[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Looking at it just from a legal standpoint, I think that this is a very valid question to raise. Generally speaking, the legal analysis doesn't turn on whether a group is oppresed or not; it's been turning on how the equal protection clauses of state constitutions have been interpreted and applied.

Under equal protection clauses, generally speaking, all citizens are entitled to have the law applied to them in an equal manner. The state cannot apply the law differently to different people (or classes of people) unless it has a sufficient reason (based on neutral rather than discriminatory intent) for treating people differently. In the case of certain groups ("suspect classes" is the term of art), such as racial or religious minorities, the state has a much higher burden -- it has to show not only that it has a very important interest at stake, but also that it has chosen the least-restrictive means it could to meet that interest.

So, for gay marriage, the argument goes like this: the state issues marriage licenses and recognizes the marriages of heterosexual couples. The state does not have a sufficiently important interest in limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. Because the state does not have a sufficiently important reason for so doing, the equal protection provision of the state constitution forbids the state from limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples and requires the state to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples.

If a state court agrees with that argument, it is not a long trip to the next lawsuit: the state issues marriage licenses and recognizes the marriages of two people. The state does not have a sufficiently important interest in limiting marriage to only couples. Because the state does not have a sufficiently important reason for so doing, the equal protection provision of the state constitution forbids the state from limiting marriage to couples and requires the state to recognize marriages between three (or more) people.

The last argument might not win. But I have no doubt it will be brought in a court somewhere.

Thanks for clarifying. The legal standpoint is what I meant by the abstract "what constitutes 'rights'" level.