05-03-2009, 02:51 PM
Oink, you are correct that the case was about applying a race standard to marriage. The court's ruling was that race requirements are illegal under law. But that was the outcome of that case because that was what that case trigger was about. However, Supreme Court rulings are seldom about a very specific item, they are about the full interpretation of the law. The case essentially was if a prohibition on a marriage was legal or illegal where the key item was a protected class item. The courts said absolutely no. Substitute any other protected class and the ruling would still be the same.
The main issue with same sex unions is because unlike most other issues, this one has deep seated religious, cultural, the sex act itself, and political baggage attached. Those items will have to be worked through and discarded if not founded in law so the ultimate question of same sex unions can be addresses. But since this is in it's infant stages, it may be another decade or two before the final word is written.