Is North Dakota the Next Gay Marriage Battleground?
With the legal action in South Dakota this week (several same-sex couples suing over that state's ban), North Dakota is the only state with a ban on gay marriage not currently facing a lawsuit.
Yahoo! News reports that when the batlle comes to the Peace Garden State (and it's more a question of "when" than "if"at this point), it could be particularly divisive for these reasons:
Advocates of gay marriage have national momentum on their side, as more states are either legalizing gay marriage outright (Maryland) or opting not to contest an overturn of anti-gay marriage laws (Pennsylvania).
On the other side, North Dakota remains a bastion of social conservatism, among the strongest north of the Mason/Dixon line. If the Attorney General chooses to fight an attempt at overturning the law, he has ample financial resources, thanks to the state's oil boom (so far he has not committed one way or the other).
More than 7 out of 10 North Dakota voters backed a constitutional amendment in 2004 banning same-sex weddings. Things have obviously changed since then; the question is how much.
(For the record, SuperTalk 1270 host Jim Walsh has endorsed the legalization of same-sex marriage in North Dakota)
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