On October 5^th the Supreme Court declined to review many petitions on same-sex marriage. In other words, the laws that banned same-sex marriage have been repealed. As a result same-sex marriage is now legal in Indiana, Wisconsin, Virginia, Oklahoma, and Utah. This increases the number of states with marriage equality to twenty-eight, making opposition to marriage-equality the minority in the U.S. To many though this came as a shock seeing that many of these states are considered conservative. To some members of the community this implies a step away from same-sex marriage as a religious issue and toward a civil rights issue.

At a GSA meeting (Gay-Straight Alliance) the club was unanimously ecstatic with the recent events and thought that this was a major step in marriage equality in the United States.

Senior and Co-Chair of GSA David Mancione said, “I think same-sex marriage is becoming a more prevalent topic, mainly because people are coming to the realization that it’s an issue that transcends religion or beliefs, it’s a civil rights issue.”

GSA members see the process towards equal marriage rights as inspiring but slow. But they all agreed that slow is better than nothing and that the slowness might ease some states into the idea of same-sex marriage. Many members agreed that legalization should be decided in federal court rather than by states so that the whole country can be for marriage equality.  Since this issue is going to the Supreme Court many believe this is the right step in marriage equality.

Sophomore and Co-Chair, Victoria Graziosi, is an avid supporter of marriage equality.  “More and more states are starting to legalize same sex marriage because individuals are starting to realize how important it is. Same-sex marriage laws have caused debates across all states; this attention drawn to the rights of same-sex marriage has put a major spotlight on the topic and has caused more and more people to become aware of this controversy,” she said.