Marriage equality at last (Image: Alex Potemkin / Alamy)
Marriage for all, no gay gene required. For same-sex couples in the US, 26 June was a landmark date: the Supreme Court legalised marriage between two men or two women in all 50 states.
鈥淸Same-sex couples] ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law,鈥� wrote Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy in the decision. 鈥淭he Constitution grants them that right.鈥�
Advertisement
But one thing the decision didn鈥檛 do was declare sexual orientation a 鈥渟uspect class鈥� under the law, which would have given it the same protection as race. One of the criteria for this classification is that the trait must be immutable 鈥� an argument that the gay rights movement has internalised under the banner of 鈥渨e鈥檙e born this way鈥�.
But although there is some evidence that sexual orientation has a genetic component, most scientists agree that it鈥檚 not that simple. 鈥淭here鈥檚 significant consensus in the scientific community that there鈥檚 enough different interacting causes for sexual orientation that two different individuals can be gay for different combinations of reasons,鈥� says at the University of Utah.
鈥淚 think all the evidence suggests that we鈥檙e born with an underlying capacity and then that capacity interacts with a whole bunch of other influences,鈥� she says 鈥� whether they be prenatal, genetic or environmental.
She would rather activists win these battles based on a truer understanding of the science. 鈥淚t shows we don鈥檛 need to be considered a protected class in order to make strong and successful arguments about civil rights,鈥� she says.
Open to discrimination
But not being a suspect class could leave gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people open to legal discrimination .
鈥淭he decision is very powerful, but doesn鈥檛 explicitly discuss what standard will be applied in cases of discrimination due to sexual orientation,鈥� says LGBT law scholar Susan Hazeldean at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
鈥淓mployment discrimination is still something that鈥檚 decided state to state,鈥� says LGBT lawyer Angela D. Giampolo in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 鈥淚n Pennsylvania, we鈥檝e had gay marriage for a year, now we know it won鈥檛 be overturned. But I can still be fired for being gay. That will be the next set of cases.鈥�
Hazeldean thinks the marriage ruling is still an important first step. 鈥淚 think this court decision will bolster efforts to protect LGBT people in other areas that are important, even though it doesn鈥檛 directly concern protection from employment discrimination or access to healthcare,鈥� she says.
鈥淚 think it will have ramifications in those areas and be important in advancing those causes as well.鈥�