Judge not?
Same-sex marriage reaches the highest court for the first time. But the justices may rule only on a technicality
AS A young woman coming to terms with her sexuality in the 1980s, Laurette Healey began to “eliminate things” from her future. Marriage, domestic stability, the chance to form a lifelong bond with a partner; these rewards would all be available to most of her friends but they would not, she came to believe, be part of her life.
Today Ms Healey and her partner, Marcia Dávalos, live in a quiet Los Angeles neighbourhood under California’s domestic-partnership law. This means the state recognises their union and grants them most of the benefits of marriage. (Seven other states have similar arrangements.) But it does not allow them to wed.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "Judge not?"
From the March 30th 2013 edition
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