those against it in the southern states are state leaders, it has been causing quite a dissonance between the state and federal governments.
By comparison, we can see how Canada has fared with its landmark decision in 2005 to legalize gay marriage. Reactions were very much the same in terms of the outrage and resistance, although Saskatchewan was ahead of the trend since it legalized it the year prior to the national decision. Despite the attempted avoidance of the federal decision by certain parties, everyone eventually conceded defeat.
In doing so, the world was able to witness how little the decision actually impacted society. Extending the marriage right to homosexuals became ordinary and few people now have anything to say to their inclusion. The family structure didn’t break down, masses of people didn’t suddenly want to marry their dogs, and nobody married his or her sibling.
So what does Canada’s fate likely say about the United States? It’ll be interesting to see how long those state policy makers can hold out before gay marriage becomes as commonplace there as it is here. The next battle to be fought by gay rights activists will be less high profile. It’ll be things like unisex washrooms for transgender people and letting people play on the sports team whose gender they identify with.
There’s really no going back from a decision like this; the only way is forward.
