经济学人523:同性婚姻 势不可挡

　　Gay marriage

同性婚姻

Be my rock in Little Rock

在小岩城成为我坚固的磐石

The gay-marriage juggernaut rolls on

同性婚姻势不可挡

WHAT do Arkansas and Idaho have in common? Both have rural charm—Idaho's licence plates even boast of its “Famous Potatoes”. Both vote Republican in presidential elections. And both have just legalised gay marriage.

美国阿肯色州和爱达荷州有什么相同之处？他们都拥有迷人的田园风光—爱达荷州的汽车牌照甚至还炫耀自己“有名的土豆”。他们都在总统大选中投了共和党人的票，而且都把同性婚姻合法化了。

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In both states, the decision was made by a judge rather than voters, and could be reversed. But it is getting harder to see same-sex nuptials 1 as an odd new custom confined to coastal 2 liberal bastions. If the new rules in Arkansas and Idaho stand, that would make it 19 states plus Washington, DC that now recognise marriage equality. Over 70 lawsuits 3, in nearly every state that does not yet allow gay marriage, are working their way through the courts, encouraged by a Supreme-Court ruling last year striking down the federal Defence of Marriage Act.

在这两个州，这个决定都是由法官下的，而不是选举人，而且决定可以被撤销。现在同性恋婚姻已经越来越难以被认为仅仅是局限在沿海自由堡垒的风俗了。如果阿肯色州和爱达荷州的新条例成立的话，这将会使十九个州包括华盛顿承认婚姻平等。如今共有超过七十起分布在几乎所有尚未允许同性婚姻的州的法律诉讼正在通过法庭努力，它们受到了去年最高法院裁决的鼓励，该裁决驳回了“联邦婚姻保护法案”—一项禁止联邦政府承认同性婚姻的法案。

It has all happened faster than campaigners dared to hope. In Arkansas, a state constitutional amendment 4 banning same-sex marriage passed ten years ago with 75% of the vote. Social conservatives were elated, expecting the law to stand indefinitely. But on May 9th Chris Piazza 5, a circuit judge in Pulaski County, ruled the ban unconstitutional.

事情变化如此之快，而这甚至超过了同性婚姻呼吁者的预期。在阿肯色州，一个禁止同性婚姻的州宪法修正案于十年前获得75%的选票通过。社会保守派人士对此欢欣鼓舞，期待该法案无限期有效。但在5月9号一名普瓦斯基郡的巡回法官克里斯·皮亚萨裁决这个禁令违宪。

Religious conservatives were shocked. Mike Huckabee, an ex-governor of Arkansas, called for Judge Piazza to be impeached 6. Jerry Cox, president of the Arkansas Family Council, said: “The marriage of one man to one woman has been a cornerstone of western civilisation 7 for thousands of years... once people start redefining marriage, there seems to be no place to stop.”

宗教保守派都非常震惊。阿肯色州的一名前州政府官员麦克·赫卡比呼吁控告皮亚萨法官。阿肯色州家族委员会的主席杰里·考克斯说：“男人与女人之间的婚姻几千年来都是西方文明的基石…一旦人们开始重新给婚姻下定义，看起来就不会再停止了。”

Mr Piazza's ruling opened the door for all 75 counties in the state to issue marriage licences to gay couples. Most county clerks opted 8 not to, noting that the ruling, confusingly, failed to address another state law that banned issuing such licences. But some 450 same-sex couples queued up in Pulaski and four other counties to get their precious pieces of paper. “We were hopeful that the law would be overturned some day, but we were completely stunned 9...that it came when it did,” says Barbara Hall, who married her long-time partner on May 12th in the courthouse rotunda 10. “We already had plans to marry in New York this summer after a ceremony here in Little Rock, never imagining a day when we could marry here.”

皮亚萨的裁决为该州75个郡打开了给同性情侣颁发婚姻许可证的大门。大部分郡书记官都选择了拒绝听从，指出该裁决令人困惑，未能处理其他禁止颁发此类婚姻许可证的州法律的问题。但有450对同性情侣在普瓦斯基和其它四个郡排队等候以获得那张宝贵的证书。“我们满怀希望，希望有一天州法律可以彻底改变，但是我们非常震惊…在这件事确实发生的时候，”芭芭拉·霍尔说，她于5月12号和她的长期伴侣在法院的圆形大厅中结婚了。“我们已经计划在小岩城的仪式之后就于今年夏天去纽约结婚，我们从未想过还能在这里结婚。”