Get it over with | The Salt Lake Tribune

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With the recent cascade of states legalizing same-sex marriage, Edward Cannon thinks we're approaching a "tipping point when the … country must allow all adult Americans to marry whom they love" ("Gay marriage approval," Forum, May 15). Wishful thinking.

That speeding train of states will soon hit a procedural wall — the constitutions of 31 states ban same-sex marriages. Of the other 19 states, 12 now allow gay marriage, and not all of the other seven are likely candidates (think West Virginia).

The gay movement is going to have to push to amend each state constitution. That's a slow process, even with 58 percent of Americans favoring gay marriage.

Unless the Supreme Court unexpectedly grants gay marriage nationwide, we're going to be stuck in a long-term situation where about one-third of Americans live in states that grant gay marriage and two-thirds don't, with that ratio ever-so-slowly rising.

It's going to be a long slog. We'll all weary of its repetitive debates. And what will have been gained by stretching things out a generation? Nothing.

The war is lost. Just grant gay marriages and move on to more important topics.

Pat Braden

Salt Lake City