Today is a historic day. It will either become a positive historical date, or a negative one for the LGBT community. That is still to be decided. It is the day that the U.S Supreme Court will hear arguments in six cases concerning same-sex marriage. Depending on its ruling, the ban on same-sex marriage could be lifted.
All of this started when two nurses, April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, challenged the state’s law that prohibits same-sex marriages still. Their goal was to co-adopt their four special-needs children. But since they could not be legally married, this was not possible.
The fact that both women are nurses makes for an extremely compelling case. And it just might be the key to making bans on gay marriage history! It is today that the Court will hear their case, and three others, from Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio.
But even though it has fairness on its side, this case will be the hardest that Dana Nessel, the attorney handling the two nurses’ case, has ever taken on. Opinions like that of Mark Gurley, Michigan chairman of the Oak Initiative advocacy group, who says “Homosexuality is a behavior, not a civil right.” are still widely spread across the U.S. .
Currently, there are 37 states that allow same-state marriage and today it will be argued whether Washington should be mandated to recognize marriages performed in these states. People from all states should be granted the curtsey of marrying the person of their choice, without having to do so elsewhere or relocate.
What will happen today is a two-and-a-half hour debate on the matter. It will be Mary Bonauto and .S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli who will argue against the ban on same-sex marriage and John Bursch, former Michigan Solicitor General who will defend it.
After this, Joseph Whalen, Associate Solicitor General of Tennessee and Douglas Hallward-Driemeier will discuss the state’s obligation to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states that allow them. And taking all of this into consideration, a decision will be made But unfortunately, it will not be made public until the end of the court’s term, at the end of June.
All eyes are on Anthony Kennedy, conservative Justice, who is believed to have the deciding vote in this case. He has ruled against this matter in the past, decision that he motivated by pointing out that the majority public opinion is against it; polls in 2003 pointed out that only 37% were supportive of the same-marriage act.
But recent polls point out that 58% of people now support the act, so it is everybody’s hope that Anthony Kennedy will make his decision based on similar facts.
The ruling in this case is crucial to the LGBT community, because it has the ability to change everything on the matter. If the Justices rule against the ban on same-sex marriage, then it will most likely make it legal in all the states, as most state officials have pledged to follow the ruling in this case.
But as easily as this case could unite all the states’ policies on gay marriage, it could also undo the toil that people have put into the matter in the states that gained the right to marry their partners of choice by also appealing to the Supreme Court.
This means that if the Court rules in favor of the ban on same-sex marriage, it would give reason to 22 of the 37 states that have lifted the ban this way to begin the process of reinstating it.
So beyond any doubt 2015 will be a historic year in the LGBT community, for better or for worse. People have been rallying to support same-sex marriages ever since the case began and today they have gathered to support the two nurses that took a stand on this injustice.
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