With friends like the Supreme Court . . .

Gallup asks whether the gay rights movement can stand any more help from the Supreme Court.

Why has support for gay rights dropped so significantly in the space of just two months? There is no way of ascertaining the answer to this question directly, but it is clear that the major intervening gay rights issue occurring between the May poll and the current one was the June 26 Supreme Court decision that struck down an anti-sodomy law in Texas that had banned sex between two consenting adults of the same gender.

My guess is that this change in opinion is just a momentary blip, and that the support of gay rights will continue to increase. In any case, whether Lawrence has longer term effects or not, this is an interesting illustration of how complicated the relationship between law and society is. It is also more support for my view that we all would have been better off, those who support gay rights and those who do not, if we'd decide gay rights issues ourselves, rather than have the Court decide them for us.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:28 AM