Legal experts, social commentators and politicians across the spectrum girded themselves Tuesday as the Supreme Court prepared to hear arguments on what has turned into a generational-defining social question in the United States:

Do gays and lesbians have as much a constitutional right to marry as opposite sex couples do?

Polls in recent years have shown a sea change among Americans in support of same-sex marriage, but the U.S. political system has resulted in patchwork of laws for gay couples.

With lower federal courts issuing conflicting opinions, the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the arguments signaled an intention to bring clarity to a question that was unthinkable a generation ago.

“I think the writing is on the wall,” said Nan Hunter, a Georgetown University law professor.“I think almost everyone believes that it is just a matter of time before gay couples can marry anywhere in the United States.”

At the heart of the hearing Tuesday are same-sex couples who are now barred from civil marriage in their home states, including Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer.

The couple is raising four adopted children and a foster child near Detroit, Michigan, which is one of a dwindling number of states where same-sex couples cannot legally wed.

Currently, same-sex marriage is legal in 36 states and Washington D.C., made so by either voter initiatives, court rulings or legislative action.

Two years ago, the high court by a 5-4 vote overturned a 1996 law that barred the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages for the purposes of federal benefits, like tax and inheritance laws.

That ruling, United States v. Windsor, paved the way for Tuesday’s hearing, which focuses on four separates cases challenging bans on same-sex marriage in Michigan, as well as in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

For DeBoer and Rowse, despite sharing a home and bearing shared responsibility for five young children, the state of Michigan treats them as two single, cohabitating adults. That status not only denigrates their relationship, DeBoer said, but it places them at a legal disadvantage should an emergency arise: a hospital could theoretically bar one parent from seeing the other’s parents legally adopted child.

“We spend family time together. We teach the kids to do chores. We teach the kids to ride bikes,” she said. “You know, there’s no difference in our family. The only difference is, is who, who we love and that shouldn’t be a reason to not treat us the same and not give us the same legal rights as everybody else.”

Despite growing acceptance of same-sex marriage, opponents are still a vocal and sizable force, and scores rallied on Washington’s National Mall on Saturday.

“We came here because, as Christians, we want the will of God to be followed. Couples should consist of a woman and a man,” Walter Morales said. “It can’t be a man and a man.”

James Birlinski, who wore a beret with a Christian cross sewed on, said the issue is perfectly clear in the Bible.

“God says it [marriage] is between man and a woman, and the Supreme Court has no authority to redefine it,” he said.

John Bursch, a lawyer who will be arguing in defense of the 11-year-old, voter-approved Michigan Marriage Amendment, said the question of marriage equality should be made by voters.

“Marriage is one of those things where people can have different opinions and it has to be decided at the ballot box and not through the courts,” Bursch told the Detroit News in an interview last week. “It’s about who gets to decide not what should be decided.”

Some legal scholars believe the Supreme Court already has telegraphed its ultimate intention, and will rule in favor of same-sex marriage, though it’s unclear how narrow the ruling will be.

“We have now absurd situations in which a [gay] couple marries in one state legally. They move to another state where it isn’t legal, not married for state law purposes even though they are for federal purposes,” Hunter said.

Rowse and DeBoer said they’re girding themselves for another big challenge if the Supreme Court does rule in their favor:

“Big wedding to plan,” the two said in unison.

“Really big wedding to plan,” Rowse added.
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