When Americans Change Their Minds

It is only a matter of days or even hours.

The U.S. Supreme Court must, most probably today, make a decision that will have an important impact on the legalization of same-sex marriage in the Unites States. Indeed, America’s highest court must decide how to acknowledge Proposition 8, California’s 2008 referendum which resulted in a ban on gay marriage across the state, despite it having been legalized six months earlier.

The court must also look into the constitutional validity of the federal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman — the Defense of Marriage Act, adopted by Bill Clinton in 1996 — which prevents legally married same-sex couples from accessing certain social benefits.

These decisions, if made in favor of gay-rights supporters, will obviously not mean that same-sex marriage becomes legal across every state. However, whatever the decision of the court and its consequent outcome may be, we can see that the idea of legalizing gay marriage is taking shape in the U.S.

Since the president’s official statement on the recognition of same-sex marriage in May 2012, popular support has been growing at an almost unprecedented rate, as recently noted by the independent research institute Pew Research Center. From 38 percent in 2008, the proportion of Americans supporting gay marriage has risen to over 50 percent.

Today 12 states and the District of Columbia have legalized same-sex marriage, six of which did so over the last year. Eight other states have legalized civil unions or other forms of recognition for same-sex couples.

Only last week, two events marked a complete turn-around in the American debate. Exodus International, a religious group devoted to “curing homosexuals,” has changed its tune after over 35 years of distributing useless therapies and prayers. Their president has publicly apologized for the “pain and suffering” endured by the gays who believed in its methods.

There is yet another startling piece of news. A Republican senator from Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, has become the third senator from her party to publicly support same-sex marriage. In her public statement, Murkowski highlighted the conservative values of her position on the matter: defense of individual freedom — in a government perceived as already being too intrusive — and the promotion of family values — unity within gay families is threatened when the couple’s relationship is not recognized.

In the statement to her fellow citizens, Murkowski explained that she had quite simply changed her mind on same-sex marriage. That’s all there was to it, as is the case for a good number of Americans. Let’s just hope that the Supreme Court has taken this into account in its deliberations.