Court's Eye for the married guy

Should a man be allowed to marry another man and a woman another woman? Activist courts say yes, most Americans say no, and politicians will have a tough time satisfying voters with a maybe. The battle lines are still being drawn, but"gay marriage" is likely to be a defining issue for the 2004 political campaign | Lynn Vincent

Luanne James knows about race-based marital discrimination. She is white; her husband Kurt is black. When Mrs. James takes their daughter Gabrielle, 6, for a haircut, she goes to a braidery, a salon that specializes in serving African-Americans. "The women there will say how beautiful my daughter is," said Mrs. James, 34, of San Diego. "But then I hear them saying how frustrating it is to see a good black man, one who works hard and takes care of his family, married to a white woman. They have no problem saying it in front of me."

Mr. James, 36, knows about discrimination, too. "I've seen it from both blacks and whites looking at us as a couple."

But the Jameses see no comparison between their struggle for marital acceptance and the battle homosexuals are waging in the courts to gain acceptance of "gay marriage." When the Massachusetts Supreme Court on Nov. 17 ruled in Goodrich vs. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health that the state constitution prohibits the state from stating that marriage is between a man and a woman, Justice Margaret H. Marshall wrote for the majority: