Fearful of a conservative court, same-sex couples back off the litigation
Associated Press:
Three gay couples Tuesday dropped their lawsuits challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act, saying they do not want to risk having a conservative U.S. Supreme Court set precedent by rejecting their case.
The lawsuits were brought by gay couples who were wedded in Massachusetts and Canada and wanted Florida to recognize their marriages.
Since the Court isn't likely to get any less conservative anytime soon, I gather that these three couples have suspended indefinitely their effort to win by judicial fiat what they have not won democratically. That's a good thing. Americans are habituated to the notion that the Government requires the consent of the governed, and these litigious same-sex couples are threatening to do for gay marriage what Roe did for abortion.
Patience, Grasshoppers. Opposition to same-sex marriage is deeply generational, which means our day is coming. It may not come on your timetable, but it is coming. Your divorced neighbors might be flustered by gay marriage. But their kids, having seen firsthand that marriage now has more to do with the happiness of adults than it does with the interests of children, won't be. And when our victory comes, if we've won it in democratic fora, it will have political legitimacy.
Religious conservatives can make a potent case against judicial activism. They'll have a harder time making the case against democracy.