One month ago, United Families International gave you a short update on the marriage battle as it was playing out across the United States. Today, as policy discussions come to an end before the break of summer, we have additional information to share regarding the targeted New England area of the United States, as well as Washington DC and California’s Prop 8.
Gay rights activists who aimed to legalize same-sex marriage throughout New England by 2012 are certainly building momentum. It appears that they will have passed laws legalizing same-sex marriage in at least 4 of the 6 New England states by the end of May. The win is a blatant attempt to “normalize” gay marriage one area of the United States at a time, but also to redefine marriage through the state legislative process instead of through the court system.
Before this year, the gay rights activists only saw success in the court room. Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, and Iowa were legalized through their state courts, allowing proponents of marriage to point out that the will of the people was overturned by liberal courts involved with policy making. Unfortunately, last month Vermont became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage through legislative action.
Voters believe that when it comes to who should decide whether same-sex marriage should be legal, 43 percent of voters say their state legislature, and 25 percent say the courts should. Only 16 percent say neither should make the decision.