ATLANTA – The gay marriage movement suffered two major defeats on the state level Thursday, as Georgia’s Supreme Court upheld an amendment banning gay unions, and New York ruled that its state constitution does not grant same-sex couples the right to wed.
Gay marriage advocates found some solace in the ruling in New York, a state where gay marriage is currently unlawful, because it gave legislators the option of approving a same-sex marriage law in the future.
But taken together, the rulings represent a legal “valley” for the gay rights cause, especially compared to the peak of three years ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down anti-sodomy laws and Massachusetts upheld what has become the nation’s only statewide gay marriage law, said David Buckel, the marriage project director for the gay-rights group Lambda Legal.
To opponents of gay marriage, Thursday’s rulings show that they are gaining the upper hand in a patchwork of state-by-state battles. The victories were especially welcome after the U.S. Senate’s failure last month to approve a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages nationwide.
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