Will Louisiana’s Gay Marriage Ban Have A Domino Effect?

“Louisiana’s gay marriage ban upheld by a federal court” is an odd thing to see in a headline nowadays. After all, 26 other states have had similar gay marriage bans struck down in the last year, among them conservative bastions like Utah. So how does a state like Louisiana ban gay marriage in modern times that are running in the opposite direction?

The simple way to explain Louisiana’s gay marriage ban is to pass the blame on to Republican-appointed judges. It’s a pretty rare event to see a Democrat speaking out against gay marriage these days, and U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman, who upheld the ban, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan. His final opinion rested on traditionally used talking points against same sex marriage, previously reported The Inquisitr.

“[Louisiana has a] legitimate interest… whether obsolete in the opinion of some, or not, in the opinion of others… in linking children to an intact family formed by their two biological parents.”

However, it’s becoming increasingly difficult these days to make such rash generalizations about same sex marriage support based on party lines. Judge Richard Posner, another federal U.S. judge, struck down similar bans against same sex marriage in Indiana and Wisconsin on Tuesday, but Posner himself was also appointed by Reagan, and his closing remarks on the case are anything but centrist, reported The Daily Beast.

“The only rationale that the states put forth with any conviction—that same-sex couples and their children don’t need marriage because same-sex couples can’t produce children, intended or unintended—is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously.”

Of course, it’s problematic to say that being in the center is to treat Louisiana’s gay marriage ban as something normal. Gallup’s most recent poll asking about gay marriage support showed that only 42 percent of United States citizens are now against gay marriage — a number that is smaller than the percent of people who voted for Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential elections.

However, among conservatives the numbers have stayed stubbornly above 50 percent. For ultra-conservatives, they even exceed 60 percent, according to poll numbers run in a recent Washington Post editorial which asked whether or not the 2016 GOP candidate could potentially be against events like Louisiana’s gay marriage ban being upheld.

With a changing face of what it means to be conservative or liberal in regards to same sex marriage, Louisiana’s gay marriage ban could be one of the final markers on the road to a future where even the most conservative of Republicans have a supermajority of pro-gay members. Rulings in the Supreme Court in the next year or so will decide how gay couples will be affected in the meantime.

[Image via Box Turtle Bulletin]