EDITORIAL: Embracing Marriage Equality

ON AUGUST 6, five of the 92 federal and state cases currently pending in 33 states, related to state law prohibitions on same-sex marriage will hang in the balance in a Cincinnati courtroom. Each side will have 15 minutes to argue their cases. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled a hearing date in the DeBoer v Snyder case, Michigan’s same-sex marriage case, along with four other same-sex marriage cases pending in Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. All are scheduled to be heard on the same day.

No one can know how the three judge panel will ultimately find in the cases. Both sides have two remaining possibilities for appeal. There is the option of asking the members of the 6th Circuit Court to hear the case en banc (the 14 judges will hear the case) or an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Michigan’s Republican Governor, on the one hand, proposed adding sexual preference to the state’s Eliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. On the other hand, he continues to pursue a legal appeal which denies the state’s gay residents the right to marry. The Washington Post has called Gov. Snyder the country’s “most unusual Republican.” We urge him to take hold of that mantle and end Michigan’s fight against marriage equality. It makes social, political and economic sense to lead on this issue rather than be dragged along kicking and litigating.