A year after Massachusetts became the first-and so far only-state in the country to legalize gay marriage, conservative groups said marriage still “faces grave threats,” while gay marriage advocates say their progress has been slow but steady.
May 17 marked one year since the first gay couples in Massachusetts received civil marriage licenses after the state's Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that it was unconstitutional to allow civil marriage only for heterosexuals.
In the past year, some 6,000 gay couples in Massachusetts have been married.
A Gallup/CNN/USA poll showed that a majority of Americans-56 percent-oppose gay marriage, although that number is down from a high of 68 percent in March. In the latest poll, 39 percent supported gay marriage.
“The message could not be any clearer-the people know that marriage is a union between one man and one woman,” Glen Lavy, senior vice president of the Alliance Defense Fund, said in a statement.
“Despite the will of the people, affirmed through the ballot box and in recent opinion polls, marriage still faces grave threats,” Lavy said.
Five states are currently considering laws to legalize same-sex marriages or civil unions, and two others-Connecticut and Vermont-have approved civil unions for gay couples.
“There's disagreement about how to change and how fast to change, but there's at least, clearly, some emerging consensus that that's the path we are on,” Mary Bonauto, of the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, told USA Today.
However, 18 states have enacted constitutional amendments banning gay marriage-14 of them within the past year. Four additional states have constitutional bans pending approval by voters, and 13 others have amendments pending or under consideration by legislatures, according to an analysis by USA Today.
In Nebraska, a federal judge recently overturned that state's constitutional amendment as too broad. In Massachusetts, an amendment that would ban gay marriage but create civil unions needs approval by the Legislature, and then by voters in 2006.
Religion News Service