I WASN’T IGNORING THE SULLIVAN/GOLDBERG GAY MARRIAGE DEBATE, exactly, but it’s hard for me to get excited about the issue.

In my Advanced Constitutional Law seminar, even the most enthusiastically pro-gay-marriage students thought the Massachusetts opinion was lame — but that was a question of judicial craftsmanship. It matters to lawyers, and it should matter to everyone else. But the court of public opinion is actually moving faster than the courts on this topic anyway.

On the issue, attitudes are changing awfully fast. Rhea County, Tennessee — home to the Scopes Trial, but a place that even H.L. Mencken admitted is actually quite nice — rejected an anti-gay ordinance and wound up having Gay Day instead. (That’s the Dayton courthouse, where the Scopes trial was held, over to the right. The church sign below is from close by, a bit nearer to Decatur than Dayton — I took both of these pictures just a couple of weeks ago). And an anti-gay-marriage amendment died in Kansas this weekend, too. If you can’t win there, you’ve lost. And on this issue, the opponents of gay marriage have, I think, lost. There are legitimate process questions, but the outcome is just a matter of time. And not all that much time, really.

UPDATE: A lot of people seem to like the church-sign photo, and want to know if they can post a copy on their blogs. Sure, though I’d appreciate a credit with a link back if you don’t mind.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More on Kansas from Mike Silverman.