I think sooner. At some point, baring the possible backlash, there will be a consensus in the country that gay marriage should be legal. At that point, the federal government will most likely recognize it. When that happens, the fair faith and credit clause of the Constitution would have to come into effect. (I don't understand why it's not considered in effect now. This is why I think DOMA is unconstitutional - I mean besides the fact that it denies civil rights. If a contract for anything else that's signed in MA, CT, and IA is legal in FL, NY, etc., then why not a marriage contract?)
DOMA is pointblank unconstitutional. That being said, in a lot of ways it's not been a terrible thing for the American LGBT community - it bought time for the culture to change. Because of it, conservatives have been cheerfully putting their passion into state amendments that can be overturned en masse by one Supreme Court decision, rather than focusing on passing what they would have to actually do to prevent them damn gays from getting married, which is a federal amendment. DOMA's been incredibly helpful, actually!
Good point! But I don't think the Republican Party as a whole really wanted to fight that battle on the federal level anyway. They gave lip service to it to keep the religious right in line, but made damn little effort to push that agenda.
Well, getting a federal amendment passed is fricking hard, man. Plus, state amendments gave them such a handy "Bring Out The Bigot Vote" tool in major elections.
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No, no, excellent point. I've never thought of it that way before.
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