One Amazing Transformation

WASHINGTON -- Who would have thought:

-- That gay rights groups' biggest concern would not be how the Supreme Court would rule on same-sex marriage but that it wasn't ruling fast enough?

-- That the Republican response to the justices' move to let same-sex marriages proceed in half the states would be ... near-total silence?

Let us pause to savor this moment, and the transformation of the American legal and social landscape.

Recall, it was less than 30 years ago that the court upheld laws making homosexual sex a crime. Citing the "ancient roots" of prohibitions against homosexuality, John F. Kennedy appointee Byron White asserted, for five justices, that the Constitution does not grant "a fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy."

When the court reversed itself in 2003, Justice Antonin Scalia was apoplectic. "Do not believe it," he wrote of the majority's assurance that its ruling did not involve the right to marry. "Today's opinion dismantles the structure of constitutional law that has permitted a distinction to be made between heterosexual and homosexual unions, insofar as formal recognition in marriage is concerned."

At the time, Scalia's warning seemed fanciful. Now, it appears prophetic.

Recall, too, that as recently as 2008, the Democratic contenders for the presidential nomination could not risk coming out in favor of marriage equality.

"I believe marriage is between a man and a woman," soon-to-be President Barack Obama said that year. "I am not in favor of gay marriage."

On the issue of same-sex marriage, evolution has occurred at warp speed. In the next presidential cycle, it is unimaginable that a Democratic candidate would oppose same-sex marriage, and unlikely that the ultimate Republican nominee would make an issue of it.

...continued

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