Across the Nation

On June 26, 2003, the United States Supreme Court decided Lawrence v. Texas. In decriminalizing gay sexual conduct, the Court stated that gay people were entitled to freedom, dignity, and respect for their private lives. Five months later, in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that the state’s same-sex marriage ban violated the Massachusetts Constitution. These decisions have sparked actions and counter-actions by officials in every branch of federal, state, and local government. What is true one day becomes false the next as courts, legislators, and officials act and overrule each other. Finality in the law, it appears, will only come when the issue of same-sex marriage is placed before the United States Supreme Court.

Andrea Dobroski (left), Sean Riley and Christian Hadsell watch as the California Supreme Court hears arguments regarding the legality of same-sex marriages granted in San Francisco. So many people gathered to watch the proceedings that TV crews set up televisions on the courthouse steps. Source: © San Francisco Chronicle.