The democratic triumph of gay marriage

Opponents of same-sex marriage lost this battle democratically, and they lost it in a rout

Supreme Court Gay Marriage
(Image credit: David McNew/Getty Images)

From Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's blistering dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges through a thousand angry tweets from the right-wing commentariat, you're going to hear a lot in the coming hours and days about the End of Democracy in America. A narrow majority of tyrants in black robes has usurped the Will of the People! It's Roe v. Wade all over again — unelected despots overturning popularly enacted law! Leviathan is upon us!

Don't believe it for a second. Last month, Gallup published a poll confirming what a hundred polls before it have made clear: Same-sex marriage, now supported by 60 percent of Americans, has swept the nation. Sixty percent isn't even close. And the shift in favor of gay marriage is so rapid that the number will likely reach supermajority levels (above two-thirds) within the next few years.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.