Yesterday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Virginia’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples violates the 14th Amendment’s Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. That paves the way for Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina to allow same-sex couples to marry.
The ruling won’t take effect immediately, and will likely be stayed pending further appeal. Its impact is already being felt, however, as North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has announced that his office will no longer defend that state’s marriage ban.
As in so many of the recent marriage rulings, this one had harsh words for the arguments that marriage should be limited to different-sex couples because  1) such couples — and only such couples — need it to encourage “responsible procreation,” and 2) only different-sex couples provide the optimal environment for raising children, which should be done within a marriage.
But I think a graphic shows it best:
