For many gay Americans, together with their friends and families, the new law comes as a relief. No longer is the right to marry contingent on the makeup of the Supreme Court at any given time
will shortly sign the Respect for Marriage Act, closing a chapter that began when Jack Baker and Michael McConnell applied, unsuccessfully, for a marriage licence in Minnesota in 1970. . Even if the court strikes downWhen Mr Baker and Mr McConnell tried to marry half a century ago, they sought recognition that their relationship was as ordinary and as special as the 2m other marriages that happened in America that year. Now millions ofhave that recognition, too.
Liberal democracies must find messy compromises between conflicting principles in order to thrive. The new law falls short of what many advocates for gay marriage, including this publication, want. One question concerns the rights of same-sex couples who married in their own state, for example. But at least the new law banishes the worst possible outcome, in which the country returns to the situation that existed before.
The advance of gay marriage contains lessons for bringing about political change more generally in a system that was designed to slow it down. Americans may be persuaded to embrace change when it appears to be a mainstream, or even a conservative, choice to do so. Gay marriage used to seem weird. Then, slowly, Americans realised they had an uncle, aunt or cousin, whom they loved and wanted to be happy, who also happened to be gay.
This made things easier for people campaigning for gay marriage. But the campaigners were also astute. Rather than present gay rights as a revolutionary change they emphasised a commitment to institutions beloved of conservatives, asking for the right to marry and to serve in the armed forces without hiding their sexuality. Patriotic gay Americans who wanted to join America’s mainstream were persuasive.
In what other contentious areas could the same approach be tried? Perhaps campaigners for restricting gun ownership, or for doing more about climate change, could learn from those who pushed for gay marriage. Most promising of all is the campaign to end the death penalty. National public opinion has already shifted against executions in recent decades, just as ever more states have banned them . Both liberals and conservatives can make strong cases for being against the state taking a life.
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