Next Battlegrounds in Homosexual Marriage

Hey, the Sodomites are just now getting started.

At the New York Times, "Both Sides on Same-Sex Marriage Issue Focus on the Next State Battlegrounds":

With the expected addition of Californians after Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling, some 30 percent of Americans will live in states offering same-sex marriage.

Now the two sides of the marriage wars are gearing up to resume the costly state-by-state battles that could, in the hopes of each, spread marriage equality to several more states in the next few years, or reveal a brick wall of values that cannot be breached. There is wide agreement from both sides on where the next battlefields will be.

Proponents of same-sex marriage were already energized by victories in six states over the last year, bringing the total number authorizing such unions to 12 states, before California, and the District of Columbia. They are hoping for legislative victories this fall or next spring in Illinois and possibly New Jersey and Hawaii.

Twenty-nine states — not including California —have constitutional amendments defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Some advocates expect that in the November 2014 elections, Oregon and perhaps Nevada or Ohio could become the first states to undo their amendments. At the same time, a court case in New Mexico could extend marriage rights.

These strategists agree they are unlikely to win over more conservative states in the South and the West in the foreseeable future. But, looking at the historical experience with issues like bans on interracial marriage, which the Supreme Court outlawed only in 1967, they feel confident that if equality spreads to more states and public attitudes continue shifting, a future Supreme Court will find that marriage is a right for gay men and lesbians as well as heterosexuals.

“Building a critical mass of states and a critical mass of public support — that’s how social movements succeed,” said Evan Wolfson, the founder of Freedom to Marry. “We’ll pursue this strategy until we finish the job,” he said, “and I think it will be a matter of years, not decades.”

The opponents of same-sex marriage, while unhappy that the Supreme Court struck down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act and opened the door to gay marriage in California, are taking heart that the court did not declare same-sex marriage a constitutional right.

After a recent succession of stinging defeats in Delaware, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Washington State — after political campaigns in which they were heavily outspent — the groups have also vowed to step up fund-raising for advertising and mobilizing supporters.

“These court decisions could be a real boon to our fund-raising,” said Frank Schubert, a conservative political consultant and vice president of the National Organization for Marriage. “People tend to react when the wolf is at the door.”

Well, not just wolves, but jackals, serpents and general pestilence.

The New Yorker's already ramming homosexuality down our children's throats, to say nothing of other bodily parts, "Bert and Ernie's 'Moment of Joy' — The New Yorker's #DOMA Cover."