The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear two gay marriage cases may seem like a stage-setter for reignition of the culture wars, but this isn’t the same America as before.

Attitudes about gay marriage aren’t what they were even a decade ago. More Americans now favor same-sex marriage than oppose it. And here in Colorado, a plurality of voters supported gay marriage in a recent Denver Post poll.

While polls won’t determine how justices rule on the cases, which involve the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s same-sex marriage ban, the court is not immune to public opinion.

And the growing tolerance for gay marriage has the potential to influence the public debate in positive ways. The nation is at a turning point when it comes to same-sex marriage.

The court announced earlier this month that it would hear a challenge to the constitutionality of the federal law that requires the denial of benefits to gays and lesbians married in states where same-sex marriage is allowed. Those benefits include filing joint tax returns and receiving Social Security survivor’s benefits.

Also on the court’s agenda is the California case which poses the question of whether states can ban same-sex marriage, as Proposition 8 has attempted to do in California.

Nine states and the District of Columbia currently allow same-sex marriage, which leaves 41 states that don’t. Of those that do not, 30 have gay marriage bans written into their constitutions, as Colorado does.

Exactly how a decision in the California case would affect Colorado is dependent upon how broadly or narrowly the opinion is written.

Given this editorial board’s

support for marriage equality, we hope for an opinion in the California case that recognizes marriage as a basic civil right — an opinion constructed broadly enough to facilitate the overturning of state gay marriage bans.

In Colorado, it seems that a bill legalizing civil unions is all but a lock to pass when the state legislature goes back into session in January. We welcome civil unions, but recognize that it’s only an interim step toward the full rights that gay couples deserve.

The Supreme Court will likely hear arguments in several months and issue opinions in the cases by the end of June. By virtue of the subject matter, the decisions likely will be historic. We just hope they come down on the right side of history.