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Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court heard two cases pertaining to the rights of gay couples to wed. First, the court discussed if California, or any other state for that matter, has the constitutional ability to exclusively define marriage as between heterosexual couples. Second, the court discussed if the federal government has the ability to do the same, specifically with regards to the Defense of Marriage Act.  
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While the highest court of law will not render its verdict on these issues until June, the court of public opinion has already made up its mind on the issue of whether it is acceptable for two members of the same sex to get married. Its verdict is a resounding and enthusiastic yes.
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The strong public sentiment in support of gay marriage, though, is coupled with the approval of a significant number of Congress people and Senators. And while shifting attitudes of gay marriage from the public shifted the views of many of these politicians, the politicians' changes of heart are equally important, as they lead the way for many more in the general public to reexamine their approval thereof.
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In 1996, when Gallup first began measuring America's support for gay marriage, approval stood at a measly 27 percent. Within that poll, nearly every single demographic, including Democrats, Liberals and young people overall, showed majority disapproval of gay unions. Only among Jews and the Non-Religious did pollsters find any group of people not vehemently opposed to such a concept.
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Until recently, politicians, Democratic and Republican alike, trembled in fear in regard to the gay marriage issue. Most were petrified that a backlash among socially conservative Evangelicals could force them from office. Unwavering opposition to gay marriage from typical bastions of liberalism, such as Pensioners and African-Americans, allowed for majority opposition to gay marriage to flourish in typically Democratic states such as California and Maryland.  
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Finally, it was an unlikely source who finally took the plunge as a public official to support gay marriage. 
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In May of 2012, as the Washington Post measured support for gay marriage at 52 percent, Vice - President Joe Biden became the highest ranking incumbent politician to officially endorse gay marriage. A few days later, President Obama endorsed gay marriage, after being publicly opposed to the issue when running for office in 2008.   
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 While some Democratic members of Congress followed the Obama administration on this position, namely Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a majority of Democratic Senators still abstained from supporting gay marriage. Some predicted a backlash at the ballot box from Social Conservatives for supporting the unpopular position, but it never came. 
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Instead, President Obama's change of heart inspired the NAACP to wholeheartedly endorse and campaign for gay marriage. Between President Obama and the NAACP, as well as continuing to rise in support among young people, many African-Americans strongly shifted their views on the issue. For example, a 2012 Washington Post article mentions that while 70 percent of African-American voters in California supported Proposition 8, recent exit polls have shown that a majority of African-Americans now supported gay marriage.
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Further, President Obama was decisively re-elected to a second term, not only after endorsing gay marriage, but running on the issue, among others. Seeing as that the threat of backlash from supporting gay marriage was nothing more than an empty threat, dozens upon dozens of Democrats-and even a few Republicans-from both houses of Congress have rushed to be on the right side of history. 
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These changing attitudes of the American people, as well as the changing attitudes of politicians, are able to prove something. Not only do politicians have a duty to listen to their constituents' views on social issues, such as gay marriage, but the public sometimes has an equally important responsibility to listen to their representatives. In all types of issues, this responsibility stands. Sometimes, politicians need to take the lead and push their constituents toward progress. Obviously, if public opinion had never shifted on gay marriage, support among politicians would still be insignificant. But if Vice - President Biden had never taken the leap to support something his heart said was right, the support seen for gay marriage among elected officials would be smaller too.
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Politicians, especially from a political party as ostensibly pro-gay rights as the Democratic Party, were right to discredit irrational fears of backlash from a Socially Conservative culture war over support from gay marriage. I now hope they remember this lesson when we fight the next wave of social issues, such as capital punishment and cannabis legalization.