Photo: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images2013 AFP
Just ten minutes before Idaho was to start issuing same-sex marriage licenses following yesterday’s quotable ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy delayed the party. Kennedy alone ordered an immediate but temporary stay, putting the decision off for what’s likely to be just a few days. Gay-marriage opponents should enjoy the inequality while it lasts, because this is really happening.
“The lessons of our constitutional history are clear: Inclusion strengthens, rather than weakens, our most important institutions,” ruled the appeals court judge yesterday. “When same-sex couples are married, just as when opposite-sex couples are married, they serve as models of loving commitment to all.”
