A Massachusetts court starts a national debate that poses problems for both the Republicans and the Democrats:


"ON NOVEMBER 18th, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ensured that gay marriage would be a galvanising issue in the 2004 election. By a four-to-three majority, the court ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage violates the state's constitution. “The right to marry means little,” the court declared, “if it does not include the right to marry the person of one's choice.”

Gay-rights groups described the decision as a “landmark”. Conservatives were furious. “We must amend the [federal] constitution,” announced Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, “if we are to stop a tyrannical judiciary from redefining marriage to the point of extinction.”

The ruling was a significant advance on the most liberal regime so far. In 1999, the high court in another north-eastern state, Vermont, decided that same-sex couples were entitled to marriage-like benefits and protections, but it did not require them to be eligible for marriage licences, thus paving the way for the state's famed “civil unions” which the then governor, Howard Dean, signed into law in 2000. "