Gay marriage: big win, slow progress

When we're done celebrating New York, let's remember that only about one in ten US citizens has the right to same-sex marriage
Gay Pride New York 2011
A couple celebrates New York state's passage of a bill approving the right to same-sex marriage, while taking part in the Gay Pride parade in New York City on 26 June 2011. Photograph: Corbis/Richard H Cohen Richard H Cohen/Corbis

Those of us who live in Massachusetts can be excused for wondering what all the fuss is about. Same-sex marriage here has been recognised as a right under the state constitution since 2004. So, though we welcome New York to the ranks of jurisdictions where gay and lesbian couples enjoy full equality, we are also a little puzzled that things haven't moved forward more quickly than they have.

Following Friday night's vote in Albany, New York, more than 11% of the US population – 11.37% – now lives in an area where same-sex marriage is a right, according to US Census data. New York, with a population of nearly 19.4 million, was a huge victory in the movement toward marriage equality. Take away New York, and the percentage drops to just a shade over 5%. Jurisdictions where gay marriage is now a right, with populations, are:

New York: 19,378,102
Massachusetts: 6,547,629
Connecticut: 3,574,097
Iowa: 3,046,355
New Hampshire: 1,316,470
Vermont: 625,741
Washington, DC: 601,723

The total US population is 308,745,538.

To this day, the largest setback was the passage of California's Proposition 8, which killed off that state's nascent right of gay marriage. If California's more than 37 million people were added, then the proportion of the country where gay marriage is recognised would rise to 23.4%, or nearly one quarter of the national population.

According to the New York Times, the next most likely states to recognise gay marriage are Maryland and Rhode Island. That would inch us up to nearly 13.6%. Progress, yes, but slow progress. Although I don't believe the majority should hold sway over basic human rights, the fact is that 53% of Americans now favour same-sex marriage.

Here in liberal, secular Massachusetts, the religious objections to gay marriage seem especially puzzling. No one would suggest that the Catholic Church, to name one religious institution that opposes same-sex marriage, be forced to marry gay and lesbian couples. So, why should those who oppose gay marriage be free to impose their beliefs on the rest of us? The minister of our church is a lesbian, and is planning to marry her partner. Were they not subject to religious discrimination, just as those who oppose gay marriage on religious grounds claim they are now being discriminated against?

Gay marriage harms no one, and is a vitally important substantive and symbolic benefit to gay and lesbian couples. We're moving forward, but the pace is too slow. Let's hope that what happened in New York opens the floodgates.