In the past, the struggle over gay rights and gay marriage has taken place on legal and religious grounds. Does the federal Constitution or a state constitution guarantee equal rights to individuals, whatever their sexual conduct may be? Do the religious convictions of some demand that only a man and a woman are entitled to marriage? Today, these issues are not the only ones. A new force—economics—has entered the debate and urges equality for all.
The national trend toward gender equality is unmistakable. The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down Section 3 of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as a union between one woman and one man and barred the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. The Supreme Court, per Justice Anthony Kennedy, required the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in the then-12 states that approved of those unions. Since then, courts from Kentucky to Texas have been striking down anti-marriage laws on state or federal constitutional grounds. Some of those cases remain on appeal.
