Less than a decade after the state voted to enact a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, a recent study shows a major change in Wisconsinites’ attitudes toward gay and lesbian couples and their civil rights.
In contrast to the 59 percent of voters who cast ballots in favor of invalidating same-sex marriages in 2006, a study funded by Fair Wisconsin found that today, 51 percent of Wisconsinites support allowing same-sex couples to marry.
[See Badger Herald website for full article.]
Chris Ahmuty, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, said marriage equality for same-sex couples in America is not far off and state advocacy groups like ACLU are pushing the fight forward in the courts.
ACLU helped bring about a ruling in United States vs. Windsor, a Supreme Court case where the federal interpretation of “marriage” and “spouse,” which included only heterosexual couples, was ruled unconstitutional.
ACLU Wisconsin is currently working to bring a lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down Wisconsin’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional on the basis of equal protection under the law, a path Ahmuty said has proven successful for states such as Oklahoma and Utah.
“There is no reason to have these bans in place, particularly since marriage is a fundamental right,” Ahmuty said. “There is a lot going on around the country and a lot going on in Wisconsin, and I think that it is in large part because the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Windsor case recognized a new understanding for same-sex marriage couples and how it impacts real people and real families.”