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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

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Loving for all

Supreme Court cartoon

The decades-long fight about equal rights for gay men and lesbians will reach its crescendo this June when the Supreme Court will finally rule whether or not same-sex couples have the right to marry.

A decision by the 6th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals that upheld bans on same-sex marriage created a conflict with appellate courts that declared similar bans unconstitutional. This conflict is the likely reason why the Supreme Court has decided to pick up the case.

The Court is set to specifically address two questions: Does the 14th Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex? And does the 14th Amendment require a state to recognize the marriage of two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out of state?

It was inevitable that it would come to this, and the Editorial Board believes it is inevitable that the Supreme Court will make the right decision and finally afford to same sex-couples one of the most basic American rights.

Heterosexual couples have had this right since the birth of our Constitution. They’ve never had to feel the pang of worthlessness that comes with being told your relationship is inferior because it just happens to be with a person of the same sex.

They’ve never had to feel the social ostracism same-sex couples feel.

Wait, take that back. This has all happened before. It was the ‘60s, and instead of same-sex marriage it was interracial marriage. The Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage in 1967 with Loving v. Virginia.

The fight for marriage equality for same-sex couples has proven to be eerily similar to the one for interracial couples.

This is a good thing because Loving v. Virginia indicates precedent. You can guarantee the case will be cited in arguments before the justices come June. For good reason, too.

The Loving v. Virginia decision showed the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause was in violation by laws banning interracial marriage.

Sound familiar? It should, because that’s exactly what’s at stake today.

The prohibition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional: 36 states agree with that statement, 14 do not. In 1967, 33 states agreed that the prohibition of interracial marriage was unconstitutional, 17 did not. See a pattern here?

The similarities between the two cases are uncanny. The Supreme Court made the right decision then, and it will again in June.

The 36 states that allow gay marriage encompass 70 percent of the population. The Supreme Court couldn’t ?possibly decide against that many ?people.

Justice Antonin Scalia, in his dissent during the DOMA case of 2013, said the countrywide legalization of same-sex marriage is “inevitable.” He’s right.

When the Supreme Court decides in favor of marriage equality, for the first time in this country’s history, no longer will same-sex couples be made to feel like second-class citizens.

No longer will they be denied the marriage they deserve. No longer will they be deprived of the life and the liberty the 14th Amendment guarantees.

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