The Gay Thing: Gay Marriage Comes to Kansas; Ban Struck Down in South Carolina

When the 6th Circuit Court (Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee) decided to uphold the bans on same-sex marriage in their jurisdiction, anti-gay forces got a rare boost. Except for two or three outlier decisions in the last two years, marriage equality has racked up dozens of wins, culminating with four Circuit Courts ruling in their favor, and the Supreme Court electing to leave it that way. Then came the 6th. While many, if not most of the court watchers on both sides figured a Circuit split would happen, it didn't stop the sting on one side and the jubilation on the other.

Image from source, Yahoo!

But it turns out, the 6th hasn't changed things in other marriage equality cases. Gay couples can now marry in Kansas. And in South Carolina--barring an extraordinary occurrence--will have it soon. We are soon to be left with the Deep South (which somehow has spread upward all the way past Ohio to Michigan), the Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska and Texas. And some of those could topple at any time.

The smart money is on the Supreme Court taking the 6th Circuit cases (though some say they'll send it back to an en banc review), with some sort of decision by the end of June, 2015. Meanwhile, some of these individual states will go into the "win" column, and at least one other Circuit could rule, probably siding with the 6th. But by the time that happens, the Supremes may very well have ruled. Just about everyone I've read seems to think our chances are good at SCOTUS, though not assured. With over 2/3 of the states now experience marriage equality, it is difficult to imagine that SCOTUS will shut it down. Especially since it was their actions that gave us a large chunk of those states.

[Excerpt]

Gay marriage advocates get victories in Kansas, South Carolina
 
Gay marriage advocates won another two victories on Wednesday as the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Kansas to become the 33rd U.S. state where same-sex couples can wed and a federal judge struck down South Carolina's ban. . .

Read more at: Yahoo! News