Joy, perplexity with high court

Los Angeles Times: Gay rights supporters were simultaneously jubilant and perplexed Monday when the Supreme Court announced that it wouldn’t review three decisions by federal appeals courts striking down state bans on same-sex marriage. We share their mixed feelings.

Jubilation is justified because the court’s action clears the way for same-sex marriages not only in the five states whose laws were declared unconstitutional but in several others as well, contributing to what is beginning to look like an inexorable march to the legalization of such unions nationwide. After Monday’s action by the court, same-sex marriage will be legal in 24 states, a number expected to climb to 30 in the coming months.

The perplexity comes because the justices shrank from making a definitive ruling on marriage equality, consigning same-sex couples in states where prohibitions remain to second-class status and leaving open the possibility that bans might be reinstated someday in the states where they have been struck down.