The effort to reform the nation’s health care system and to establish for the first time a federal government obligation to make sure that all citizens have access to affordable health insurance has ignited a furious debate across the country. In town hall meetings and the halls of Congress, national attention is focused on how to fix a system that costs $2.5 trillion a year and affects the lives of every American.

The debate over same-sex marriage has played out in the nation’s courts, state legislatures and the halls of Congress. In 1996 Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman and stating that no state or the federal government is required to recognize a same-sex marriage made legal in another state. Similar laws have been passed in 41 states. More recently at least half a dozen states, through legislation and court… Continue