Originally Posted by roachboy

while i agree with that in principle, will, fact is that the transformation of this from an ethical to a political to a properly legal issue is contingent on sustained pressure from outside the system. so if it happens that provisionally this is a state-level issue, so be it: but the fact is that inconsistencies in state law concerning whether equality of treatment extends to people who happen to be gay and who want to benefit from the legal and financial benefits of marriage amounts to a type of pressure. what i'm not ok with is the relegation of this to the level of state in principle, as if the state level is the end itself---i think this should be and eventually will be a federal legal question. with any luck, that'll happen in the context of a non-far right wing presidential administration which is no beholden to the flintstone religious right for political support.