MARRIAGE EQUALITY NATIONWIDE

[TheRealJoeFish]

For those who generally think Supreme Court Opinions are TL;DR, here's my summary of the majority opinion, given as I read the intro:

1. Petitioners seek not to demean marriage; in fact, they seek it for themselves because they respect it and its privileges.
2. Marriage has been changing forever, what with arranged marriages declining, the law of coverture (a wife's legal rights being merged into her husband's) being abolished, etc.
3. Same-sex relationships have become more and more public.
4. The 14th Amendment's Due Process clause requires states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because:
4a. Due Process Fundamental Liberties extend to personal choices central to individual dignity and autonomy.
4b. The right to marry is protected by the Constitution, and the SCOTUS has said so many times (can't deny interracial marriage, can't keep prisoners from marrying, etc.)
5. There are four principles/traditions applied here:
5a. The Constitution protects the right to make intimate personal decisions, and there are few more intimate/personal than who you want to marry. This is similar to Loving v. Virginia (legalizing interracial marriage).
5b. The right to marriage is fundamental because it supports a two-person union; same-sex couples have the same right to enjoy intimate association as opposite-sex couples (and a mere assurance that you won't get arrested for gay sex isn't good enough).
5c. The right to marry protects children and families. Children are stigmatized by the government's refusal to acknowledge their parents' unity, and marriage confers economic benefits; thus, children and families of gay couples don't have equal rights without the possibility of marriage.
5d. States have linked benefits to marriage, ensuring it is a keystone of social order. It is demeaning to lock same-sex couples out of a central institution of this nation's society.
6. The 14th Amendment's Equal Protection clause ALSO mandates the requirement.
7. Opponents call for time to wait and see, but this topic has been at the very forefront of our nation's consciousness for a while, and that really doesn't matter when a class of people is harmed by the denial of a fundamental right.