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| Jim Derrick and Alfie Travassos get married in Salt Lake City. Same-sex marriage became immediately legal in five more states. Photograph: Jim Urquhart/Reuters |
THE GUARDIAN
In the end, the last word on the legalization of gay marriage in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia may not come with a sweeping and historic ruling from the supreme court. In fact, the last word may already have been written with Monday’s terse denial from the justices to hear any of the pending appeals from the states still defending their constitutional bans.
The result: in some of the most conservative states in the union, from Oklahoma to Utah, county clerks began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples eagerly lining up to take advantage of their unexpected new rights, even as Republican governors expressed impotent frustration at the outcome.
Same-sex marriage became immediately legal in Indiana, Oklahoma, Virginia, Wisconsin and Utah. Because the court’s decision lifted stays on circuit court rulings, it also created a path for six other states. In Colorado, a stay on the implementation of a ruling in favor of same-sex marriage automatically fell as a result of the supreme court decision, and in some counties there, marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples on Monday.
Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming could follow in the next few weeks or months because of the precedent set by the the circuit courts, whose rulings now stand because of the decision by the supreme court not to take up any of the appeals.
According to some estimates, as many as 60% of Americans now live in states where same-sex marriage is legal.