Legal challenges expected to accelerate
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

Within weeks if not days of the first same-sex weddings Monday in Massachusetts, the battle over gay marriage is expected to accelerate across the country as gay and lesbian couples file lawsuits seeking to topple barriers to such marriages in their states.

Legal scholars predict that couples who get marriage licenses will soon bring suits seeking legal recognition of their marriages in other states or benefits under federal law that married heterosexuals are eligible for in Massachusetts.

Ultimately, the challenges may target the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, which reserves marriage to heterosexual couples, or some 40 state laws modeled on that statute.

"If the licenses start being issued on Monday, I would be surprised if some lawsuit somewhere has not been filed by Friday," said Andrew Koppelman, a professor of law and political science at Northwestern University School of Law and author of "The Gay Rights Question in Contemporary American Law."



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Amendment to ban gay marriage hits opposition
By Rebecca Walsh
The Salt Lake Tribune

    On its face, Scott McCoy's task seems hopeless.
    The Salt Lake City attorney quit his job to manage a grass-roots campaign to defeat a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on ballots in November. In family-values Utah, the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the effort appears futile.
    But maybe not. Utah lawmakers hoped to galvanize conservative voters by putting the amendment on the ballot. Instead, they might have helped organize the opposition.