Although there are hundreds of double binds embedded in the issue of gay marriage, the Massachusetts ruling that same-sex couples couldn’t be denied marriage under their constitution is one of the most significant happenings in the struggle for gay rights. In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that a state law banning gay marriage would be a violation of the state’s constitution, which is the oldest state constitution of our nation. Although this decision had its positive and negative effects (few of which are relevant to Antigone’s tragic tale), the members of the Massachusetts Supreme Court were stuck in a serious double bind.
The justices needed to decide where their loyalties fell, just as Antigone was forced to do many moons ago in Thebes. Would they serve their constituents desperate for equal rights? Would they show loyalty to their fearless leader who had been vigorously working to ban same-sex marriage? Or, would they be loyal to their constitution, and be as objective to the issue as humanely possible (as the job description implies)? Seeing as how the ruling was 4-3, it is highly evident that these justices handled this double bind is different ways. Unfortunately, Antigone did not have this option.
Another way in which this court decision relates to this Greek tragedy is the fact that it had its fair share of repercussions. For instance, while this decision didn’t actually allow same-sex marriage, it did lead to a push for gay rights, which eventually back-fired miserably, just as Antigone’s decision had. A year after Massachusetts’s decision, the mayor of San Francisco decided not only to agree with the Mass Supreme Court, but to make a further statement (as Haimon did), and allowed a long series of gay marriage ceremonies in city hall. Not only was every marriage undone by California’s State Supreme Court, but this outraged other states enough that some of them immediately passed laws banning gay marriage. Thanks to this bold statement, sixteen states have now banned same-sex marriage. It also caused a surge in lobbying for other states to join in and preserve the “sanctity of marriage”. Whoops!
The State Supreme Court members who originally deemed the ban unconstitutional unintentionally hung a wedding veil around the neck of gay rights. Because of their vote, several events took place that led to the prevention of several happy, legal marriages, just as Antigone had prevented her own.