Bill Gilkeson: GOP’s gay-rights advocate

Regarding the June 27 news article “U.S. Supreme Court extends gay marriage nationwide”: I want to express overdue public appreciation for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. In the decision he wrote for the right of gay and lesbian people to marry, he found himself quoting two decades of cases moving in this direction, most of which he wrote himself.

In 1996, he wrote Romer v. Evans, striking down a Colorado law blocking any local government from providing anti-discrimination protection for gays.

In 2003, he wrote Lawrence v. Texas, invalidating anti-sodomy laws when applied to consenting adults.

In 2013, he wrote U.S. v. Windsor, ending the Defense of Marriage Act.

In all those decisions, I was struck by the empathy Kennedy expressed for the pain and humiliation gay people felt because of their rejection under the law. In the early days, that kind of language was something you rarely heard from anyone in high office.

It was refreshing to hear. So even though he was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, and even though he has written some awful opinions, such as Citizens United, Kennedy should be recognized as the single-most effective judicial champion of gay and lesbian Americans.

This story was originally published July 4, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Bill Gilkeson: GOP’s gay-rights advocate."