If the Supreme Court rules the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional, the LGBT community will undoubtedly have gained a valuable victory. However, such a ruling will not be a moral victory and might actually do harm to the gay-marriage cause by stripping the momentum from rights-battles in state legislatures.
Moreover, if the Supreme Court adopts President Barack Obama’s administration argument against DOMA, state legislatures will have zero incentive to give same-sex couples even basic benefits — for the Obama administration argued only if a state adopts civil unions it must legalize same-sex marriage.
Should the Supreme Court overturn DOMA, those who oppose gay marriage will remain opposed to it. For gay marriage opponents, a ruling against DOMA will provide no impetus or compelling reasons for them to change their viewpoint. Such a ruling will only reveal five unelected people’s approval of gay marriage and their contortion of the Constitution to fit their philosophies.
If DOMA is struck down, the largely conservative constituents of the gay-marriage opposition will color the ruling as merely another example of our burdensome federal government intruding and overstepping its domain — this time via an activist court. Perhaps there would be some truth in their complaint, as such an intimate moral issue should play out locally if it can.
The overreaching federal government argument would be nullified if the gay-marriage battle was fought in state legislatures and referendums. State-by-state victories would not only be inspiring, but also would bolster the same-sex marriage cause as they would be carried by Democratic reforms as opposed to judicial ones.
More importantly, local battles would provide opportunities for supporters and opponents of gay marriage to engage with one another and — as evidenced by the tide of Republicans legislators with gay children voicing their newfound support of gay marriage — might foster moral victories in addition to legislative ones.
An overwhelming majority of young people favor same-sex marriage. Seventy percent of Millennials support legalizing gay marriage, as the Pew Research Center showed, while a survey taken by Post-ABC poll showed 81 percent approval.
Thus it seems the issue will eventually be decided in favor of gay marriage. As Martin Luther King Jr. liked to say, “the arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Rather than Supreme Court arbitration, it would be more salutary if the arc of history was bent toward justice locally on a state-by-state basis. This organic process would be more apt to change laws and minds.
Considering I’m not among those whose rights are being suppressed, perhaps it’s a bit presumptuous of me to call for what will undoubtedly be a longer and more trying route, but I think it would be best in the long run for the gay-rights movement.