New York just democratically enacted gay marriage, the first large state to do so. This is likely the tip of the iceberg and further indication that gay marriage nationwide is only a matter of time. It looks again like the Religious Right has utterly failed in their goals, just like on abortion (we tend to have more liberal abortion laws than Europe, where there is very little controversy over abortion rights).
If they'd been willing to accept Civil Unions in the early 2000s, that may have led to a compromise position. It probably wouldn't have lasted long-term, both because of the pace of societal evolution and because of our countries unique experience with "separate but equal" schemes, at least not unless a constitutional amendment were passed banning gay marriage and establishing nationwide civil unions in one go. It's too late for any compromise now, though. They turned it into a Holy War and lost.
The net result of the Holy Culture Wars is electing Republican presidents who then (fortunately) do uncommonly close to nothing on the Culture Wars issues (only enough to save face and get the polarized liberal groups to condemn them as neanderthals), but do manage to give enormous tax breaks to the rich, make things much cozier for corporations, and make the US more belligerent. Funny how that works out. Nothing will change, though. The Religious Right won't accept defeat or acknowlege that society is moving past them.
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