The justices could decide to start a case moving as early as Monday. Freedom to Marry ad targets court

Gay marriage advocates are counting on Supreme Court justices to be watching the Sunday shows ahead of their first private conference of the new term Monday.

Freedom to Marry, a group that’s long pursued gay marriage legalization in courts, will air a new ad aimed at urging the Supreme Court to take up one or more of the five cases currently on its docket. Most expect the Court to take up a case—and ultimately legalize gay marriage across the country—this term. The justices could decide to start a case moving as early as Monday, though they could also wait until a future conference in the coming months.


Currently, 19 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized gay marriage. The cases already up for consideration by the court are from Utah, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Virginia and Indiana, with another from Ohio expected to follow soon.

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“One nation, indivisible—except if you’re gay,” the narrator of the Freedom to Marry ad says, as a map appears on screen with all the states that have legalized marriage in bright blue, against the dull grey for all the rest.

Proponents and opponents alike are eager to see the Supreme Court establish one set ruling, a swift change from even just a few years ago. That’s not the only shift: now the wide expectation is that the court will rule in favor of legalization, likely with the courts four liberal justices joining Anthony Kennedy, who’s spent years writing opinions that have eased restrictions on gays. Some even think Chief Justice John Roberts might join a legalization decision too.

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Over photos of gay couples, the narrator of the ad says, “they’re taxed unfairly, denied Social Security and parenting rights, and can lose a family home when their loved one dies.”

“Our ad underscores the human costs of prolonging marriage discrimination. Every day of denial is a day of real and needless injury, indignity, and injustice to too many families across the country—and time matters,” said Freedom to Marry found and president Evan Wolfson.

“America is ready for the freedom to marry, 40 lower courts have affirmed the freedom to marry, even opponents are saying it’s time to bring the country to national resolution,” Wolfson added. “And it is, indeed, time.”

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