With a June 10 decision by the Ontario Court of Appeals in favor of marriage equality for same-sex couples, suddenly it is possible for gay couples in America to travel to Ontario and get married. Many opposite-sex American couples have gone to Ontario over the years to do just that and by tradition and law those marriages have been recognized and honored by every state in America and by the U.S. federal government.
Same-sex couples may soon be able to get married closer to home. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts is expected to issue any day now its ruling in Goodridge et al vs. Department of Public Health, which challenges the state's denial of marriage licenses to 7 same-sex couples. The decision could result in same-sex couples being able to marry in Massachusetts.
On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas struck down anti-sodomy laws in the remaining 14 states that had them. The court found that government cannot criminalize and demean gay people and that the Constitution protects the liberty to enter into a same-sex relationship. In his blistering dissent, Justice Scalia wrote that based on the courts ruling on sodomy laws "what justification could there possibly be for the denying the benefits of marriage to homosexual couples...?"
In light of these developments, opponents of equality for GLBT Americans are sounding the alarm. Fearing that one or more states will honor the Ontario marriage of a same-sex couple, anxious that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will rule for marriage equality and angry that the U.S. Supreme Court decided to protect the private lives of all Americans, conservative activists are seeking to build anti-gay bias directly into our legal system by amending the U.S. Constitution. The language of the amendment is few in words but clear in its discrimination:
"Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any State, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups."
This amendment must be passed by 2/3 of the House and Senate and ratified by 3/4 of the states in order to change the Constitution. It is a purposely difficult process. The amendment currently has 27 cosponsors in the House and while there is no Senate bill yet, Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist recently spoke out in favor of this amendment. It is likely that a Senate companion bill will be introduced shortly.
The next few months and years will be defining ones in the history of the GLBT civil rights movement. Some of us will get married, some of us will raise children, some of us -- a lot of us -- will face discrimination. The burden of proof is clearly on our opponents to show why GLBT people should not be treated equally, including in the recognitions of our relationships. At the same time, the Human Rights Campaign is committed to working with other national GLBT organizations, statewide advocacy groups, individual GLBT Americans and their families in advocating unequivocally for marriage and other forms of relationship recognition for same-sex couples. Marriage equality is a basic civil rights issue that we will protect and advance.
That is why it is so important that the proposed Constitutional amendment not succeed. It is the ultimate trump card and the ultimate mechanism to build discrimination into the very document that should protect everyone. Such an amendment would be used by our opponents to not only negate any victories in court but foreclose all recourse to court on marriage equality. Further, it would be used in the same way the sodomy laws were used, to justify other forms of discrimination.
That's my boy! 
