Same-sex Marriage | featured news

The passage of the “marriage for all” law came after months of sometimes angry debate and a series of major protests.

We knew that the Human Right Campaign’s (HRC) red and pink logo in support of gay marriage had spread across the web at a record pace, but Facebook is now confirming that with some numbers. Facebook says that millions of people change their profile photos every day, but on Tuesday, March 26, the day the HRC asked gay marriage supporters to “paint the town red” with a new logo, 2.7 million more users changed their photo compared with the previous Tuesday. Profile photo uploads were up by 120 percent, it says. Facebook has more than a billion users.

The federal Defense of Marriage Act may be history in a matter of months, but same-sex couples won't be the financial winners, and the U.S. Treasury won't be the loser. Those are but some of the unexpected consequences that could emerge if the Supreme Court overturns the 1996 law, which appeared likely — though far from assured — following Wednesday's oral arguments.

What is at stake? The case concerns the part of the law that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman for purposes of federal benefits. Should the court strike it down, same-sex couples in the nine states that allow such unions, along with the District of Columbia, would start to receive federal benefits. Such a ruling would not require other states to allow same-sex marriage.

The Supreme Court began hearing a historic one-hour oral argument on marriage Tuesday which could lead to any one of a wide array of possible decisions -- from essentially leaving in place the traditional marriage laws now on the books in most states to proclaiming same-sex marriage a fundamental right under the United States Constitution.

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s announcement has put her in line with other potential Democratic presidential candidates on a social issue that is rapidly gaining public approval.

Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman is now supporting gay marriage and says his reversal on the issue began when he learned one of his sons is gay. Ohio's junior senator disclosed his change of heart in interviews with several Ohio newspapers and CNN. In an op-ed published Friday in The Columbus Dispatch, he said the decision came after a lot of thought.

Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy’s controversial comments on “biblical” marriage last summer and the uproar that followed didn’t dampen the Atlanta company’s annual sales. The fast food giant, the nation’s second-largest chicken chain, ended 2012 with $4.6 billion in sales — up 14 percent from $4.1 billion a year earlier. The company also opened 96 news stores, four more than the year before.

The U.S. Supreme Court did not address the California gay-marriage case on Monday morning. The next time they can consider it is on Friday.

Jubilant gay rights advocates called the results a historic turning point, a sign that public opinion is shifting in their direction.