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Marriage Equality And A Lawyer's Role In The Emergence Of "New" Rights, Daniel J. Canon

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

The last few decades have seen a dramatic change in the way in which Americans view LGBT rights, and the right to same-sex marriage in particular. In 1972, the Supreme Court issued its first opinion on same-sex marriage. In sharp contrast with Obergefell v. Hodges, which established the constitutional right to marriage equality in 2015, the case of Baker v. Nelson held in one sentence that the idea that such a right might exist was not even worth discussing. What happened in the intervening forty years to change the outcome so profoundly? And how can attorneys seek to replicate …