Gay marriage across America “only a matter of time”, says US Ambassador to Australia

THE US Ambassador to Australia has told the Star Observer he believes same-sex marriage is now inevitable in every American state.

John Berry is the first openly-gay US Ambassador to a G20 nation and married his partner, Curtis Yee, in August last year.

Talking exclusively to the Star Observer during the recent Bingham Cup in Sydney, Berry said he was proud of the progress the US had made on LGBTI rights.

“America’s come so far just in my lifetime,” said Berry, who used the run the Smithsonian Institute’s National Zoo in Washington DC.

“The pace has gone faster than many of us in the leadership and the community could have predicted [and] I did not expect marriage to be as far flung in over 26 states now.”

Asked whether he thought bans on same-sex marriage would be struck down in the remaining states, he  said:  “My partner and I are proudly married, Washington DC is our home and we were able to marry in our home, but I think the direction it’s going it’s only a matter of time [everywhere].

“We have a wonderful clause in our constitution that all Americans are entitled to equal protection under the law and that principle is one that all Americans understand in their hearts and their heads and at the end of the day this is a matter of equal rights.

“That’s why I believe at the end of the day all states will be legal eventually.”

Nineteen US states currently permit gay marriage as well as the District of Columbia.

Courts in a number of other states, including Florida and Texas, have axed laws banning same-sex couples from marrying saying they are unconstitutional.

However, ceremonies are not permitted to begin in those states until appeals and reviews have been heard.

The US Supreme Court is due to review the current bans in force in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana and Wisconsin at the end of this month.

(Image: US Ambassador to Australia John Berry. Photo: Ann-Marie Calilhanna; Star Observer)