In a predictable way, Indiana was thrown into the national marriage debate again Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Richard Young ruled the state’s ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. Given recent court rulings on similar cases in other states, that was not surprising.
The reaction was not surprising, either, based on what has happened in other states. In some communities, same-sex couples flocked to courthouses for marriage licenses and spur-of-the-moment weddings. In other communities, it was business as usual. In Lawrence County, no marriage licenses were issued Wednesday to same-sex couples, according to Myron Rainey, county clerk.
Meanwhile, the state moved swiftly to halt the new marriages. It asked for a stay of the judge’s decision, arguing that it was “premature to require Indiana to change its definition of marriage” while it appeals the ruling. Young is expected to rule on the state’s request in about a week.
Given the legal tangle, officials sought guidance from the Indiana Attorney General’s office. And that word came down late Wednesday. The state instructed the five counties named in the lawsuits to comply with Young’s order or face contempt of court. It urged the other 87 counties — Lawrence among them — to “show respect for the judge and the orders that are issued.”
People who have been watching this issue develop across the nation could have predicted all of this.
Also expected were the reactions of people on all sides of this issue.
“These couples, when gender and sexual orientation are taken away, are in all respects like the family down the street. The Constitution demands that we treat them as such,” Young wrote in his ruling.
“The reason things are changing is because we’re out, and because people are getting to know us because we’re out there and we have normal lives and normal families,” Melody Layne, a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits challenging Indiana’s ban, told The Associated Press. Layne married her partner, Tara Betterman, in New York, and they have a daughter.
On the other side are those who stand firm for a traditional view of marriage — one man and one woman, as the state has defined it.
“Regardless of what any judge says, marriage is about uniting men and women together for the best interests of children and society,” American Family Association of Indiana Executive Director Micah Clark said in a statement. “Men and women are uniquely and individually important. They are not interchangeable or discardable.”
People watching this issue could have predicted what the map of the United States now looks like — a patchwork quilt, with some states banning same-sex marriage, some welcoming it and some being ordered to allow it.
The road is obviously leading to where many believe it should: the U.S. Supreme Court. Last year, the Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Since then, 16 federal judges have issued rulings siding with gay marriage advocates. Many of those decisions are being appealed.
Americans have strong, and split, opinions about the morality or immorality of same-sex marriages. We do not expect any court ruling to change people’s minds in that regard. But legal clarity will have to be provided by the nation’s highest court.