AH Challenge: Make Gay Marriage Legal Nationally in the USA

Your challenge, should you chose to accept it, is to make Gay Marriage legal in the United States of America, nationally. Not just a few states, but all of them. The POD musst be any time after the Stonewall Riots of 1969, and it must be legal by 2010. Make it happen...
 
Somehow avoid AIDS hitting the gay community first, and also stop the swing towards reactionary social values in the 80s.
 
I'm not sure AIDS was a bad thing politically for the gay community. It gave them tons of visibility and a platform with which to speak to the world at large.
 

Japhy

Banned
I'd say the fact that the first generation of Gay Rights leaders were decimated by HIV/AIDS certainly didn't help in any way. Also lets recall that at the Start the disease was being called GRIDS, which is just a wonderful example of how the world basicly used the Virus as a tool to shove gays out of the public position they had taken with the Post Stonewall to Milk Muders era of fighting for rights.

If The AIDS Virus isn't seen as "The Gay Cancer" when it first shows up but instead is seen as many researches viewed it "Another Ebola", you don't see President Reagan's "Pretend it's not happening" attitude. Without that there isn't a trickle down to alot of Americans, both Liberal and Conservative who then pretended for alot of the 80's that the Virus and its "only victims" didn't exist or matter.

As for the Challange, I'd suggest that Harvey Milk isn't murdered. Have him not get HIV as the disease spreads, and he can keep the movement cohesive and strong in the face of the 1980's Conservative Backlash. If there's someone to stand up to the Religious Right in the 80's the movement will be on much better footing come a 1990's Liberal President. Be it Clinton or someone else, there will be more then just DADT coming down to help a strong and determined Democratic Supporting Bloc. After that, avoid Bush or any Religious Right Approved (TM) in the 2000's and between 2001-2009 we might see the last holdout states let at least Civil Unions happen.
 
The Supreme Court retains it's 'dastardly liberal bias' as a result of, say, Carter losing in 1976, Ford winning a second term and then losing to Ted Kennedy. The liberal Court legalizes it in the late nineties or early aughts.
 

Japhy

Banned
The Supreme Court retains it's 'dastardly liberal bias' as a result of, say, Carter losing in 1976, Ford winning a second term and then losing to Ted Kennedy. The liberal Court legalizes it in the late nineties or early aughts.

I feel rather silly for having forgotten it only takes one decision...
 
The Supreme Court retains it's 'dastardly liberal bias' as a result of, say, Carter losing in 1976, Ford winning a second term and then losing to Ted Kennedy. The liberal Court legalizes it in the late nineties or early aughts.

Without the backing of the populace at that time you might get a DOMA Constitutional Amendment passed in response to that...

Iowa's already throwing out its judges in response to their decision OTL 2010...
 
It depends on what era you're referring to. Oprah hasn't always been as immensely popular as she is right now, and if she "came out" right this instant and started pushing for same-sex marriage, it probably wouldn't have quite the same impact it would have earlier because (a) it's generally assumed she is lesbian these days anyway, and (b) I think we're rapidly on our way to SSM as it is, without any PoDs needed.

If we want to go with "star power" as the means to softening up mainstream opposition to SSM, with the idea that it's fully in effect by this date, I would say we should go with Tom Cruise at his heyday in the '90s (he has always been rumored to be gay, anyway), Julia Roberts, Mel Gibson, etc. A "dark horse" is the rapper Eminem, who (especially in his earlier career) made near-constant references to homosexuality in his music and got a lot of notoriety for it. He would likely sway a lot of youths.
 
This is probably going happen IOTL in the next 15-20 years.

I don't know what makes you think that. If California, one of the most liberal states in America, votes it down three times, it won't pass in enough states to make it a law, especially in the Bible Belt.
 
The Supreme Court retains it's 'dastardly liberal bias' as a result of, say, Carter losing in 1976, Ford winning a second term Court decision isthe era and then losing to Ted Kennedy. The liberal Court legalizes it in the late nineties or early aughts.

I agree a Supreme Court decision is the easiest way for this to happen.
 

Thanos6

Banned
I don't know what makes you think that. If California, one of the most liberal states in America, votes it down three times, it won't pass in enough states to make it a law, especially in the Bible Belt.

Well, according to polling I've seen, even in the Bible Belt, youth support for gay marriage is high, so as the older generation dies off and (presumably) youths begin to vote in higher numbers, the results will be a lot less lop-sided than they have been.

Paul V McNutt: Pretty much singlehandedly united the homophobic forces across the country to get them to repeal Florida's allowance of gay adoption back in the late 70s. A lot of activists from back then I've talked to said that without her, they never would have been as organized as they are.
 
More and more Americans are going "libertarian"--they may be against drugs, gay marriage, porn, etc personally but couldn't care less about getting worked up to try to stop it. They think the government should keep out of peoples' lives. Look at the Ron and Rand Paul movement.

That's why it will become law in the not-distant future.
 
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