Now it is time to focus on the Supreme Court.
Here are the stakes: Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born in 1933, Stephen Breyer in 1938, and Anthony Kennedy in 1936. These three justices were part of the majority in both major GLBT civil rights cases of the last twenty years. It is possible that one of these justices will have to be replaced before the next presidential election. If Romney is elected, and if he has a chance to nominate a replacement for any of these three justices, it is likely that he will choose someone like Samuel Alito or John Roberts, or, even worse, like Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas, who dissented in both of these cases.
If that were to happen, this would be the result: Lawrence v. Texas, decided in 2003, which overturned all sodomy laws, could itself be overturned. The majority on that decision would flip from a presumed Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan, to a four person dissent facing a majority composed of Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, Alito and a new conservative justice. Romer v. Evans, decided in 1996 by a 6 to 3 opinion, recognized that gay people must be constitutionally protected. The majority on that case would flip from a presumed Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan, to a four person dissent facing a majority composed of Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, Alito, plus the new conservative justice.
The point here is that, were Romney to win the election, the makeup of a court would make it possible for a conservative majority to work its will with our rights. We are one vote on the Supreme Court away from being a different kind of nation, and the election of Romney would supply conservatives with the chance to get that vote. See also Daily Kos. Time. and Huffington Post.
When you consider what to do with your support this summer and fall and with your vote, consider this: there is no more important issue facing gay people than the makeup of the Supreme Court.