the federal govt should have zero benefits tied to marriage. By having benefits tied to marriage they have essentially established religions that have male-female marriage as the default religion of the country.
if taxes, inheritance etc were not tied to marriage and instead were done with standard contracts between 2, 3 or N people (civil unions). Then the marriage problem would go away.
Regardless, that clause is about the federal government not interfering with official state churches (“establishments of religion”) which existed until the 1830s.
You're leaving out the massive fights from states that did not want to recognize gay marriage, which could have easily gone the other way. The same process will repeat with marijuana prohibition and the states fighting it may succeed this time. What would have happened if gay marriage stayed as a patchwork of legal statuses? What will happen in the long run when marijuana is legal in many states but continues to send you to prison for decades in others? This is not a stable situation and the exact reason we need the federal government to do things instead of leaving it up to the states.
Unless it concerns powers specifically given to the federal government by the US constitution that would be unconstitutional: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." (10th Amendment).
If you do not like the laws in your state, vote to change the laws.
If you do not like the laws in other states, discuss and persuade the voters of those states to change their laws.
The constitution is a broad documented to be interpreted
It's not a step by step manual or grocery list
> If you do not like the laws in other states, discuss and persuade the voters of those states to change their laws. Or better yet and occasionally easier get the federal government to change the law for the whole country, benefiting everyone
This is only an option for the most privileged among us. What are the options for someone who is gay and doesn't have the means to move to a less bigoted state?
