Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
Pretty much the top news story of the day is the Supreme Court's landmark decision to overturn the latest attempted state bans on same sex marriage, declaring it legal in all 50 states by a decision of 5-4.
The writing's been on the wall for quite some time now that this was going to happen, due in part to public opinion dramatically shifting in favor of same sex marriage over the course of the last 10 years. When the California Supreme Court overturned Proposition 8 in May of 2009, it was the first step towards marriage equality and there was just an avalanche of support growing from the decision. When the United States Supreme Court upheld the California Supreme Court's decision in 2013, it was all but written in the stars that it'd be legalized nationwide.
Of course, there are already some Republican Presidential candidates trying to use this to their advantage by stating they intend to try for a constitutional amendment to overturn the ruling of the Supreme Court despite the fact that currently about 70% of Independent voters are in favor of same sex marriage. The Republican Party no longer has the sort of public support it once had on social issues like this and a lot of Republicans have pretty much thrown in the towel on it. Republican candidate Jeb Bush has said that while he doesn't really support gay marriage, it's an issue that Republicans just aren't going to win and it's time for the party to move on.
Of course, there's still quite a bit of fighting left to do as a whole as this ruling applies only to marriage; there are still quite a few ways left in which LGBTs can be discriminated against. For instance, in 30 states, it's legal for an employer to fire someone if they're gay; doesn't matter how great they are at their job, doesn't matter if they're an asset to whatever company or institution they're working for, they can be fired based on their sexual orientation. So this is one of the next big fights for the gay community for the foreseeable future.
Another one involves whatever sort of rules and regulations come about in regards to government officials, namely a Justice of the Peace, deciding to refuse to preside over gay marriage ceremonies due to religious conviction. This one will be especially messy, there's no real way around that.
The writing's been on the wall for quite some time now that this was going to happen, due in part to public opinion dramatically shifting in favor of same sex marriage over the course of the last 10 years. When the California Supreme Court overturned Proposition 8 in May of 2009, it was the first step towards marriage equality and there was just an avalanche of support growing from the decision. When the United States Supreme Court upheld the California Supreme Court's decision in 2013, it was all but written in the stars that it'd be legalized nationwide.
Of course, there are already some Republican Presidential candidates trying to use this to their advantage by stating they intend to try for a constitutional amendment to overturn the ruling of the Supreme Court despite the fact that currently about 70% of Independent voters are in favor of same sex marriage. The Republican Party no longer has the sort of public support it once had on social issues like this and a lot of Republicans have pretty much thrown in the towel on it. Republican candidate Jeb Bush has said that while he doesn't really support gay marriage, it's an issue that Republicans just aren't going to win and it's time for the party to move on.
Of course, there's still quite a bit of fighting left to do as a whole as this ruling applies only to marriage; there are still quite a few ways left in which LGBTs can be discriminated against. For instance, in 30 states, it's legal for an employer to fire someone if they're gay; doesn't matter how great they are at their job, doesn't matter if they're an asset to whatever company or institution they're working for, they can be fired based on their sexual orientation. So this is one of the next big fights for the gay community for the foreseeable future.
Another one involves whatever sort of rules and regulations come about in regards to government officials, namely a Justice of the Peace, deciding to refuse to preside over gay marriage ceremonies due to religious conviction. This one will be especially messy, there's no real way around that.