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Even though gay marriage is legal now in the U.S., can it be made illegal again?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by SubZero, Jul 5, 2015.

  1. SubZero

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    Although I'm very happy that the Supreme Court in the U.S. made same-sex marriage legal nationwide, I still wonder and get nervous of the possibility that it will again be made illegal, since there's still some people (mostly from the republican and Conservative parties) that wants it abolished. Is there anything these parties can do to take marriage away from same-sex couples? Or if they can't take it away completely, what's the most these candidates can do about gay marriage?

    I'm not into politics too much, which is why I'm asking this. Which brings me to my next question: is a democratic or republican president more likely for the 2016 election? I just HOPE we don't get a republican who opposes gay marriage and tries to take it away from gay couples...
     
  2. Andrew99

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    I don't think so. When the Supreme Court ruled this is was a once and for all deal. Although there are still some states that might be difficult about it I don't think it could ever be rebanned. States | Freedom to Marry
     
  3. SubZero

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    I've heard stories from states in the south that are trying they're best to not follow the supreme courts' ruling. Like you said, I hope it never comes down to re-banning it again.
     
  4. MetalRice

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    The only way that the ruling could be overturned at this point is if a constitutional amendment is passed; through those in certain states can certainly try making it hell for any same-sex couples to get married as long as they don't outright ban it.
     
  5. BMC77

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    A Constitutional amendment could ban marriage equality. That said, it doesn't seem too likely. It would need a 2/3 majority in Congress to get the Amendment out the door for ratification, and 3/4 majority approval by the states.

    More sinister, though, if there is Republican control of the Senate and the White House in 2017, and there is a need to replace a liberal justice on the Supreme Court, another conservative would get appointed. At that point, marriage equality might end up back in the Supreme Court, and defeated at that time.
     
  6. DrinkBudweiser

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    It's not that it can't happen, it's that it won't.

    If our next President is one who opposes it, he doesn't have the power to just say "no gay marriage." It would take a Constitutional Amendment. Which goes through the states (more states are for gay marriage than against) and it'd need 2/3rd majority in Congress. Not going to happen.

    On top of that, there would be a fucking uproar in America if this happened. You think people are upset about it because you see 1 in every 50 Facebook post against it or because you see some article about how folks in Texas are pissed... Let it get banned, this country would go nuts.
     
  7. 741852963

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    Don't worry, that will never happen, at least not in your lifetime. Two reasons:

    1. There would have to be some sort of challenge or question to either a. The Supreme Court's decisioning, or b. The Supreme Courts mandate to make such a decision. Either way it would be a logistical nightmare for a government to try to make such a move, and it is unlikely a future Supreme court could reverse something so major.
    2. Support for gay people in America is now at a majority according to polls and rising*. I cannot see of anything that will make this support reverse - it is not as if the nature of homosexuality will change in future years. If a person supports homosexuals now, they will in the future. They will also likely pass such support down to future generations.

    Personally I think this is down to two key things: 1. technology facilitating better activism, connection and awareness of gay people (gay people are no longer a hidden "other"), and 2. a decline in conservative religion (arguably brought on through our modern "enlightenment" of science, culture and technology).

    Again I cannot see us slipping into a technological dark age, or conservative religion becoming massively popular in the future so I doubt this support will wane. Even if we had a doomsday situation and lost the internet/electricity a. people would have bigger fish to fry than gay bashing, and b. gay people would still be out and visible.
     
  8. QueerTransEnby

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    Overturning it would be political suicide for the next president.
     
  9. 741852963

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    This.
     
  10. AAASAS

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    Can;t states override federal law anyway? I'm sure making it illegal will be brought up again, but it will never follow through again.

    Not all of Canada supported same-sex marriage when it was legalized, but people got used to it after a while.
     
  11. Christiaan

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    You can count on the Republicans to do one of two things:

    1) They might self-destructively attempt to overturn gay marriage in the US, leading them to a bit of a political drought and giving actual human beings a break from them.

    2) They might also attempt to convince everyone that gay marriage was somehow their own idea, which is more likely.
     
  12. Well, the only way to nullify the court ruling is to ratify the Federal Marriage Amendment. It failed to pass in our Congress in the mid-2000s with the required 2/3rds vote in both chambers.

    Even if it passes with the required 2/3rds vote in both chambers, I highly doubt that enough states will ratify it.
     
  13. pinkpanther

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    Theoretically they can, practically it would take a lot more effort to overturn it than to do nothing considering how insignificant this is.
     
  14. Chip

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    The Republicans make a lot of noise about any sort of change, and they also have a long and distinguished history of being on the wrong side of virtually every social progress step taken in the past 150 years.

    My guess is that they will piss, moan, complain, threaten... and won't do much of anything.

    Now... if they did manage to win the presidency in 2016 and continue their long history of appointing bigots and assholes to the Supremes... then they could do some serious damage. But even then, the Supremes would have to go against their own well-established policy of not reconsidering issues that have already been settled. Not that they haven't done this, but in theory, they aren't supposed to.
     
  15. MetalRice

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    To be fair to the GOP, they were on the right side until about the 1940's.
     
  16. PerfectlyNormal

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    Yeah, next Civil war.
     
  17. EpicConfusion

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    I think there is a possibility. The republicans will fight for it relentlessly. We have some horribly homophobic Republican candidates this time around.
     
  18. ToneDef

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    No, I don't believe so. This is something that most people have been waiting for, regardless of sexuality. This is a Pandora's Box type deal. Once that can of worms is opened, there's no closing it. Just my opinion, though.
     
  19. Pret Allez

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    The forces of evil never stop.

    We must make sure to curb stomp them all the time, behold their bloody faces, and keep going.

    If we think that the world will magically shit lilacs and rainbows, that's absolutely not going to happen. Nothing good that ever came along came without, in many cases, the violent resistance of evil.
     
  20. Suspector

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    If anyone is against it, they shouldn't be allowed any form of political power honestly