Tulsa Law Review Volume 40 Issue 3 The Legislative Backlash to Advances in Rights for Same-Sex Couples Spring 2005 The Gay Marriage Backlash and Its Spillover Effects: Lessons from a (Slightly) Blue State John G. Culhane Stacey L. Sobel Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/tlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation John G. Culhane, & Stacey L. Sobel, The Gay Marriage Backlash and Its Spillover Effects: Lessons from a (Slightly) Blue State, 40 Tulsa L. Rev. 443 (2013). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/tlr/vol40/iss3/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by TU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Tulsa Law Review by an authorized editor of TU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Culhane and Sobel: The Gay Marriage Backlash and Its Spillover Effects: Lessons from THE GAY MARRIAGE BACKLASH AND ITS SPILLOVER EFFECTS: LESSONS FROM A (SLIGHTLY) "BLUE STATE" John G. Culhane* and Stacey L. Sobel** I. INTRODUCTION Backlash, indeed! The stories streaming in from across the country can scarcely be believed. In Alabama, a legislator introduced a bill that would have banished any mention of homosexuality from all public libraries-even at the university level.' In Virginia, the legislature's enthusiasm for joining the chorus of states that have amended their constitutions to ban gay marriage was eclipsed by a legislator's suggestion that the state's license plates be pressed into service as political slogans, and made to read: "Traditional Marriage.