It's been a roller-coaster summer for same-sex couples wanting to get married. Couples were married in Massachusetts, some of them from out of state in defiance of the governor's threat to void their marriages by applying a 1913 law.
      North Carolina's legislature adjourned in July without passing a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage - a victory for supporters of marriage equality.
Missouri voters, on the other hand, in August passed a state amendment barring same-sex marriage by a more than two-to-one margin.
     Then came the ruling in Washing-ton by a lower court saying that the state's exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage violates the state's constitution. The language of the ruling went beyond legalese in honoring the plaintiff couples as exemplary citizens who should not be excluded by the state from any of its rights and benefits. Celebrations were muted in recognition of an upcoming review by the state’s Supreme Court.
      Finally, just before press time, California's Supreme Court voided the 3,995 marriages between partners of the same gender performed at the direction of Mayor Gavin Newsome in San Francisco last February and March. The first same-gender marriage there was performed for long-time activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon just two days before their 50th anniversary.
      "Del is 83 years old and I am 79," said Phyllis Lyon. "After being together for more than 50 years, it is a terrible blow to have the rights and protections of marriage taken away from us. At our age, we do not have the luxury of time." One consequence of the Court's action is that if one of these two women were to die before the other, the surviving partner would have no right to social security or pension benefits.
      The issue of whether excluding same-sex couples from marriage is against the state's constitution was not resolved in that ruling. The court considered only whether the mayor of San Francisco had the authority to defy a state law to issue the licenses. Lawsuits challenging the state's stand on marriage are currently in Superior Court.
      Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force chairwoman Sherry Corbin said, "I'm not happy about Missouri, but we've recognized that these setbacks will happen. The country as a whole is continuing to see loving same-sex families married in Massachusetts without negative effect on anyone else. Nothing is cut in stone - it can always be changed."
      Corbin suggested that the right wing's anti-gay campaign will backfire as more and more Americans - gay and straight - say to themselves, "'This is wrong. I'm going to make my views known.' Which means we've got to register to vote and get absentee ballots and use them."
     In the final analysis, she added, "Marriage is between the two partners. It doesn't affect anyone but the individuals."
      "Those thousands of committed couples didn't sit for hours in the rain for nothing," declared Beth Robinson, one of the attorneys in Vermont's marriage lawsuit that resulted in the political compromise of civil unions. "Their dedication to their commitments to each other - to their families - catalyzed the nascent freedom to marry movement across the country, and there's no turning back."