Much to our disdain, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld laws that ban same-sex marriage in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee in a 2-1 decision Thursday.
Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote in the Cincinnati-based decision, “Through a mixture of common law decisions, statutes and constitutional provisions, each State in the Sixth Circuit has long adhered to the traditional definition of marriage. Sixteen gay and lesbian couples claim this definition violates their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment,” per our reporting from Thursday.
Having “long-adhered to the traditional definition of marriage” within those four states isn’t much of an argument for why these laws shouldn’t be changed. For starters, it wasn’t that long ago when the majority of Americans were opposed to same-sex marriage, yet in recent years, that trend has flipped.
54 percent of Americans are in favor of allowing same-sex marriage, whereas just 39 percent are against the idea, according to a Pew Research Center poll from February of this year, a stark contrast from the 65 percent opposition when the poll was conducted in 1996.
Americans, for the most part, support same-sex marriage. Those representing our interests should be cognizant of how much the American opinion has changed on same-sex marriage, not making statements about how things have always been.
Ohio is a state that tends to be representative of the nation, as we wrote in an editorial on having a ballot initiative for same-sex marriage this fall in February. Since Ohio passed a 2004 amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage, about 20 states have made it legal.
Ohio, and the 6th District as a whole, should have been more attuned with the ideals of its constituency. Clearly, in this instance, they were not, and it is increasingly troubling to see such a diverse state and region continue to deny rights to a significant portion of its citizens.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.
