High Court Listens Again

WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, who opted in October not to take up the issue of state bans on gay marriage, are set to meet behind closed doors on Friday to consider once again whether to hear any cases on the contentious issue.

The court has five cases pending concerning same-sex marriage prohibitions in Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, Kentucky and Louisiana.

The legal issue is whether the state bans violate the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. An announcement could be made as soon as Friday after the justices meet as part of their customary private deliberations over which new cases to hear.

As recently as October, the court decided not to intervene in the gay marriage issue when seven separate cases were pending. That decision not to hear the cases had huge legal implications because it meant that gay marriage went ahead in five states and paved the way for it to begin in several others.

Prior to the court's action in October, gay marriage was legal in just 19 of the 50 U.S. states. Now it is legal in 36.

If the court agrees to take one or more of the cases, it would have another chance to rule on when, if ever, gay men and women in the 14 states that now bar them from marrying could get marriage licenses. The cases likely would be argued before the justices in the spring with a ruling due by the end of June.

A Nov. 6 decision by the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold marriage restrictions in four states may increase pressure on the Supreme Court to take up the matter.

It was the first of the nation's regional federal appeals courts to uphold gay marriage prohibitions after a wave of other rulings declaring the bans unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court is divided on gay rights.

In 2013, it struck down in a 5-4 ruling a federal law that denied benefits to same-sex couples. That and every other gay rights decision in recent years has been written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who often casts the deciding vote in close cases. It is not known how he would rule on gay marriage but he does have a history of backing gay rights.

Catholic Influence Slipping on Gay Marriage Fight

by Laura Heffner

Frank Ferri, Rhode Island state representative, led the fight to legalize gay marrriage in one of the nation's most Catholic states and won.  Recently, Rhode Island became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage.  Ferri is an openly gay and Catholic man who is active in his church's choir and has struggled with the Catholic stand on homosexuality.  He says that one day he received a message from God telling it that it would be okay, he should be who he is.

Recent polls show that many people believe that the Catholic church's views are outdated and many believe that the desire to cling to traditional beliefs is causing the church to lose its influence especially in the arena of gay marriage.  A poll in February showed that 78% of Catholics would follow their own conscience rather than the teachings of the church in certain tough moral issues showing again where the church is losing it's hold on its parishioners.

While Pope Francis was a bishop in Argentina, he took a stand for civil unions for gay couples though he has not taken this stand as Pope as of yet.  The Church has used almost guerrilla tactics to sway the vote of it's Catholic law makers including refusing to allow them to participate in communion if they were to vote against the Church laws.  Slowly; however, the threats and use of their considerable wealth appears to be losing hold in many Catholic's lives especially on the subject of same-sex marriage.

This is strictly my opinion but I always wonder about God's love in situations such as this. Love thy neighbor as thyself....