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It may seem late in the game for this journal to weigh in on the matter of marriage for lesbian and gay people, a contentious issue that has inspired legislation “defending” an institution seen by many in
the United States as threatened. According to the Web site MarriageEquality.org (marriageequality.org) as of spring 2007, 17 states have enacted constitutional amendments banning marriage for lesbian and gay people, bills making it impossible for state courts to rule them unconstitutional because the right to discriminate against lesbian and gay people who wish to marry is thus written into state law. Only the Supreme Court can rule on these state constitutional amendments. The Federal Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 1996 and signed by President Clinton, does not ban marriage between members of the same sex, but it does bar federal recognition of such marriages should they become legal in any state. The General Accounting Office of the federal government has counted 1138 rights and benefits related to marriage. These are limited or unavailable to lesbian and gay couples.
Yet Andrew Sullivan, in his blog on May 29th and 30th 2007 () remarks that those who support marriage rights for lesbians and gays “are winning.” This seems difficult to understand, given that at the time of this writing, in only one state, Massachusetts, can same-sex couples legally marry. Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, Oregon, and New Hampshire recently passed legislation creating “civil unions,” which provide for some, but not all, of the rights that are conveyed by marriage. Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York has promised to make marriage available to same-sex couples and has signed an order recognizing marriages from other states between same-sex partners. In Belgium, Netherlands, Canada, Spain, and two states in Mexico, same-sex couples can enjoy all the rights, privileges, and acknowledgment that